18 Sep 2015

John Kerry on refugee crisis ‘we cannot just take people in’

The US Secretary of State told Channel 4 News that the crisis gripping Europe is a human catastrophe but cannot be solved by taking in people.

  • The US Secretary of State told Channel 4 News that the crisis gripping Europe is a “human catastrophe” but cannot be solved by “taking in people.”
  • In an exclusive interview, he told Jon Snow that the US and Russia shared the same goal in “ridding the region of Isil” – and that the problem was President Assad acting as a “magnet” for foreign fighters in the region.·
  • Mr Kerry accused the Syrian regime of war crimes, saying that it was involved in “gassing your people, barrel bombing children, torturing your people.”·
  • Asked about populist movements including the rise of Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn, he warned against losing “our ability to partner and to stand up to very real challenges today”.

John Kerry has said that the refugee crisis gripping Europe is a “human catastrophe” but it cannot be solved by “taking in people.”

Although Mr Kerry admitted that the 10,000 refugees America had pledged to take in is not enough, he said that the solution to the hundreds of thousands of fleeing Syria could not be solved just by countries offering them a safe haven.

Speaking exclusively to Channel 4 News, Mr Kerry said that it was important for countries to act “rapidly” and deal with the “root cause” of the crisis in Syria, rather than the consequences alone.

He added that Syria’s President Assad was not only “barrel bombing children” but was acting as a “magnet” for people joining up to Isis to fight his regime.

Speaking to Jon Snow at the US Embassy in London he said: “I think it is absolutely essential that we move very rapidly because this is a human catastrophe, it is also a moral challenge to everybody as to how people are dealt with but you cannot deal with this just by taking in people, you have to go to the root causes.

“You have to go to the place where all of these people are coming. And particularly when you have a man who has committed war crimes to everybody’s knowledge.

“Gassing your people, barrel bombing children, torturing people.

“Ten of thousands or more photographs of the people who have been tortured and killed and starving people.”

He said that defeating the self-styled Islamic State was also key to dealing with the ongoing refugee crisis: “It needs to be destroyed, stopped completely. Obviously it is the most significant player in the massive migrant crisis that is sweeping through Europe and I think that of course Assad is a key part of that because he is the magnet attracting so many people to fight him in the region.”

Europe

When asked about the political situation in Europe more widely and the possibility of Britain leaving the EU in a referendum, Mr Kerry said that the US wanted a Europe that was “strong and whole and free” and able to act as one when challenges such as the refugee crisis and the conflict in Syria emerge.

Questioned on the rise of support for Jeremy Corbyn in Britain and other populist movements across Western countries, he said that there was “a general dissatisfaction on a global basis with the inability of governments to respond to felt needs of their people.”

In World War Two we came together – that’s when we developed the best part of the special relationship between England and the United States

But he warned people to guard against making decisions which will prevent countries from living up “to our responsibilities on a global basis to stand up to terrorists,” as well as other international issues.

He said: “People are angry. People are frustrated and I understand that frustration. What I want to make sure is, what I worry about is not confusing things, so that we don’t live up to our responsibilities on a global basis to stand up to terrorists, to stand up to legitimate threats to our nations across boundaries, to deal globally together with something like climate change.”

He added: “In World War Two we came together – that’s when we developed the best part of the special relationship between England and the United States, between Great Britain and the United States.“We don’t want to lose our ability to partner and to stand up to very real challenges today.”