On World Refugee Day, Tuesday 20 June, the Greens/EFA Group set up a container outside the European Parliament from where it is possible to connect with a number of refugee camps around the world, in countries such as Iraq, Jordan and Rwanda. The portal in the container includes sophisticated multimedia that will bring people into contact one with another and allow them, for example, to follow a concert given by Syrian refugees in Berlin. The container will be in place for three days.
The leader of the group, Philippe Lamberts (Belgium), says that the initiative seeks to give refugees the opportunity to tell their own story, which is often neglected. He criticised the de-humanisation of refugees, described as illegal or irregular and too often associated with negative events. Refugees are too often seen as threats, he regrets. The EU, he argues, is far from its saturation point can still take in many more people, unlike other countries, like Lebanon, which have taken refugees in their millions.
The Greens/EFA Group also wants to use the initiative to relaunch its call for new legal routes for migration to the EU. Since January, some 1,828 people have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)