British Prime Minister David Cameron said today that the UK will take in up to 20.000 Syrian refugees from camps in Turkey, Jordan and Syria over the next five years to help tackle Europe's migrant crisis.
"We are proposing that Great Britain receive up to 20.000 refugees," Cameron said in an address to the lower house of the British Parliament at the beginning of the autumn session.
Cameron said Britain had a moral responsibility to act and addressed the shocking images of refugees that have emerged in recent days. He said that vulnerable children and orphans will be given priority.
It is a significant expansion of Britain's refugee program, which Cameron announced last Sunday.
Refugees will receive five-year "humanitarian protection" visas upon arrival in Britain.
Cameron said that the refugee problem is "clearly the biggest challenge facing European countries today" and added that in this way Great Britain will fulfill its role towards its European partners.
Great Britain has accepted 216 Syrian refugees in a year, and around 4.000 Syrians have been granted asylum since the start of the civil war in that country in 2011. This is significantly less than in countries such as Germany, Sweden and France, according to the French press agency.
More than four million Syrians have fled the country, where 250.000 people have died since the start of the war.
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