Former British foreign secretary David Miliband has urged the US and UK governments to resist closing their doors to Syrian refugees in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and California, warning that to do so would have a serious “ripple effect” across Europe and the Middle East.
Miliband, who now heads the International Rescue Committee aid agency, told the Guardian that the increasingly hostile tone of the debate on the Syrian exodus in the two western countries posed a major threat to global governance. He called on the US to honour its role as the world leader in refugee resettlement, and accused the British government of making “a very minimal contribution” to the crisis.
“If America shuts itself off, especially to Muslims, that sends a huge message to the Muslim world and also to Europe. There’s a ripple effect – if the west shuts down that has very serious implications,” he said in an interview in New York.
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