World Refugee Day
The UN's General Assembly decided in 2000 to designate 20 June as World Refugee Day to help raise awareness of refugees' situation every year on that date.
The situation in Syria
There are an estimated 12.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria, while more than 200,000 have died since the conflict broke out four years ago. In 2014 122,800 asylum applicants came from Syria, which represented 20% of the total number of applicants in the EU.
Parliament's role
On 20 May MEPs debated new European Commission proposals on migration, including a stronger common asylum policy and binding quotas for EU members to take in asylum seekers.
Matias, who leads the parliamentary delegation for relations with Mashreq countries, including Syria, said: "When we look at the refugees crises in Syria, in the Mediterranean or any other place, there are two options: either we may think that it is not our business, or we can make our roles as members of the European Parliament really count. I definitely prefer the second. The lack of solidarity as an answer is like condemning human beings to death."
The EU still needs to find an agreement on the Commission plans for tackling the migration crisis. Member states will discuss it during the European Council on 25-26 June.
REF. : 20150619IFG68227
