'Change perception of refugees'

A campaign to challenge the way refugees are portrayed has been launched by Christian Aid

Now more than ever churches in the UK have an important role to play in presenting and realising a vision of a future where every person is treated with inherent dignity and infinite worth, the development agency has said.

The campaign is called 'Change the Story' and calls on Christian Aid supporters and others who want to get involved to write to their newspapers to share positive stories of welcome - and to call on the UK government to be bolder in its ambition to respond to the refugee crisis.
 
Loretta Minghella, Chief Executive of Christian Aid, said, 'Refugees are people fleeing violence, war and oppression. They are our sisters and brothers, each one of them made in the image of God. They have a legal right to seek sanctuary and to find safety, wherever they are from. 
 
'But that principle has too often been lost. Recently our public debate around refugees has focused more on our differences than the common humanity we share, and the language used to depict refugees has too often been dehumanising, demeaning and divisive. Now, more than ever, we have to work together to change that story.'
 
Rt Revd Jonathan Clark, Bishop of Croydon and Chair of the Churches Refugee Network, said, 'Churches and congregations all over the UK are welcoming refugees into their homes and communities, and are helping to build communities where every person is treated with inherent dignity and infinite worth. Yet this is rarely a story that is heard or celebrated, and we want to change that.
 
'As well as needing our help, refugees enrich our social fabric, helping to make the UK a place of cultural diversity, which we ought to be proud to celebrate.'
 
Ahead of the UN High Level Meeting on Refugees and Migrants in September, Christian Aid is urging the UK government to host far higher numbers of refugees through:

• Resettling higher numbers of refugees, broaden the nationalities it resettles and significantly accelerate the resettlement in the UK of the 20,000 Syrians it has already agreed to accept; 
• Introduce a system of humanitarian visas to the UK, including via third countries; 
• Strengthen and implement adequate measures for family reunification; 
• Act on its responsibilities to relocate refugees already in the EU.