MORE than 400 people - including a York MP - have signed a petition calling for some of the asylum seekers trapped on Greek islands to be relocated to York.
The petition on Change.org, addressed to Lord Mayor of York Janet Looker and council leader Keith Aspden, says 40,000 asylum seekers are being forced to live in overcrowded camps with limited medical services and inadequate sanitary facilities on the Aegean islands.
It says York is the UK’s first human rights city and should join with other European cities in demonstrating its commitment to basic human rights by pledging to resettle an exact number of refugees in its jurisdiction.
York Central Labour MP Rachael Maskell said on the petition: “We have a moral duty to protect the most vulnerable people in our society, and do all we can to support those who find themselves in a vulnerable position.”
She told The Press: "As the UK’s Human Rights City, we have special responsibility, as set out in our city’s declaration, to put fundamental rights at the heart of our policies, hopes and dreams for the future.
“We cannot live in freedom while others are tied in bondage, unless we act.”
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