British Gov. Criticized for Greeting Refugees with Red Tape

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Yes, madness and war crimes. As we have heard, the ICC is beginning an investigation. I mean, this is really very, very serious. And, in the meantime, we have talked about the many countries who are taking in nearly two million now, hundreds of thousands in various countries around…

JAN EGELAND, SECRETARY-GENERAL, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: Yes.

AMANPOUR: … but not here in the U.K. There has been criticism of the U.K. system, whereby some 300 visas out of some 20,000-plus applications have been processed to date. What would you say to the British? And we had a very powerful intervention to Parliament today, historic, really, from President Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

EGELAND: Well, what I would say to Britain, as all of the other nations, be part now of a European responsibility-sharing scheme. Poland cannot take more than a million refugees. I mean, all of Europe said, we couldn’t take a million. Why should Poland be alone on shouldering that? Moldova, very poor, have tens and tens of thousands now. So, of course, the U.K. and all of the rest would have to be part of this responsibility-sharing for people leaving, as well as for assisting all of those left behind in Ukraine, which will cost billions and billions and billions of dollars that cannot be taken from the even poorer people in Afghanistan and Somalia and in the Sahel and in the Congo. We’re overstretched and underfunded, with 80 million refugees and internally displaced people before Ukraine happened. All of that, we’re looking to U.K., we’re looking to all of Europe, and all of the other donor countries.