Churches 'deplore' discrimination against minority ethnic refugees fleeing Ukraine

Churches have called for refugees fleeing Ukraine to be treated equally irrespective of their race or religion.

The Russian invasion has triggered a humanitarian crisis and forced over three million people to flee Ukraine, the UN has said. 

There have been reports in the media of refugees of colour experiencing racism while attempting to cross the border into neighbouring countries. 

In a statement, members of Churches Together in England (CTE) said they "deplore the discrimination against African and Asian people and those of religious minorities fleeing Ukraine, and call for every nation receiving refugees to treat all with equal care and dignity".

The statement recognises the "enormity" of the refugee crisis and says that there should be a "fair sharing of this burden throughout Europe". 

After coming under pressure, the UK government has launched a new humanitarian route that allows refugees from Ukraine to stay in people's homes.

Under the scheme, they will be able to live and work in the UK for up to three years.

CTE urged the government to do all it can to develop programmes in support of those fleeing that are "both just and effective". 

"We welcome changes recently announced to a complex and slow visa application system, thus easing the ways in which Ukrainian refugees can be given sanctuary, and urge the swiftest implementation of this system," CTE said.

The statement encourages churches to take up the opportunities to sponsor refugee families, but it also urges the government to speed up the re-housing of refugees from Afghanistan and calls for changes to the controversial UK Borders and Nationality Bill to make it easier for people to flee to the UK.

"We also recognise, with shame, the slowness to welcome Afghan refugees who are already in Britain, often remaining housed in bed and breakfast accommodation," the ecumenical group said.

"Refugees come from many nations in conflict, and we pray that Britain might become a society where strangers find a welcome, whatever their origin."

Newsletter Stay up to date with Christian Today
News
Calls for an end to the sexualisation of children in schools
Calls for an end to the sexualisation of children in schools

The Coalition for Marriage is taking on a "summer of sex" campaign planned by a Labour MP at Westminster.

Free speech concerns surround proposed conversion therapy ban
Free speech concerns surround proposed conversion therapy ban

Any law banning "abusive conversion practices" would almost certainly infringe on freedom of speech.

Pope warns of ‘digital neocolonialism’ and calls on Church to defend human dignity in age of AI in first encyclical
Pope warns of ‘digital neocolonialism’ and calls on Church to defend human dignity in age of AI in first encyclical

Pope Leo XIV has used his first encyclical to warn that artificial intelligence and emerging technologies risk deepening global inequality, concentrating power in the hands of a few and creating what he described as “colonialism in another form". 

A growing number of Protestants say others don’t know they’re Christian
A growing number of Protestants say others don’t know they’re Christian

The honesty of churchgoers about gaps in living unashamed reveals large numbers have room for growth in this important aspect of discipleship,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research.