We are living in a time in which there are more refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people than at any time since the close of the Second World War. Two million men, women and children have fled the Syrian civil war alone, while perhaps twice as many people have been uprooted from their homes and communities and been forced to move within Syria itself. Astonishingly, just five per cent of those people forced to move by the conflict are not still in the Middle East: in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Egypt.

It is not just Syrians.

Afghans and Iraqis are fleeing terrorism and war. Eritreans have been forced to move by the dictatorship and disregard for human rights which rules in their home country, still physically and emotionally scarred by a protracted war with Ethiopia.

This is a time of acute human need.

Just last year, 1861 separated children claimed asylum in this country. You can follow the stories of some of  the many child refugees in the UK here: http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/animation

This is a time when every act of humanity matters.

That's where the Refugee Council steps in. They not only support refugees and asylum seekers, for example by providing them with emergency shelter and food aid, but also empower them as human beings, teaching them the English language, how to write a CV and how to navigate the UK's often complex asylum system.

There is no magic wand to solve the current refugee crisis.

Surely treating every refugee with compassion, dignity and above all humanity, is the most basic and obvious response?

no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well

 you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land

 'Home' by Warsan Shire