'My family came to the UK as refugees nearly 33 years ago.' Feryal Clark remembers her own experience while discussing the UK's response to the refugee crisis. politicslondon |
Adam EastonA group of young refugees from Ukraine take part in a karate class in eastern PolandIn the early stages of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, most of the Ukrainians fleeing the war went to stay with family and friends already living in Poland. As time has passed, the proportion of refugees with nowhere to stay has grown.
The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine for Poland has now reached two million and at least 1.1 million of them have stayed. And although thousands of Poles have opened their own homes to them, large Polish cities including Warsaw and Krakow that are attracting the most are saying they have reached their capacity to accommodate them.
Temporary accommodation centres set up in sports halls and conference centres across the country are designed to cater to people for a few days only. Authorities urgently need to make housing available that can accommodate the refugees for several months. Both the government and President Andrzej Duda are calling for greater international assistance, recognising the response to the crisis will not be a sprint but a marathon.
There’s still broad support across the political spectrum for the refugees. Only the small far-right Confederation party is complaining about Ukrainians receiving benefits that Poles do not, such as free travel on the trains. Journalists boycotted their most recent news conference in disgust.
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