Today Oxfam Scotland marked World Refugee Day alongside colleagues at Amnesty Scotland, Scottish Refugee Council and many other organisations and individuals to #StandAsOne with refugees around the world.
Over 150 people joined us in Glasgow’s George Square to send a message that as the number of people forced to flee their homes reaches a historic high, we want Scotland to continue to welcome refugees.
For many of us, it’s hard to imagine what it’s like to be forced to leave your home and country behind. To never be able to sleep in your own bed again. To have a key in your pocket to a house that no longer exists.
But what’s far worse than losing all of your worldly possessions is the reality that war often divides families.
At the moment, the UK Government allows refugees in Scotland to bring members of their immediate family to join them, safely and legally. But the process is complicated, bureaucratic and restrictive. Many refugees face a painful, prolonged separation from their loved ones.
So right now, Oxfam Scotland is talking to MPs about changing the rules to help refugee families stay together. But if these changes have any chance of becoming a reality, they need to be properly debated.
Will you help reunite refugee families?
Help us flood the mailboxes of MPs with personalised postcards, urging them to support a crucial change in the rules on refugee family reunification.
It’s quick and easy to do with our postcard maker – which includes some helpful advice, if you’re not sure what to write.