COE Assembly calls for Urgent Plan of Relocation of Syrian Refugees rescued at Sea in Italy+Greece

*Strasbourg/COE/Angelo Marcopolo/- A last minute Amendment quasi-Unanimously adopted by the PanEuropean CoE's Parliamentary Assembly this Evening in Strasbourg to a Report on the "Humanitarian Consequences of the actions of the Terrorist Group known as "Islamic State", drafted by French ChristianDemocrat/EPP MEP and former Minister from nearby Mulhouse, Jean-Marie Bockel, asks to "Activate Immediately an Urgent Project for the Relocation of Syrian Refugees rescued at Sea in Greece and Italy, to Different Countries accros Europe, as recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, from nearby Geneva.

The move came shortly before an Exceptional EU Summit of Heads of State/Government convoked in Brussels by EU Council's new President, Polish former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, for next Thursday Afternoon, April 24, (i.e., by a coincidence, the Same Day with the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide), due to be preceded, on Thursday Morning in Strasbourg, by a PanEuropean Debate between 47 CoE Member States' National Parliament's delegate MEPs, on the Wider current Issue of all the relevant illegal Immigrants and/or Asylum Seekers' "Human Tragedy in the Mediterranean" Sea and the "Need for Immediate Action", drafted by the President of CoE's Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced persons,  French ChristianDemocrat/EPP MEP Thierry Mariani (UMP), which "calls on the EU Member States to adopt a Comprehensive approach to deal with Mixed Migratory Flows accross the Mediterranean, with a view of carrying out an Urgent and Concerted Action", (Comp. Infra).

Meanwhile, the above-mentioned Amendment adopted Today by CoE's Assembly to Bockel's Report on the Humanitarian Consequences of ISIL's Terrorism, also asks to "Support Countries such as Italy and Greece, currently experiencing High Pressures of Refugee Flows, to Adequately Receive Asylum Seekers and Process their Asylum applications". It's interesting to note that this particular CoE's Resolution is explicitly Adressed not only to the 47 Member Countries of the PanEuropean Organisation, but also to "the Observer States with the CoE", i.e. including, in particular, also the USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, etc.

+ Moreover, that same last-minute Amendment, which was adopted by 60 Votes for, against only 1, and 8 Abstentions, also asks to "Activate Solidarity Mechanisms to Share the Responsibility between EU Member States, ("the EU Directive for Temporary Protection being an Option" for that), as well as to "provide Legal and Safe Passage for Syrians wishing to access EU Member States".

It was initially Tabled by 6  MEPs mainly from the New Governing Party in Greece, SYRIZA (Left), but also 1 from Cyprus, including Dimitri Vitsas, No 1 Secretary of the currently Governing SYRIZA Party, who has just been Elected as a New vice-President of CoE's Assembly, and, speaking later to "EuroFora", said that he chose to participate into the PanEuropean Organization's Political Committee, (chaired by Experienced, former long-time Foreign Minister of Greece, Dora Bakogianni, a ChristianDemocrat/EPP MEP).

Meanwhile, according to another Amendment, also adopted Today by COE's Assembly at this same Report, Srasbourg's Organisation for Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law, "also Welcomes that Germany has so far taken in 33.000 People from Syria, through Humanitarian Programs", i.e. "More than 1/3 of those Syrian Refugees who have found Shelter outside of  the Crisis' Region", as the official Text observes, (citting, f.ex., a "Special Programme by the (nearby) German Bundesland of Baden-Wurttenberg, taking up to 1.000 Women and Minors who are Victims of Sexual Violence"). It also adds, in this framework, "the Swedish Authorities' Decision to grant Permanent Resident Status to Syrian Asylum Seekers".

This is added to German Chancelor Angie Merkel's reported call for Immediate Action to avoid more Tragedies in the Mediterranean EU Sea entries, according to her Spokesman, Stephen Seibert, in the run up to Thursday's EU Summit

The above-mentioned Bockel's relevant Report, - whose overall Resolution was adopted by COE Assembly's Plenary Today Unanimously, with 67 Votes for, against O (Zero), and 2 Abstentions -, also asks, inter alia, f.ex. t Increase Funds allocated to Humanitarian Organisations on the spot of the areas affected by the Terrorism of ISIL, "which is regarded as the most Violent Jihadist movement in the World, and is accused by the UNO, the Arab League, USA and the EU, of being a Terrorist organisation responsible for War Crimes, Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes against Humanity", as it denounces. "Executions and offensives by “IS”’s jihadists are now daily occurrences in Iraq and Syria, resulting sometimes in the disappearance of entire communities", COE's Report notes.  "According to the SOHR, (Syrian Organisation of Human Rights), “IS” executed at least 1 429 People in Syria between June and November 2014. The groups affected the most have been Women and Girls who, when captured, are regarded as commodities, sex objects or Spoils of war".

+ Moreover, "since ... 2014, the situation in Syria has Deteriorated still further", because "of the Number of Attacks and Executions" by ISIL "on the Borders of Syria or of Iraq" with Turkey. "This relates above all to Women, girls and Children, who account for the large Majority of Syrian Refugees", COE's Rapporteur noted, after paying Visits in Geneva and on the spot.

Because of Turkey's "Reservations" vis a vis the 1951 Geneva International Convention on the Status of Refugees, their "Status" there seems to be only "Temporary and Reversible, and permanently to imply some Threat of Expulsion", CoE's Report denounces.

Paradoxically, among "about 1 600 000 registered Syrian refugees", only "223 000 of them are living in one of the 22 Camps", while a Large Majority of  "891 000... live Outside the Camps".

"Minors account for 51% of the total number of refugees", while "a new influx of refugees was recorded following the offensive by “IS” fighters against the Kurdish city of Ain al-Arab (or Kobane in Kurdish) in northern Syria", at Turkey's Borders. "As a result, over 150 000 Syrian Kurds entered Turkey in a few days", Bockel reminnds.
But, "according to ...Amnesty International, increasing numbers of refugees are Refused entry and Shot at with live Ammunition at the Borders" of Turkey. Currently, f.ex., "in the region of Suruç, between 500 and 600 People are Waiting to cross the border... The effect of this is that most refugees try to get over the border at Unofficial transit points, which are Not easily Accessible, and unfortunately ... they rely on ..Smugglers".

=> That's one of the reasons for which "a large number of the Kurdish Refugees from Syria have preferred to prolong their journey, making for the Remote Gawilan camp in Iraq, having found that living conditions have become very Difficult in Turkey" for them.

Indeed, inside Turkey, many such "People live on the Street or in crowded mosques, without any food or money, ", a large majority live in urban areas, with no other resources than income from undeclared jobs or begging", while "the growing number of refugees on the streets of large cities contributes to the increased Hostility of the local population" of Turkey. "To house and feed themselves, families take Desperate measures, which frequently include making their Children Work", denounces CoE's Report.

At the Syrian Kurdish City of Kobane, "“IS” continues to be a threat, as fighting is still going on in the surrounding villages and the town has been completely devastated and is just a mass of ruins and gutted and deserted buildings. This is hindering the return of the some 200 000 Syrians who have sought refuge in Turkey. Their return is all the more theoretical since the Turkish authorities are Prohibiting them from Crossing the Border"....

+ Moreover, "there are approximately 2 million children in need of assistance in Syria and over half a million in neighbouring countries, many of whom are living in camps". "During my visit to Turkey", "I remember the picture of the 11-year-old Syrian refugee in Turkey which went viral on social media" : "The child was Crying and Bleeding because he had just been Hit by a restaurant Manager for trying to Eat a customer’s Chips. That was a symbol of the Suffering of Syrian refugee children in Turkey", denounced Bockel. Indeed, "the influx of refugees has caused tensions with some Turks", also because of "the increasing number of Syrian children to be seen on the streets in big cities like Ankara and Istanbul, whose only options are begging or scavenging for food" "Those outside the camps who are in the greatest hardship and half of the Syrian children in Turkey do not attend school". "Schools have also become places of Tension between Syrian and Turkish children". "Syrian families do not have enough money to survive and even if some children may have the possibility of going to school, they cannot do so because their families depend on them for financial survival. ... through Begging". In Turkiey, "the situation is also very insecure and often dangerous for girls and young women. Men have tried to enter the camps and exert pressure on young Syrian refugee women by offering them (early) marriages, as the price for financial security and physical protection. Some of the women accept these marriages, which will often obscure situations of sexual exploitation", COE's Report denounces.

=>     Therefore, "Following the influx of such refugees, the UNHRC proposed that States introduce a resettlement policy and a humanitarian admission programme",  "aimed primarily at the most vulnerable".  "Resettlement involves the selection and transfer of refugees from a State in which they have sought protection to a third country that admits them as refugees with a permanent residence status.

Humanitarian admission is a process which affords similar but fast-track protection in a third country for refugees who are most vulnerable".. " Unfortunately, the proposals concern only a tiny proportion of the Syrian refugees. In particular, ...individuals regarded as vulnerable refugees who could make a contribution to the reconstruction of Syria after the conflict or individuals who have family members living in the country concerned".

"Germany was the first country to volunteer to take in Syrian refugees under the temporary admission programme. Over 40 000 Syrians accordingly live in Germany and have been naturalised....The United Kingdom has established a vulnerable person’s relocation scheme for Syrian refugees and taken in 90 people. Ireland has launched a Syrian humanitarian admission programme and has accepted 111 people", (etc). . ..."A core group on Syrian resettlement, comprised of resettlement Countries and chaired by Sweden, in co-operation with the UNHCR", has been set up", CoE's Rapporteur notes, "encouraging" CoE's "member States to follow these examples and ...to continue taking in as many Syrian refugees as possible".

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However, it's also a Fact that, in "Recent Declarations", "Leaders of the Terrorist Organisation called "Islamic State" announced their Intention to Smuggle their own People, Mixed with the Flows of Refugees, and Tasked withy Committing Terrorist Attacks in Europe", so that "they have raised Legitimate Questions about Security", as the following CoE's Report on "the Human Tragedy" of "irregular Immigrants", extending throughout all Mediterranean Sea", adopted, Earlier Today, by COE Assembly's Committee on Migration, Refugees or Displaced Persons, and drafted by its President, French MEP Mariani, (Comp. Surpa).

- "In 2014, the Total Number of Irregular Migrants who Crossed the Mediterranean Sea amounted tp over 210.00", and "3.500 People perished at the Sea", this new CoE's Report notes for the Southern Borders of Europe, while, almost at the Same Time, according to the OSCE, some 1 Million 200 Thousands of People were Displaced also by the Ukranian Conflict, and at least 6.100 People Killed, including 4.405 Civilians, inside North-Eastern Europe, (most affected People, being from Donetsk/Luhansk Autonomist Regions)...

In the Mediterranean, among the "Recent Tragic Incidents", is included also "a Fight which broke out in one of the Boats, as a result of which, Mirants of Christian origin were reportedly Thrown overboard by passengers of Muslim confession", according to Witnesses, as a CoE's Draft adopted by the competent Committee notes, in a case which has Started to be officialy Investigated by the Italian Police, as COE's Rapporteur, and President of the competent Committee, French MEP Mariani, together with a well informed Italian MEP, confirmed to "EuroFora".

"Coupled with recent reports about the Killing of 27 Christian Migrants by the so called ISIL at the Libyan Coast," all this, naturally "raises Questions" also "about the Threat of transposing Religious and Ethnic Conflicts on to European soil".

Therefore, for CoE's Assembly, "the Key Challenge is to Reduce the Number of People settling off on a Dangerous Sea Journey", and, for that purpose, "it's Crucial to identify and Addres the Ways to Decrease Migratory Pressures in the Countries of Origin and Transit".

One may ask what makes those People to feel Necessary to leave Transit Countries, such as, f.ex. Turkey, and Flee to Europe,  instead of staying to live there, pointed out a Brittish Expert with a long experience on such issues, during a Hearing organised by CoE Assembly's Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons' Committee, (where participated also 2 other Experts from Libya).

While calling, inter alia, also to "Combat against Humman Trafficjrs and Smugglers" with "a Common Action at European Level", while also "Urgently" "Strengthening Rescue Operations in the Sea, with increased Contributions from All Member States", as well as "to Review the Dublin Regulation" in order to "Share Responsibilities" between all Member Countries, for "receiving and processing .. Asylum seekers", that Draft Resolution also calls to "Increase Legal Alternative Migration Channels, including Resettlement"", as well as to "step up Humanitarian Aid and Development projects in the Countries of Transit and Origin", in parallel with an "Enhanced Cooperation, including Administrative, Judicial and Investigative", (etc).

But, in this regard, CoE Assembly's Draft, as voted Today by the competent Committee, "considers that the Measures anounced" by the "10 points Conclusions of the EU Council of Ministers of 20 April 2015", earlier on Monday, "are Utterly Insufficient".

Therefore, Strasbourg's PanEuropean Organisatio for Democracy, Human Rights and Rule of Law, "expects that the comprehensive EU Agenda on Migration, due to be anounced in May 2015, will address the issues" raised.

(../..)

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