EU refugee summit (March 17-18)

According to Tilman Zülch, Secretary General of the Society for Threatened Peoples, Germany and Europe should primarily help refugees whose lives and well-being are immediately at risk. “The top priority of our refugee policy must be to actively help people out of situations of acute danger – to save the lives of the wounded and the sick, of children and elderly people,” said the human rights activist in Göttingen on Wednesday. “We can’t just wait and see whether the refugees will manage to reach Europe on their own. Rather, we have to pave the way for the most needy – to get them out of the overcrowded refugee camps in their countries to keep them from dying a miserable death. Also, we must help refugees who are currently living in host countries that are unable to ensure adequate living conditions.”

Among the most vulnerable groups are ethnic and religious minorities such as the Yezidis (who are threatened with genocide), Christians of all denominations in the Middle East, but also Eritreans who live in fear of terror and violence, as well as members of minority groups living in Afghanistan. Zülch demanded that they must be able to find refuge in the EU. Otherwise, most of them will hardly be able to escape death.

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