Refugee: A person who is outside their home country because they have well-founded grounds for fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, etc. and is unable to obtain sanctuary from their home country

Don’t we see this happening everywhere in the world? In Syria, Palestine, Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, everywhere people fear others persecuting them because of who they are. They want safety, to go somewhere where people aren’t going to harm for what they believe in.

On 20th August 2015, 500 refugees who were travelling on 2 boats drowned in the Mediterranean, in the pursuance of simply seeking asylum and safety. Approximately 300,000 other refugees have almost died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year.

Despite this the government took no notice of the situation and simply mentioned it in passing. However, when the photo of innocent three year old Aylan Kurdi was published, it triggered anger everywhere. The boy lay lifeless, face down in the sand, his tiny palms upturned. Due to the outcry that followed, the UK has planned to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years from UN camps. However, Labour has said that government plans to re-settle 4,000 Syrian refugees in Britain every year until 2020 is "not enough". And I completely agree. Germany has already let in 75,000 refugees. Sure, Germany is a big country, but it's only twice the size of the UK. If Germany can let in 75,000 refugees, why can we not let in half of that?

It is our responsibility to ensure that we allow as many migrants to have the right to live somewhere safely, especially when their rights are being violated.

If we only let in 4,000 migrants, there will still be millions fighting to have a place to live, and the riots and smuggling that Britain is trying to prevent will continue, which ultimately solves nothing. We should not be selfish citizens and only pay attention to ourselves and our rights. We should also fight for everyone-else to have this right fulfilled, as the only way we can fight this humanitarian crisis is together, as a united nation.