Generous, bold action needed to help Syrian refugees: Amnesty
Human rights group urges voters to press parties on issue
The federal election on Oct. 19 gives Canadians another chance to raise their voices on behalf of Syrian refugees, says the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada.
“I think people can be active on all levels,” said Alex Neve, who was in Victoria this week speaking to media and meeting with supporters.
“Certainly, there is an election and within ridings across the country there are candidates from all parties vying for our votes.
“I think it’s imperative that Canadians make it clear to all of those candidates that one of the issues that will be foremost in our minds as we exercise our vote, is wanting to see a generous, bold and visionary plan for Syrian refugees.”
While the election has given prominence to the issue of Syrian refugees, it has also led to politics and finger pointing, Neve said.
“What we really need to see is the parties coming together, putting politics aside and recognizing that Canada needs to rise to this challenge today, not on Oct. 20,” he said.
“And the best way we rise to that challenge is by ensuring that is not partisan and that it truly becomes a co-operative effort.
“We’ve not seen that yet, unfortunately.”
There is no time to waste, Neve said.
“Every day that we delay means another boatload capsizes in the Mediterranean, or the hardship and misery in an overcrowded refugee camp deepens and another group of refugees — perhaps with Canadian connections — makes a decision to start a perilous journey because they don’t feel there are avenues that are safe and effective to get to Canada.
“The UN says that we’re looking at close to four million refugees now and perhaps as many as another eight million Syrians who are displaced within Syria. It’s staggering, the numbers.”
The International Organization for Migration says more than 464,000 migrants and refugees crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Europe this year, and that 2,182 died on the way.
The agency says among those making the crossing were 175,000 Syrians travelling via Turkey and Greece.
Neve has been involved in refugee issues in Canada for close to 30 years and said the country has reacted to the Syrian crisis in an unprecedented way. He said the story of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, who has an aunt in Coquit- lam, has had a huge impact in Canada.
The boy was seen lying dead on a Turkish beach in a widely distributed picture, which Neve said “poignantly and dramatically highlighted that this isn’t just about strangers halfway across the world.”
“Very often it is our Syrian neighbours and co-workers and colleagues and students who have these close family connections.”
Amnesty International, which is dedicated to the preservation of human rights, has a role to play in the Syrian situation, Neve said.
“We’re obviously not a service organization and we’re not one of the groups that’s feeding refugees in camps or providing health care,” he said. “We are an advocacy and protection organization, so for us ensuring that refugees receive the safety that they need and the safety that is their right is an absolutely essential part of human-rights protection.”
He said it is often human rights violations that force people to flee, and refugees “are desperately afraid that if they are required to go back to their homes they would experience more human rights violations.”
Neve said Amnesty International is one of 12 organizations calling for much more to be done in Canada in response to the Syr- ian crisis, including putting an emphasis on reuniting refugees with family here.
“I think the overall message is we absolutely need to do more, we need to do it better and we need to do it faster,” he said. “We’re saying, as a start, we would be looking at bringing in 10,000 refugees by the end of the year, and then at the same time immediately convening a high-level summit to think about what numbers we’ll be bringing in for 2015 and 2016.”
Neve noted that Canada has said it would bring in 10,000 people over the next three years. Involvement in the summit should included all levels of government, the private sector and groups that work with refugees, he said.
Canada deserves credit for the steps it has taken, Neve said.
“We have made some very generous contributions to the frontline agencies, United Nations agencies, the Red Cross, humanitarian groups that are working with refugees in the camps in Turkey, in Jordan, in Lebanon. And that’s important, that needs to continue.”