Photo of drowned Syrian toddler sparks outcry, increases pressure on Cameron for UK to do more to help with Europe's refugee crisis
The widely published photograph of a drowned Syrian toddler, washed ashore on the beach of a holiday resort at Bodrum in Turkey, has sparked an outcry over the human cost of the refugee crisis in Europe.
The picture was featured on the front pages of many British papers.
The Independent published a number of images of the dead child, saying it did so "because, among the often glib words about the 'ongoing migrant crisis', it is all too easy to forget the reality of the desperate situation facing many refugees."
The Independent said the "extraordinary images serve as a stark reminder that, as European leaders increasingly try to prevent refugees from settling in the continent, more and more refugees are dying in their desperation to flee persecution and reach safety."
According to the Telegraph, three-year-old Aylan Kurdi was one of five children confirmed dead after two small boats attempted to cross to Greece from Turkey.
The Times called the images "heartbreaking" and says the fate of the dead children will "intensify demands for a more generous response to this emergency".
The Telegraph said that the deaths of the young children were "only the most heart-breaking incident in another day of crisis along Europe's troubled borders, with new figures from Frontex, the European border control agency, estimating that 23,000 people had arrived in Greece alone last week."
In a review of the papers, BBC News noted that the Financial Times reported that David Cameron was attracting criticism at home and abroad over his response to the refugee crisis.
Cameron said yesterday: "We are taking action across the board... the most important thing is to try to bring peace and stability to that part of the world. I don't think there is an answer that can be achieved simply by taking more and more refugees."
The Guardian reported that Cameron faced "accusations of heartlessness", with shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper saying the Prime Minister was turning his back on the worst migration crisis since the second world war.
Cooper said the UK should take in 10,000 Syrian refugees to help ease the crisis.
As Germany faces receiving hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers this year, the German Home Affairs spokesman was quoted by BBC News as warning: "If the British Government is continuing to hold this position that Great Britain is out of the club in this big task in sharing the burden, certainly this could do some harm to the bilateral British-German relationship, and certainly also to David Cameron's ambitions to be successful in the renegotiation."
The Financial Times called Cameron's stance a "political miscalculation".
According to BBC News, Conservative MP David Burrowes said the UK "should accept thousands, not hundreds" of people and a senior UN official said the UK could "do more".
However, a Downing Street source suggested to the BBC that calls for the UK to accept more migrants would not be heeded.
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights said today on Facebook that he was "seriously concerned" over Cameron’s position that the UK should not provide protection to more refugees.
The Washing Post noted on Tuesday that just 216 Syrian refugees have qualified for the UK government's official relocation program, a number which would fit on a single London Underground train and leave plenty of seats to spare.
The House of Commons Library published an updated briefing on Syrian refugees and the UK today and noted that over 4,000 Syrians have been granted asylum in the UK since the start of the humanitarian crisis (as at June 2015).