Financial support should be provided to member states so they can care for refugees regardless of where they may come from

AKEL MEP Giorgos Georgiou

6 April 2022, Cyprus News Agency (CNA)

In a written comment on the debate in the plenary of the European Parliament, Cypriot MEP Giorgos Georgiou said that “with every passing second, a child in Ukraine becomes a refugee, running a high risk of becoming a victim of violence, sexual exploitation and human trafficking”.

“As a Group of the Left”, G.Georgiou noted, “we called on the European Council and Commission to take on their responsibilities, to provide substantial support to refugee children, to assume substantial initiatives for the creation of humanitarian corridors, to transfer all the patients to hospitals in the EU, with costs that should be fully covered by the EU, and for those refugee children suffering from cancer and other diseases to have immediate access to quality treatment and necessary medicines”.

G.Georgiou went on to point out that the EU must ensure their right to shelter, education and a quality life, instead of, as he stresses, prioritising the sending of weapons to Ukraine and boosting its defence expenditure.

The Cypriot MEP concludes that “financial support is needed for member states to take care of refugees regardless of where they may come from”, as well as to fight racism in order to establish a “permanent, fair resettlement mechanism for a fair distribution of the burden”, noting that the danger to humanity comes from the expansionist policies that have made Cypriots too, but also these children refugees.