Nearly nine out of every 10 Syrian refugees who applied for asylum in the UK last year were accepted.
Thousands of Syrians fleeing Islamic State, the Assad regime and other threats have come to Britain where Christians have played a central role in helping them stay and start a new life.
But it is not just Christians. Members of all faiths – Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and Zoroastrians – have been active in helping give hope to the thousands caught up in the Syrian refugee crisis.
The latest facts are set out in a report from the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees.
Among the most outspoken in their support of Syrian refugees is the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who arranged for a Syrian family to be housed on the grounds of his London residence, Lambeth Palace.
The London diocese has been active, as have other Anglican and Catholic dioceses, along with Jewish leaders and organisations, many of them remembering the legacy of World War II and the Kindertransport.
The late Lord Weidenfeld, a Holocaust survivor who was supported by a Christian group in the UK during the war, rescued 150 Syrian Christians from Islamic State territory and brought them to Poland. World Jewish Relief raised nearly £944,000, impacting 17,500 refugees, and started a pilot programme in Bradford to better integrate refugees into British society.
In September 2016, more than 200 faith leaders in the UK signed an open letter to the Prime Minister calling on the government to offer sanctuary to more refugees. They wrote, 'The best of this country is represented by the generosity, kindness, solidarity and decency that Britain has at many times shown those fleeing persecution.'
The Syrian crisis is considered by many to be the worst humanitarian disaster since World War II. There are an estimated 13.5 million people in Syria, more than half the country's pre-war population, including 6 million children, in urgent need of humanitarian assistance
Of these, about 5 million are in hard-to-reach areas, with close to 600,000 people in besieged areas. About 80 per cent of Syrians currently live in poverty, while life expectancy since the start of the crisis in 2011 has dropped by more than 20 years.
There are now nearly 5 million registered Syrian refugees – more than any single refugee population in the world – the majority of whom are currently living in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. Of these, nearly half are children.
The UK promised to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years. In the year ending in September 2016, there were 33,380 total asylum applications in the UK and of these, 2,359 applications were from Syrians.
Of the Syrians that applied, 2,102 were granted asylum in that year – a grant rate of 86 per cent, the highest rate among the top six nationalities applying for asylum in the UK. However, many more asylum seekers go to countries such as Germany or Sweden. Britain received just three per cent of all asylum claims in the EU in 2015.
More than 4,000 Syrians have also arrived in the UK under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme, the scheme being used by local authorities to meet the 20,000 target.
Others are coming in through the new Home Office Community Sponsorship Scheme which involves faith communities such as the Salvation Army, local community groups, businesses and universities. Even individuals creating their own sponsoring groups can apply to be community sponsors.
