Ready to Receive Refugees from Ukraine
PM Katrín Jakobsdóttir, in Alþingi. mbl.is/Kristinn Magnússon
Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir stated in Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament, yesterday that Icelandic authorities are ready to receive refugees from Ukraine, if requested to do so, mbl.is reports The Refugee Committee has been asked to assess the situation and offer suggestions regarding the number of refugees to receive.
“Peace is in fact the basis for all progress — economic as well as social,” Katrín stated. “I know that I speak for all of us when I say that we truly hope this warfare will be brought to an end as soon as possible.”
“If things continue to develop this way, I find it likely that we’ll get a request to receive refugees [here in Iceland], or that authorities will decide to do so,” Stefán Vagn Stefánsson, member of parliament and head of the Refugee Committee, tells mbl.is.
Minister of Social Affairs Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson called a meeting of the Refugee Committee last Friday to discuss the situation of people who have been forced to leave their homes in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of their country.
The role of the Refugee Committee is to oversee the reception of so-called quota refugees, that is, refugees invited to the country by Icelandic authorities.
Stefán states that talks with municipalities will be conducted to assess where refugees could be housed.
