We must show compassion to all refugees, says krish kandiah

Sending people 4,000 miles to Rwanda in order to assess them is surely not the best solution. It is not only costly to our nation but highly traumatic to those who are seeking refuge. Having

worked with refugees from Afghanistan, Kosovo, Syria, and Ethiopia, it seems people are being faced with increasingly difficult hurdles to jump through to seek asylum, despite it being a

universally recognised human right. In my current work supporting Ukrainian refugees coming to the UK, I am finding that the new assessment process, which can be completed online, is robust

enough to determine credentials, yet flexible enough to allow for challenging personal circumstances. Over 200,000 UK citizens have offered personal or community sponsorship to assist

Ukrainians who have lost everything.  I believe the majority of them would open their homes in just the same way to asylum-seekers from other countries. We now have an opportunity to model

the same hospitality and compassion that we have been showing to our Ukraine friends to people from other war-torn countries around the world. We must urgently find a way to extend our

generosity to all refugees, not discriminate against them on the basis of their country of origin. KRISH KANDIAH IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE SANCTUARY FOUNDATION.