Friends inspire MP on Afghan refugees
QARN exists to support Quaker communities who are already engaged in helping people seeking sanctuary.
A non-Quaker MP raised questions in parliament about refugee policies after attending Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN)’s annual general meeting last month.
Tom Gordon, Lib Dem MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, described meeting a small group of Afghan refugees at the event in Harrogate Meeting House on 5 July. ‘A couple of weeks ago at a Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network event in Harrogate, I met constituents who came to the UK from Afghanistan under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy [ARAP] scheme, and who still have family living in Afghanistan,’ he said.
‘They showed me photos of their loved ones, some smiling and some a lot more brutal and bleak after attacks they had faced. The statement earlier this week focused rightly on the Afghanistan Response Route scheme and the associated super-injunction. Will the leader of the House liaise with her cabinet colleagues and look for further opportunities for MPs to meet relevant ministers to discuss existing applications under the ARAP scheme, such as those of my constituents and their families?’
Marian McNichol, from QARN, told the Friend that the MP’s support had encouraged them to continue campaigning, despite the bleak backdrop: ‘We heard the harrowing stories of parents who had to leave children over eighteen years old behind in Afghanistan and their daily pain in not being able to help them,’ she said. ‘Hearing the lived experience of people seeking sanctuary motivates us with heavy hearts to continue our campaigning, and being mentioned in parliament gives us encouragement to carry on.’
QARN exists to support Quaker communities who are already engaged in helping people seeking sanctuary.
