The Euro-Mediterranean movement of solidarity with people in exile continues to grow. Within the framework of the campaign of expansion of this great initiative that are being carried out by the organizations Amel Association International, SamuSocial International with the Mediterranean Citizens Assembly Foundation (FACM), on December 6 and 7 In Lebanon, a hundred organizations and representatives of civil society met to demand that solidarity with refugee people stop being criminalized. At the Beirut Conference, which after the Paris, Athens and Rome has consolidated the Euro-Mediterranean solidarity movement, the ACM Foundation has been represented by members of its ACM circles of Palestine, Beirut, Thessaly, Cyprus and Rome.
The participants in the meeting visited the settlement of Syrian refugees from Sarada in southern Lebanon, and the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Chatila and Haret Hreik, in southern Beirut. During the visit, the delegation, accompanied by Dr. Kamel Mohanna and Dr. Xavier Emmanuelli, was able to see the work of the teams of the Mobile Medical and Protection Unit, managed by Amel and SSI, whose main beneficiaries are children and young homeless population.
The 4th International Conference entitled “Ending the exclusion of the most vulnerable: Solidarity, Humanity and Dignity with people in exile” has been attended by more than a hundred experts, academics, institutions, researchers and representatives of civil society.
“Thesolidarity is a key issue, at a time when it is being deliberately criminalized. The FACM, as a citizen network present with its Circles in practically all the countries of the Mediterranean, facilitates the collaboration of the different social actors in the solidarity mobilization of the citizens. For this reason, the FACM collaborates with this Movement of Euro-Mediterranean Solidarity with the people in exile” said Nikolaos Poutsiakas, member of the Advisory Council of the ACM Foundation and Regional Counselor of Thessaly / Greece.
The journalist Mattia Caimpicacigli, a member of the ACM Circle of Rome and a human rights activist, participated in the Beirut meeting; Doxia Mina, activist and member of the ACM circle of Cyprus, and Hassan Balawi, diplomat and member of the ACM Circle of Palestine. The members of the ACM Circle of Beirut, who hosted and organized the event, gave the participants the opportunity to meet solidarity initiatives with refugees such as the functioning of social and medical centers, educational and protection institutions. In conclusion, the testimonies of the actors and the visits to the field have served to combine positions and strengthen solidarity, humanity and the demand that the dignity of people in exile in the Euro-Mediterranean region be respected.
