Signatures needed for a Petition launched in the Languedoc to support a Syrian Family

General Discussion
1

https://www.change.org/p/pierre-pou%C3%ABssel-le-pr%C3%A9fet-de-l-herault-pr%C3%A9fecture-de-montpellier-non-a-l-expulsion-de-la-famille-al-elfi-vers-l-espagne?recruiter=1372082&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

Hérault, France. 11 April, 2016

A Syrian refugee family of five in L’Hérault has been ordered to leave France abruptly

and without understandable reason. They arrived in France from Spain in February

and, since that time, have complied with all registration and filing requirements of the

French government. On Monday (5/4) their request to be allowed to apply for asylum

in France was unexpectedly refused on the grounds that one family member, the

father, had fingerprints on file in Spain – bringing the Dublin regulation into effect.

The family’s passports had taken from them by the Prefecture and they were told that

they would have 30 days to file an appeal with the administrative court in Marseilles.

Only three days later (7/4), they were called to the police station to collect their

passports. When they arrived they were given documents requiring them to return to

Spain almost immediately (11/4) and told that their passports would be returned to

them at the airport. This haste (only one business day) denies them the opportunity to

make an effective appeal and makes it impossible for the mother to receive

necessary medical care already scheduled for next week.

This decision is an unexpected departure from the application of Dublin regulations in

other cases up to now.

The result is that this good family will suffer great harm both emotionally and physically.

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Please sign and support this family

3

Why will they "suffer great harm both emotionally and physically"? I happen to like Spain. The weather is much better than here and the last time I went it was awsome.

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No support in Spain and after the devastation of their lives, starting over would be much easier with a good support network which they have here. There are health issues. Have you signed the petition? I suppose Spain is great for a holiday but living there is a different thing!

5

"Have you signed the petition?" No

Neither country is at war and if France and Spain agree that they should be moved there then so be it. You have over sold this by saying they will suffer greatly Shakuntala. Greatly compaired to what? War?

6

Oversold this. There are people who are supportive to the Syrian people. Obviously you're not one of them. Don't sign petition. There are plenty who haven't. Currently just under 2000 have in the last 48 hours!

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So you have concluded because of my comments that I am un-supportive to Syrian people? Really?

There are 7.4 billion people on the planet and 0.00001001% have signed the petition. The petition currently stands at 733 and not 2000 Are all those who have not signed also unsupportive of the Syrian people?

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If you were supportive, you would have signed the petition. You seem to want to debate this. This was a request for support. I have spent the last 6 months supporting Syrian Families in my area, around 18 families in total. They have all suffered terrible injustices and most are deeply traumatised. The way they have been treated by the authorities only adds to this. I don't think it is possible to oversell their problems. And if that is they way you view it, then yes, I would say that you that you are unsupportive of the Syrian people!

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I agree with carl, being deported to spain is not the end of the world, if that is the first country they landed in then they should register there, although what for me this shows is that there is a need for a european solution to refugees,

let us face the facts, turkey is not a safe place for syrians, they are subjected to race hate and violence and due to lack of state help for them to get there lifes on track are often left with no health care and needing to resort to crime and prostitution to make ends meet

we need to have an eu quota system of some description so people are moved to another country within the eu dependant on factors such as if they have family there, if they speak the language, and who has the most resources to host those who need it

personally i will not be signing as i believe if you are fleeing a war zone then spain is perfectly safe country for you to settle, if you can prove otherwise i will sign and i will also help in any way i can with any legal action taken to brussels, however i will continue my goal of badgering every elected official i can get address for a greater effort to rehome those who need it.

yes i do care, and that is why i believe that petitions like this, whilst may help the odd person, are taking away valuable resources that could be better spent.

don't be the person who saves a village, be the person who saves a country!

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"No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted … "

"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone"

I think it comes down to whether you are a doer or someone who just has opinions about things we can and cannot do. I can't save a village or a country but I can try and help a family fulfil their wishes. They do have ties here. The mother speaks French and their lawyer took their case because she felt it was worth fighting. I am not going to blab their personal trauma on here or any other terrible things that I have heard over the last 6 months. If you do not believe me, then it sort of justifies you not signing.

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the reason for not signing is because i believe spain is a safe place for them to settle and that by helping to promote the travel beyond there is a waste of democratic time, i would rather the money and time was spent on looking for a way for us to not displace these familys in the first place, if they are in europe then they are safe, if there is a european country they are not safe in then that is something we should be fighting

and as for fleeing war, your main goal is to keep your family safe, if they are granted asylum then they can work towards citezenship and then have the same rights as any european citizen, they are safe for now and will be reunited, it will just take a little more work for them.

we can't help everyone, but we have already stopped them dying, rather than putting more time and effort into helping them get to where they want to be tomorrow rather than in 10 years time we have let another 20 we could have helped die. first priority is safety, after that we can look at preferences

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"No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted … " How true.

Having read the information in the link you provided, I have signed the petition. This family have been pushed around for 4 years..on top of losing everything. I think it common sense to let them stay here and finally have a place where they can rest and start rebuilding their lives.

How easy it is to blithely dismiss their tragedy. I wonder how many of us "immigrants", who so easily slipped into the Country, with our comfy pensions, would cope in this situation? The problems we read on SFN everyday pale into insignificance by comparision.

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Thanks Paul, for the support. It is greatly appreciated and your empathy too! I'll let you know how things unfold :)

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This is just silly, and I really don't want to seem rude. Spain//Syria. I choose Spain. Spain//France, France is richer so I choose France.

Are we looking at vital needs or benefits?

I admire what you are trying to do, but I will not sign.

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Hi Tobias. Can I say that I have no interest either way who does/does not sign this lady's petition - so I have no great inclination to convince people one way or the other. It just felt "right" to me.

That said, having read the backstory behind the petition, I find it odd that respondants seem to be falling over themselves to tell everyone that they "say NO".

This family have had their life turned upside down, they have managed to join a small community here of fellow strugglers which makes them feel more secure, the mother of the family has medical treatment due to take place, and the family speak French (not Spanish). They need some stability.

They naturally would now like to stay here. What's silly about that? Is that not a vital need? What have benefits got to do with anything? What would you want if in their position? As Ms Advani says above, if you're not interested in signing, don't sign. She's put the word out there to make people aware, not to have people shoot her down.

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I am honoured to know a couple of the amazing support group helping this family and I am totally in support of the family settling here. The mother was I believe, educated in a French UNESCO-sponsored secondary school and speaks the language well. The children are already integrating with other children in the village. The family have a network of volunteers helping them, why force this family who have already been through so much to have to move on again? There is help here on a local level and the family would have a very strong chance of integrating fully into French society.

I have signed the petition.

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I have signed the petition but really controversial question is raised. On the one hand society is scared by all the scandalous stories about criminals among refugees, on the other hand, if peaple want to be intergrated in local society they should have a right for it. I know one Sirian refugee, good speicialist who had to move to Finland. And now he learns Finnish and wants to enter the university and get a job.

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For those of you who have signed the petition, each vote is so gratefully appreciated by the family and by those of us who taken them into our hearts.

For the others .... I've uploaded a tweet by the Pope and also a link to an article that appeared in the Sunday Observer yesterday. Perhaps you will re-evaluate your view that their lives are worth less than your own .... http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/17/refugee-family-fled-syria-france-face-explusion-dublin-regulation

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How on earth did you conclude that I believe their lives were worth less than my own?

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I read this earlier and thought it was rather condescending. Almost as if we couldn't find info for ourselves, read, digest and make up our own minds.