MPAC Joins Groups Calling on Obama to Act on Syria

#USLeadOnSyria

September 16, 2015


 

Dear Friend,

This morning, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) joined interfaith, human rights, advocacy, and relief/aid organizations and supporters in front of the White House to call on the Obama administration to do more to address the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Syria. Together, we advocated for the implementation of a two-pronged American approach that confronts the root causes of the conflict and, at the same time, does more to relieve the threats to the civilian population in Syria as a result of the conflict. 

Coverage of the press conference can be found here: CNNHuffington Post and AP.  Also, watch opening remarks by MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati. He said, “America accepted Vietnamese refugees in the order of 350,000, almost one million Cubans ... so to suggest that we're only going to take 10,000 Syrians is really an injustice to these refugees. It is like telling them, 'go back to your death chambers.'"

We called on President Obama to do the following:
  • Increase protection for civilians in Syria
  • Prioritize the resolution of the conflict in Syria as part of his foreign policy agenda
  • Resettle at least 65,000 Syrian refugees in the United States by the end of 2016
Specifically, we called on the United States to establish safe zones in Southern and Northern Syria to protect civilians from aerial and chemical attacks; to apply greater diplomatic pressure on influential countries that can help stop the conflict; and to resettle between 65,000 and 100,000 refugees in the United States within the next year.

The diverse group of leaders present today included: Other supporters of this call include: The conflict in Syria is a full-fledged global crisis, with more than 250,000 Syrians killed, 12 million displaced, 1.5 million injured and hundreds of thousands more in daily danger from indiscriminate barrel bombings and aerial attacks targeted at civilian-populated areas. While many European governments are urgently working to address this conflict, the United States’ response has been less active and generated widespread criticism from many humanitarian and refugee advocates. 

Read our action alert to find out how you can take action to help urge the White House to address the current Syrian refugee crisis!

Sincerely,

Rabiah Ahmed
MPAC Media & Communications Director

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