<
https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/wales-nation-of-sanctuary-asylum-seekers/>
"Wales aspires to be the world’s first nation of sanctuary – a safe, welcoming
and compassionate home for refugees and asylum seekers. Launched in 2019, its
ambitious 23-point plan focuses on housing, education, employment and
integration and was endorsed by the United Nations.
But with escalating anti-migrant rhetoric and growing need for support, the
nation of sanctuary dream is becoming more difficult to implement.
More than 2,800 asylum seekers received support in Wales last year – a 15%
increase since 2023 – and a total of 1,488 refugees have been resettled since
2016. Meanwhile, Reform UK is gathering voters ahead of the 2026 Senedd
elections, threatening the sanctuary agenda.
Immigration policy is not devolved and the Welsh government is subject to the
whims of Westminster, with Keir Starmer recently proposing further blocks to
settlement. But amid this challenging context, perhaps Wales’ commitment to
welcoming refugees is even more important."
Via Rhysy, who wrote:
"The depressing thing is that I found this article on /r/ukpolitics and even
there the responses were all a pure reflex “hell no”. Presumably they hadn’t
even bothered to read any of the article - who is so insecure that they feel
threatened by a few thousand refugees ? Mind you, I despair that the
anti-immigration stance has become so normalised even in left leaning forums.
That’s bizarre to me and I just don’t get. I remember some years back someone
on Google Plus (mayitrestinpeace) berating me for dismissing concerns on
immigration, but I’m still none the wiser as to what those concerns actually
are. (Well, besides the obvious, of course.)
Still, it’s nice to see some nice noises coming from government officials"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
