130,000 sign petition to demand Britain accept more refugees

London, Sep 3 (IANS/EFE) More than 130,000 people have signed an online petition, which could be debated in parliament, that asks the British government to provide asylum to more refugees.

The petition claims that the government of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron is not offering asylum to refugees at the same level as other European countries in the immigration crisis facing the continent.

"We can't allow refugees who have risked their lives to escape horrendous conflict and violence to be left living in dire, unsafe and inhumane conditions in Europe. We must help," the petition claims.

The petition was presented through the website of the British parliament after exceeding 100,000 signatures, and may be discussed in the House of Commons.

The proposal points out that, according to UN data, in 2014 Germany was the country with the most asylum applications, with 173,100, followed by the US (121,200), and Turkey (75,000), while Britain received only 31,300 applications.

With the severe crisis in Europe, the emergence of the image of a three-year-old child dead on a Turkish beach has revived demands that the situation is resolved and increased pressure on the British government to accept more refugees.

However, Cameron said on Wednesday that accommodating more people in the country was not the "answer" and argued that the solution to the crisis is "to bring peace and stability" in the Middle East.

--IANS/EFE

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