Long-term refugee targets ‘would help west regain moral purpose’

Afghan refugee schoolchildren at a makeshift school on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. Photograph: Rahmat Gul/AP

Liberal democracies can regain their lost sense of shared moral purpose by agreeing to set a long-term internationally agreed target for the number of refugees they are each prepared to take each year, Rory Stewart, a former Conservative cabinet minister, has proposed.

Unveiling his plan to the Guardian, Stewart said: “Reforming the international resettlement coalition around the Afghan crisis presents a rare opportunity for key liberal democracies to restore their moral authority, form a workable international coalition, and deliver rapid, concrete, ethical results.”