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CHRISTIAN ORGANISATIONS URGE UNITED STATES TO INCREASE REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT INTAKE IN RESPONSE TO GLOBAL CRISIS

16th September, 2015

A number of Christian organisations have joined in calling for the US Government to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees during the current financial year in addition to increasing the total US resettlement commitment to 100,000.

Church ministries Church World Service and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service have joined with member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in making the call for the increase before the fiscal year ends on 30th September.

Erol Kekic, executive director of the immigration and refugee program for CWS, said that while 60 million people are currently displaced from their homes in countries including Syria as well as Somalia, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the US response “is nowhere near what it was so many years ago”.

Syrian refugees in Hungary. PICTURE: © Daniel Fekete/Hungarian Interchurch Aid/ACT Alliance

“This is the crisis of our generation and we have a moral responsibility to do something about it,” he said.

According to the WCC, the US has resettled just 1,517 Syrian refugees since the start of the conflict.

More than 60,000 people have already signed a petition demanding the US do more to respond to the refugee crisis and Church World Service aims to gather 100,000 signatures before the end of the month.

Linda Hartke, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration Service (LIS), said the petition would send a clear message that the US Government needs to increase its resettlement efforts.

She said images of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi’s body washed up on a beach in Turkey caused many people to lift up their heads in sorrow and ask “What can I do to help refugees like Aylan and his family?”

The organisations and churches, as well as advocating for an increase in resettlement numbers, have also been involved in giving aid to refugees who have arrived in the US.

~ https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/authorize-and-resettle-syrian-refugees-us

~ www.oikoumene.org

– DAVID ADAMS

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