Student ! The most frequently mentioned occupation of those refugees questioned in a survey carried out by UNHCR in various locations in Greece along the Greek-Turkish border.

Most refugees that are fleeing the conflict in Syria are, educationally, the flowers of their country.

We, the PES Activists, cannot stand to see flowers withering. We are ready to take action and work together with progressive parties and citizens !

We ask from the European Union in collaboration with EU universities to undertake gender balanced mobility programs for young refugees or/and citizens coming from countries with high possibility of their citizens to be granted asylum and to offer them scholarships in order to be able to come safely and legally to study in our Union.

Scholarships should cover tuition fees, travel expenses and the cost of decent living in the reception countries. One position in each one of the higher education Institutions of the EU means 3300 young refugees per year should be offered a chance for a new life but also the educational background to rebuild their home countries the day after the conflicts.

But it means also something more. It means that they will also become our culture ambassadors that they will play a key role in the near future for the establishment of core values of the Union, like peace and democracy, in their home countries and they will be a permanent link of the Union and third countries.

Your Support, Their life, Our future

In order to empower our demand we need the support of 500 pes activists from 15 different countries to table the initiative at PES Presidency (PES Activists Initiative as Adopted by the PES Presidency 4th February 201)

We need the support of progressive citizens of the Union, of NGOs, of Progressive parties, organizations, Institutions and also of Universities.

When we will fulfill our first goal we will go one step further and we will turn our initiative into a European Citizens Initiative to put more to pressure to the European Commission to legislate on our demand.

...we create paths, legal paths, just paths

The Mediterranean crossing is treacherous, the risk of drowning is constant. But still they come, day after day, in a fleet of dinghies spilling them onto the shores of Greek Islands near Turkey, almost 800,000 so far in 2015 alone.

Most are fleeing the conflict in Syria. Educationally, they are the flower of their country: 86 per cent say they have secondary school or university education. Half of that group had studied at university.

But they carry the wounds of war with them. One in five is still searching for a family member missing in Syria.

These are some of the results of a survey, released by UNHCR in Geneva today (December 8) and available here. It draws on interviews carried out by UNHCR border protection teams in various locations in Greece along the Greek-Turkish border. In all 1,245 Syrians were interviewed between April and September 2015.

The vast majority of those surveyed (78 per cent) were under 35.

The most frequently mentioned occupation of those questioned was student: 16 per cent of those questioned said they were studying before they fled. That was followed by: merchants – nine per cent; carpenters, electricians, plumbers – seven per cent; engineers, architects – five per cent; doctors or pharmacists – four per cent.

Overall, the profile is of a highly-skilled population on the move.

PES Activists around Europe, following PES Crete initiative, strongly believe that we, the Europeans, have to set up legal and safe paths for young girls and boys, for citizens that are fleeing wars, conflicts, or societies with social deficits. Nothing more progressive, nothing more humanist, than protecting people and serving people’s rights and migration is a right for those that are suffering in their own home.

We cannot stand to see flowers withering. We are ready to take action.

Taking into consideration the educational background of refugees, we believe that education must become the VISA, the lifevest for young girls and boys to come legally and safely to our Union to study or continue their studies.

We ask from the European Union in collaboration with EU universities to undertake gender balanced mobility programs for young refugees or/and citizens coming from countries with high possibility of their citizens to be granted asylum and to offer to them scholarships in order to be able to come and study in our Union.

Scholarships should cover tuition fees, travel expenses and the cost of decent living in the reception countries. One position in each one of the higher education Institutions of the EU means 3300 young refugees per year should be offered a chance for a new life but also the educational background to rebuild their home countries the day after the conflicts.

But it means also something more. It means that they will also become our culture ambassadors that they will play a key role in the near future for the establishment of core values of the Union, like peace and democracy, in their home countries and they will be a permanent link of the Union and third countries.

Your Support, Their life, Our future

In order to empower our demand we need the support of 500 pes activists from 15 different countries to table the initiative at PES Presidency (PES Activists Initiative as Adopted by the PES Presidency 4th February 201)

We need the support of progressive citizens of the Union, of NGOs, of Progressive parties, organizations, Institutions and also of Universities.

When we will fulfill our first goal we will go one step further and we will turn our initiative into a European Citizens Initiative to put more to pressure to the European Commission to legislate on our demand.

Your support, your signature, protect young people’s life and a shape our common solidar future.