EUROPE-MIGRANTS/FRANCE-SYRIANS Syrians sleeping rough on Paris street "being ignored" says local charity

Record ID: 140039

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/FRANCE-SYRIANS Syrians sleeping rough on Paris street "being ignored" says local charity
  • Date: 11th September 2015
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 10, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SYRIAN ASYLUM SEEKERS WITH THEIR CHILDREN LIVING IN TENTS ON THE EDGE OF THE STREET VARIOUS OF SYRIANS SHARING CLOTHES THEY WERE DONATED MIGRANT CHILDREN PASSPORT BELONGING TO SYRIAN HUSSEIN ALKASEM (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN ASYLUM SEEKER, HUSSEIN ALKASEM, 26, SAYING: "It is good that Francois Hollande is going to receive 24 thousand people but it is not a lot, in Turkey according to the information I have heard there are at least 2 million, there are lots of families in Turkey who don't even have a piece of bread and among them is my sister." SYRIAN AHMAD AL ASAN WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN ASYLUM SEEKER, AHMAD AL ASAN, 19, SAYING: "These people have recently arrived here. Some are helped by being given somewhere to stay, they are given something to eat and drink or a tent to sleep in. People are managing to get by as you can see. There are some like me who are going on to other countries. Some are going to Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, to Belgium." VARIOUS OF SYRIAN WOMEN TAKING DONATED FOOD FROM A VAN SYRIAN WOMAN BRINGING FOOD FROM THE VAN TO THE TENTS AREA CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (French) MEMBER OF HUMANITARIAN ORGANISATION "REVIVRE", SABREEN AL RASSACE, SAYING: "They reacted very badly. They reacted very badly because for them the situation is unfair. They have been in France for a long time, and they are not being taken care of, they are being ignored, while those who have been arriving in the last few days from Germany are taken care of by France. They are not saying these people shouldn't have these rights of course, but they just wonder why there is such an imbalance regarding aid and solidarity." SYRIAN MAN WALKING PAST CERGY-PONTOISE, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 9, 2015) (REUTERS) CANTEEN IN ACCOMMODATION BUILDING FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS VARIOUS OF DESSERTS BREAD IN KITCHEN VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF FRENCH CHARITY AND STATE ORGANISATION HELPING MIGRANTS, GIVING THEM CLOTHES OR PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE VARIOUS OF ACCOMMODATION FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6X6JPMQ9C9IQYHTGDB2DYNZST
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Dozens of homeless Syrian asylum seekers in Paris were still waiting on Thursday (September 10) to be given decent accommodation and felt left out of France's reception plan for asylum seekers.
    France announced this week 24,000 asylum seekers would be welcomed in the next two years. The first busloads of asylum seekers arrived from Germany this week and were offered food and a roof.
    While refugees recently arrived from Germany were receiving assistance in centres outside Paris, some Syrian asylum seekers, including children, who had managed to reach the French capital, are facing a much harsher reality.
    Dozens have been sleeping in tents on a street pavement, stuck between a bus stop and the road. Although they started their asylum procedure weeks or months ago, they are still waiting for proper accommodation.
    "It is good that Francois Hollande is going to receive 24 thousand people but it is not a lot, in Turkey according to the information I have heard there are at least 2 million, there are lots of families in Turkey who don't even have a piece of bread and among them is my sister," Syrian asylum seeker Hussein Alkasem told Reuters.
    Alkasem said he has been living for three months in the camp in Paris and is trying to get recognised as a refugee in France. He said he worked as a prosthetic technician in the Syrian city of Aleppo, but had to flee for fear of his life because of regular bombing targeting his neighbourhood.
    He reached Europe through Spain, travelled to Belgium and asked for international protection there.
    But his request was rejected and was told he had to return to Spain, where he first got registered as he entered Europe and where he was supposed to ask for asylum, according to the Dublin regulation.
    The Dublin regulation is a set of asylum rules first drafted in the early 1990s which require people seeking refuge to do so in the European country where they first set foot.
    Alkasem said residents in the makeshift camp in Paris come and go all the time, as soon as some find a place to stay, they leave and new ones arrive.
    Living conditions are precarious on the street, yet asylum seekers say this camp allows them to keep together and help each-other.
    "These people have recently arrived here. Some are helped by being given somewhere to stay, they are given something to eat and drink or a tent to sleep in. People are managing to get by as you can see. There are some like me who are going on to other countries. Some are going to Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, to Belgium," Syrian asylum seeker Ahmad Al Asan said.
    Al Asan arrived in France at the end of August and is now living in the pavement camp while he waits to be given a roof in the French northern city of Lille, where he asked for asylum hoping that in a smaller city waiting time would be shorter than in Paris.
    These Syrians are being helped by local charities but reports showing well organised centres for recently arrived asylum seekers came as a cold shower to them, said Sabreen Al Rassace, of the humanitarian organisation 'Revivre',
    "They reacted very badly. They reacted very badly because for them the situation is unfair. They have been in France for a long time, and they are not being taken care of, they are being ignored, while those who have been arriving in the last few days from Germany are taken care of by France. They are not saying these people shouldn't have these rights of course, but they just wonder why there is such an imbalance regarding aid and solidarity," said Al Rassace.
    The several groups of migrants from Syria and Iraq who arrived from Germany by bus at a centre in Cercy-Pontoise near Paris will be provided with shelter, food, clothes and psychological assistance while their asylum requests are being examined.
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