‘Islamophobia’ behind refusing Syrian refugees in Guernsey
The chief minister of the British dependency Island of Guernsey has cited “Islamophbia” for refusal to take any Syrian refugees fleeing the war-ravaged region.
Jonathan Le Tocq further stated that “negativity” would make it difficult to ensure the safety of any incoming refugees, BBC reported Saturday.
"There's certainly a lot of Islamophobia and negativity that's been around and that would entail that it would be difficult for us to ensure that [the refugees] would find the sorts of security and stability here in Guernsey, were they to be resettled here, in the same way as they are, say, in other parts of the UK," said the Channel Island minister.
The remarks by Le Tocq followed a Thursday announcement by Guernsey’s policy council that it would not accept Syrian refugees as part of Britain’s Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme.
The minister further said "that vulnerability," along with “concerns about infrastructure,” were among the reasons why the Policy Council had made the decision.
The report further cited aid worker and former journalist Eddie Parks as censuring Le Tocq's remarks as "disgraceful," adding that it was an "awful, awful commentary" on Guernsey, which he said had an "amazing reputation" for accepting "other people coming in from outside" since the mid-19th Century.
Guernsey, which lies in the English Channel nearly 50 kilometers off the northern coast of France, has a population of only 65,000.
The island is not officially considered a part of the UK but a British crown dependency with its own laws and parliament.
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