Meeting of the Parliament 19 December 2023
Just a week ago, we were here discussing the human rights of asylum seekers in Scotland. Many colleagues highlighted the important contribution that asylum seekers and refugees have made and will continue to make to our communities. We know that those who fled Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and sought sanctuary and refuge here in Scotland have already made valuable contributions to our communities, our culture and our country.
We should be proud that Scotland has stood resolutely with Ukrainians fleeing war. We should be proud that more than 25,000 displaced Ukrainians have been supported here. We should be proud that we opened our hearts and homes to so many people in perhaps the greatest humanitarian protection that we have ever undertaken.
I am very grateful to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, individual local authorities, the Scottish Refugee Council and others in the third sector who have worked together over the past 21 months to develop a warm Scots future. Strategic planning and the implementation of those plans are everyone’s responsibility.
We talk about our tradition of hospitality and welcome and about Scotland being a nation of immigrants, but that tradition and culture is clearly under threat, given the actions of, the legislation that has been passed by and the approach that has been taken by the UK Government, which is desperate to undermine us. We must keep doing things differently here.
Although we applaud the generosity of people opening their homes and families to those in need, this issue is too important to leave to individual actions alone. A warm Scots future represents a shift to looking ahead, with the focus being on the integration of Ukrainian refugees in all aspects of Scottish life. We want them to be able to play active roles in communities across Scotland and to have the opportunity to rebuild their lives and fulfil their potential in work and education. The strategy highlights the importance of education, which must be accessible for people of all ages, from childcare provision to postgraduate degrees.
We need a warm Scots future in spirit, but we need it in reality, too. The homes that we provide need to be literally warm in winter and not too hot in summer. Quality housing is a key foundation for a thriving future, as others have highlighted. I hope that we can build on schemes such as Aberdeen City Council’s use of the Ukraine longer-term resettlement fund to bring up to 500 homes back into use across the city. Of course, when those homes are no longer needed by Ukrainians, they will be retained as part of the city’s social housing stock for others in need.
Our response to the war in Ukraine showed our capacity for imagination, empathy and solidarity. People faced experiences beyond our comprehension, and we pulled together. We have collectively learned about trauma, community building and the strength of the bonds of our shared humanity. Over the coming years, we will need to build on all that and more, as we will see an increasing number of international crises: wars over territory and scarce resources, natural disasters and climate catastrophe.
What we have learned over the past two years can help us to facilitate deep and lasting support for Ukrainians and, I hope, for all others who need sanctuary and refuge, because our commitment to a shared humanity must be for all people, not just for those who are deemed worthy.
The work that we do will be complemented by work on the international stage on peacemaking, on mitigation of and adaptation to climate change and on reconstruction that is based not on corporate enrichment but on grass-roots participation and democracy. We must grasp the opportunity to show feminist foreign policy in action.
We should be proud of what we have done in Scotland, but we must always strive to do more. We must be acutely aware of wars, oppression and climate effects across the world and of the people affected. They are equally in need of sanctuary—