The Independent’s campaign to welcome Ukrainian refugees is a proud moment – but a sobering one

In 2015, my colleagues at The Independent and I were in the newsroom, fielding calls from correspondents, charities and eyewitnesses, each reporting on one terrible and terrifying thing – the number of refugees fleeing Syria.

It felt, then, as though public sentiment had finally come together – that our empathy had widened, collected around the shocking photograph of the body of little Alan Kurdi, washed up dead on a Turkish beach, which was splashed across so many newspaper front pages. He was three years old. My daughter was also three years old when Alan died. The stark horror of that image has never left me.

Alan’s brother, Galip, aged five, and their mother, Rihan, also died when their small dinghy capsized on route to the Greek island of Kos after they had fled the Syrian city of Kobani. The family had dreamed of joining Alan’s aunt Teema in Canada. Their story, despite its raw and searing tragedy, was far from unique – and neither was it the last of its kind. Since then, we’ve carried scores of reports of people lost at sea in the Channel after attempting to reach sanctuary in Europe by way of overcrowded, unsuitable boats.

So, seven years ago, on the news desk at The Independent we devised a campaign to try to help those displaced by war, and a hashtag to spread the news more widely on social media – #RefugeesWelcome. It had a noticeable effect: more than 100,000 people signed our petition calling for Britain to “take its fair share” of people fleeing violence and persecution.

Now, we are here again, pushing out our campaign – centred this time on Ukraine, currently subject to invasion by Russia. At the time of writing, we are on day four of war in Europe. Many of us are watching with horror and helplessness from afar, observing another humanitarian crisis unfold before us via our laptop screens, phones and on social media.

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It can feel frustrating at times like this, not knowing how we can help or make a positive difference, and wanting to avoid centring ourselves in the narrative of war when we are the lucky ones, the unaffected. We must never lose sight of whose plight this is: that of the Ukrainian people.

One thing we can do, as a newspaper, is campaign – we can put pressure on the British government to listen to the people who are desperate for help; to listen to our calls to help them, exactly as we’d hope for in return. On the Voices desk, we can amplify the stories of those affected, and give a platform to MPs who will take the argument to the heart of Westminster and lay out our demands.

I feel immensely proud to work for an outlet like The Independent, but it is pride mixed with deep regret. It’s regretful that we have to campaign in the first place; that it takes the pressure of news organisations and UK citizens for our government to do the right thing. We hope our government will follow the example set by Ireland and Portugal, and waive its own rules to accept refugees without visas. Let’s hope those in power listen.

Yours,

Victoria Richards

Voices editor