The 17th of October in 1987, more than hundred thousand people joined at The Trocadero in Paris (where the Declaration of Human Rights was signed) to honour the victims of extreme poverty and hunger. As poverty is considered a violation of basic Human Right they thought that these people were suffering from discrimination, which had to end and expressed this conviction on a commemorative stone. Since that day, every 17th of October people have gathered to renew their commitment, and replicas of the commemorative stone were placed around the world for people to show solidarity with the poor.

United Nations, that declared in 1992 that the 17th of October is officially the Day for the Eradication of Poverty encourages all countries around the world to pay respect to this cause and celebrate this day through different solidary events. It is a day to cultivate awareness around the violation s of human rights and get involved to fight against poverty.

Europe is facing the worst migration crisis since World War II due to the Syrian civil war that has forced 12 million people to be displaced from its homes. Many of these refugees, who are now seeking asylum in Europe, are highly educated and belong to the Syrian middle-class. Let´s not forget that most of them have spent in their journey up to £20.000.

Last September 7th, Prime Minister David Cameron, announced his intention to resettle 20.000 Syrian refugees in the next 5 years. Other updates on how UK is helping to address the Syrian refugees´ crisis can be found on the UK´s government webpage.

The UK has become a preferred destination country for those Syrians seeking for asylum due to its prosperous economy, compared to its European neighbours, and to the fact that most Syrians speak English fluently but not that many speak French, Spanish, German or any other European languages.

Anti-Government demonstrations in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring in Syria, triggered a civil war that has been going on during four years and has taken the live of 220,000 people, most of them civilians. Needless to say that Syrian war has resulted in a very complicated political conflict due to the division of the existing fighting groups.

According to the United Nations, more than 12 million people have been displaced, most of them to Lebanon and Jordan. Recently, an increasing number of refugees are arriving to the coasts of Greece and Turkey hoping to find a better future in Europe. The main help this people need is meeting their basic needs and find a job that will enable them to start a new live. But how can we help Syrian refugees to resettle?

Get involved

Sympathize with this cause and don´t turn your back on it. Join the petitions, which urges the UK to accept its share of refugees as well as other activist lobby petitions launched by Change.org and Avaaz and spread the voice to be heard by European leaders.