Asylum for Syrian Christians delayed?
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
08.06.2015 12:01
Sixty Christian families from Syria currently waiting to be given asylum in Poland may have to remain in limbo owing to bureaucratic issues.
A handout picture made available by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) apparently showing Syrian army soldiers and Hezbollah members in their positions in the Flita height in the Qalamoun mountains at the Syrian-Lebanese border, on 06 June 2015. EPA
Bartłomiej Kapuściński, who works for the Warsaw-based Estera Foundation which is leading the asylum initiative, told Radio Kraków that the refugees were supposed to be in Poland this week.
Last month, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said that Poland would “start” by taking on 60 of the originally proposed 300 families.
However, Kapuściński has said that the visa process could last another two weeks, and that even then the decision is not guaranteed to be positive.
The refugees are supposed to wait in Beirut, Lebanon, in the meantime.
The foundation itself, which is led by Miriam Shaded, a Syrian who lives in the Polish capital, is covering the costs of transporting the 60 families.
Kapuściński says that problems have emerged as Polish authorities have called for photographic documentation of where the refugees would be housed, on top of the written descriptions already provided.
Accommodation costs are theoretically to be covered by organisations and individuals cooperating with the Ester Foundation. (nh)
Source: IAR