Status: 07.03.2022 8:52 p.m
1.7 million people have fled Ukraine, 10,000 of them have applied for visas for Great Britain. London has approved 50 so far. France finds this “somewhat inhumane”. British Prime Minister Johnson defends himself.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has defended his government’s treatment of refugees from Ukraine. Johnson said the UK is “very, very generous” but will not allow “people to come into the UK without any sort of scrutiny”.
Thousands of cases need to be processed and the situation is constantly changing, Johnson said after meeting his Canadian and Dutch colleagues Justin Trudeau and Mark Rutte.
50 visas – 10,000 applications
London says it expects up to 200,000 refugees as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine; According to official figures, more than 10,000 people have already applied for British visas.
However, only a few of them have entered the country so far: According to the Ministry of the Interior, only “around 50 visas” were issued as part of the family reunification program by Sunday.
“Technocratic Small-Scale”
France had criticized this low number. French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said on Sunday that hundreds of Ukrainian refugees had been turned away by British authorities in Calais because they first had to obtain visas from the British embassies in Paris or Brussels. That was “somewhat inhumane,” Darmanin said, and called on Britain to “stop the technocratic petty peddling.”
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said no one would be turned away. However, the government also confirmed that there is no UK center in Calais that issues visas.
1.7 million refugees so far
According to the UN, more than 1.7 million people have fled the country since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, more than a million of them to Poland.
Last week, the EU states agreed on a simplified admission of refugees from Ukraine – with the help of the previously never used guideline in the event of a “mass influx” of displaced persons. The guideline for the temporary protection of refugees, which has been in force since 2001, was adopted as a result of the wars in former Yugoslavia.
It provides protection for an initial period of one year, which can be extended to a total of three years. A lengthy asylum procedure is not necessary for the protection status, but the right to apply for asylum continues to exist. At the same time, those seeking protection are guaranteed minimum standards such as access to social assistance and a work permit.