Tuesday 8 September 2015

"People look to the skies expecting an airstrike at any time"


Yasmine Nahlawi: "They are there because they have no other option. They've fled a war zone, at least speaking about the Syrians that are there; they have fled a situation where people look to the skies expecting an airstrike at any time, they look to the skies expecting chemical weapons to be dropped on them. They are there because they have no other option, and we see these images, we saw the image of the little boy washed up on the Turkish shore, and people would not put themselves or their children at risk unless there was something very powerful they were fleeing.
 We'd obviously like the government to take in more refugees, to step up to its responsibility and take in more refugees; but more importantly, I think, we'd also like to see more concerted action on the international level to address the underlying root cause of the conflict in Syria. We've had a rĂ©gime that's been massacring our people for the past four years, and until that stops there are going to be more refugees. We want people to be safe in their homes, but if they are not, and obviously if the international community doesn't take action then we want them to welcome more refugees."

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