An appeal to the Minister of the Interior: Take up 50,000 Syrians and enable family reunions! A right to stay for Roma families that have been living in Germany for many years!

On occasion of the opening of the Interior Ministers Conference in Bonn, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) sent an urgent appeal to the politicians on Wednesday, asking them to help alleviate the catastrophic situation of the people in Syria by raising the German quota for refugees from the war-torn country to at least 50,000. "Please help the Syrians who are already living in Germany and enable family reunification," says the letter the human rights organization addressed to the politicians. Syria's neighboring countries have already taken up more than 2.8 million refugees and thus reached their maximum capacity. Also, the eight million refugees in Syria itself are in desperate need for help.

"Almost every day, there are refugees who don't manage to survive their dangerous journey through North Africa and Turkey to safety in Europe," says STP's letter. "Now, we must reach out to them and save lives! The authorities in Germany and the German diplomatic missions should render more generous decisions to ensure that the many children, women and elderly people can leave the war zone and to come to Germany to join their relatives as soon as possible."

According to the UNHCR, Lebanon has taken up 1.095.557 refugees, while 774.635 Syrian refugees found refuge in Turkey, 597.326 in Jordan and 225.409 in Iraq (mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan).

For the about 7,500 Roma from Kosovo who have been living in Germany for many years, the Society for Threatened Peoples demands a quota solution as a "gesture of good will". The families should no longer be under the permanent pressure of imminent deportation into miserable living conditions: "Please ensure that at least the children and young people who grew up here will have a future!"

Dr. Kamal Sido, head of STP's Middle East department, is available for further questions: +49 551 499 06 18 or nahost@gfbv.de.

Jasna Causevic, head of STP's Southeast Europe department, is available for further questions: +49 551 499 06 16 or j.causevic@gfbv.de