Like me I am sure you have felt mounting worry, frustration and despair as the Syrian refugee crisis has deepened over the past weeks and months. What we have long described as the most staggering refugee crisis since World War II has continued to worsen every single day. Then yesterday there was the haunting photo of toddler Aylan Kurdi’s body, washed up on a Turkish beach, followed by the news that he and his family had a Canadian connection and that an uncle had unsuccessfully tried to be resettled here. And those feelings spilled over into anguish and shame; but also outrage and determination.
The debate rages about how many Syrians have or have not been resettled to Canada, how that compares to other countries, and how it compares to what we’ve done in the past. None of that matters today or tomorrow.
What matters is that we must dig deeper than we ever have as a nation and make a bold and meaningful commitment to do the most we possibly can to ease this wrenching crisis. Of course resettling refugees is not the entire solution. Of course the Syrian crisis is not just about refugees. Of course we need action, money and political will on every front imaginable. Of course. But it is still, at the end of the day, about ensuring that there is safety for the next Aylan Kurdi and his family; and that desperate refugee journeys do not end in the Mediterranean or in transport trucks in central Europe. That is what matters.
Amnesty International has been pressing the federal government to step up and do more – for and from all Canadians – for the past year. Today that has become urgent. As a nation we may not be a natural leader when it comes to much of what is needed to resolve the Syrian crisis – we are not on the Security Council, we don’t have clout in Damascus, we aren’t a major military power. But we do know how to resettle refugees. We’ve done it impressively and boldly in the past. And we can and must do so again.
We have launched a new appeal to the Canadian government today: http://www.amnesty.ca/news/coalition-letters/open-letter-to-pm-harper-on-canadas-contribution-to-refugee-crisis
We are calling on Canada to commit to government sponsorship of 10,000 Syrian refugees, immediately. As a start. And not over the next 2, 3 or 4 years. Now.
We are also insisting that obstacles to immediate family reunification for Syrian refugees with Canadian relatives be cleared away. Now.
And we have launched the on-line action you see below, which has attracted 20,000 signatures already in just a few hours.
Please take a few minutes to take up this action. Talk about it with your family and friends. And share it widely. Let’s turn the agony that Canadians are feeling today into concerted pressure to do more and do better.
#AylanKurdi
Guest Blogger:
Alex Neve
Secretary General
Amnesty International Canada
(English Canada)