Stand up for a Welcoming Europe: need for more signatures!
Last Updated: 04 July 2018
by Giacomo MANCA
The EU Affairs Office of the Salvation Army is engaged in the campaigning for the #WelcomingEurope European Citizens Initiative, which aims at collecting about 1 million signatures to to ask Europe to condamn any act criminalising the solidarity of European Citizens towards refugees and asylum seekers. Unfortunately, after 2 months only a bit more than 50.000 signatures have been collected.
Since 1 million signatures need to be reached within one year, the ECI will not be successful at its current pace.
The three main goals, better explained on their website are the following:
1. Citizens across Europe want to sponsor refugees to offer them a safe home and a new life. We want the Commission to offer direct support to local groups that help refugees who are granted national visas.
2. No one should be prosecuted or fined for offering humanitarian help or shelter. We want the Commission to stop those governments that are punishing volunteers.
3. Everyone has the right to justice. We want the Commission to guarantee more effective ways and rules to defend all victims of labour exploitation and crime across Europe and all victims of human rights abuses at our borders.
For this reason we would like to ask you to spread the message in your families, Salvation Army cores, communities, workplaces to motivate the higher number of people to sign in! Videos, petition letters and informational material is available on the web, and each EU country has an NGO coordinating the campaign. Please, do not forget to sign at www.weareawelcomingeurope.eu/, and do not hesitate to write us to be put in contact with your national coordinators of the campaign in your country and to receive more material in your language.
A letter on this topic was produced to comment the sad developments in Hungary, where the Parliament has recently passed a series of laws that criminalise individuals and NGOs that offer help to migrants in need. Please, download the letter and make it circulate among your contacts!
Tags: Europe