It was 25-4-25 on 26th May, as 25 parliamentarians turned out to celebrate 25 years of Human Appeal and launch the charity’s 2016 Ramadan campaign, which is being run in conjunction with the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding.
Giving an eye witness account of the charity’s work was Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington and Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, who had just returned from a visit to refugee camps in Lebanon and Turkey. She commended Human Appeal for their work there, saying, “Until you see the work Human Appeal do first hand, you cannot appreciate the magnitude of their work.”
Her words were echoed by Sir Alan Duncan, who had been Minister of State in the Department of International Development during the Coalition Government. He praised the Government for keeping its commitment to spend 0.7% of its income on overseas aid. The Government has faced criticism in recent years for spending too much of its aid budget on projects which benefit British traders rather than being altruistic.
Other parliamentarians in attendance were SNP Parliamentary Leader Angus Robertson, who praised Labour’s Lord Alf Dubs for his work trying to persuade the UK Government to accept more unaccompanied refugee children. Lord Dubs, who was also present, had himself arrived in the UK as a refugee child, escaping from Germany just before the Second World War.
Former Conservative Minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Liberal Democrat peer The Lord Purvis of Tweed were also present, as was disgraced MP Simon Danczuk, who was suspended by the Labour Party when it was discovered that he had been sending inappropriate text messages to a young woman who had applied to work in his office.
The parliamentarians were joined by broadcaster Jon Snow, who contrasted his own upbringing – he didn’t meet any Muslims until he was an adult – with the present, in which we “must treasure our multicultural society.”
Human Appeal CEO Othman Moqbel had returned to the UK that day from the World Humanitarian Summit. He said, “I can feel the world waking up, I can see the desire for change: leaders have committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We see huge challenges but we see even greater opportunities.” He also stressed the human suffering caused by the conflict in Syria and for the international community to tackle the causes of conflict, not just react to the consequences.
Human Appeal estimates that British Muslims will donate over £100 million to good causes this year – a positive image seldom reported in the press.
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