Resource launched by Christian-Jewish group to support modern-day refugees

The Christian and Jewish group set up in 1942 to help Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe has launched a new resource who want to help today’s refugees.

Writing in the Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ) resource booklet, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis spoke about the “tremendous impact” of his 2015 visit to a refugee camp, where he heard first-hand how Afghan children had fled war.

The 21-page booklet, which points those interested in volunteering to local groups and information centres, was supported by Jewish human rights group René Cassin and Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE).

The number of displaced people worldwide is at its highest since the Second World War, and is predicted to only rise over the coming years.

Lord Alf Dubs, who came to the UK as a Jewish child refugee on the Kindertransport, urged the UK Government to take its fair share of unaccompanied children seeking shelter in the UK, but it was only after charities such as Safe Passage took the Government to court – and won – that the Home Office admitted 1,800 children.

Dubs, whose name was given to the scheme to bring unaccompanied children to the UK, addressed CCJ’s first workshop on tackling the refugee crisis in February, as the organisation reflected on its work and its roots.

“The CCJ’s founders came together to help Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe,” said a CCJ spokeswoman. “Now, Jews and Christians are marking that history by working together to help people who find themselves in this position today.”