Who would have thought that less than two months into the new year, war would break out in Europe; in the middle of a climate change emergency and a pandemic that has led to the deaths of more than six million people globally. The senseless slaughter of thousands of innocent, defenceless civilians in Ukraine alongside the exodus of 3.9m of its countrymen in a little over a month and the extreme hardship endured by those left behind is nothing short of heartbreaking.
That's why it was so good to learn that the UK government has finally developed a refugee resettlement programme that has the potential to allow those who have been violently displaced by tanks and missiles to deal with their trauma and re-start their lives.
There is much that is wrong with the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which allows Ukrainian nationals and permanent residents, even those without family connections in the UK, to live here. It took officials weeks to draw up and implement, while poorer nations like Moldova, Poland and Romania were opening their borders to distressed, exhausted Ukrainians, after having waived all visa requirements. The UK's punitive visa system remains intact, to the nation's shame.
The initiative has other vulnerabilities. The current approach whereby a plethora of unregulated organisations are allowed to match Ukrainian refugees with suitable rooms in the homes of UK residents means that Ukrainians seeking a safe haven in the UK may be exposed to human traffickers, unscrupulous landlords and other predators hoping to profit from their misfortune.
That said, this refugee sponsorship scheme has much to recommend it. It is right that there are no limits to the numbers of Ukrainian nationals and permanent residents entering the UK. It is also fair that they have full access to public services, including benefits, and have been granted the right to work, albeit for a paltry three years only.
The emotional turmoil involved in fleeing your homeland and the trauma resulting from witnessing atrocity after barbaric atrocity is compounded when you are forced to live in an overcrowded hotel or hostel, have no recourse to public funds and, more importantly, are denied the right to self-determination through work.
Having your life forcibly put on hold prevents those who are escaping horror from piecing what remains of it together. It is a form of psychological torture, as many refugees who have sought sanctuary in the UK will testify. But with these humane conditions attached, the Homes for Ukraine initiative appears to be on the right track. And with the appropriate interventions, it should improve with time. But wouldn't it be wonderful if this policy were applied to all refugees fleeing countries like Afghanistan, Eritrea, Syria and Yemen, which, too, have been laid to waste by war?
