SNS Worried by Campaign for Syrian Orphans

SNS Worried by Campaign for Syrian Orphans

Bratislava, October 2 (TASR) – The Slovak National Party (SNS) finds as incomprehensible the fact that the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry chose to engage in “dubious, unsystemic and inappropriate” discussion on how many children Slovakia could “steal” from Syria under the veneer of humanitarian aid, instead of informing public about the Slovak international aid, director of the SNS chairman’s office Zuzana Skopcova said on Tuesday.

“The Slovak National Party harbours concerns about the campaign waged by NGOs, mainstream media and opposition SaS (Freedom and Solidarity), coached in emotional language and employing tools of brutal emotional blackmail, the purpose of which is to stir within the collective public subconsciousness an urgent sense of moral responsibility to shelter the so-called Syrian orphans in Slovakia,” reads the press release of SNS.

The junior coalition party maintains that Slovakia, along with other EU countries, belongs among the most munificent donors to help refugees in terms of aid-to-income per capita ratio. According to SNS, the Slovak aid to Syria highly surpasses the aid provided by citizens of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or the United States.

SNS points out that the Government already earmarked another €3 million for the EU Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian crisis, €1.7 million for UN funds and programmes dealing with humanitarian aspects of the migration crisis as well as €600,000 to support conflict prevention and €550,000 for the Peacebuilding Fund. “The information presented by European Commissioner for Migration (and Home Affairs Dimitris) Avramopoulos established that Slovakia has already contributed more than €10 million also to EU states in order to address their own problems with migration,” added the SNS.

Over the weekend, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) said on an RTVS talk show that Slovakia won’t display lack of solidarity and is willing to shelter Syrian children – although not at refugee camps, but rather at foster homes. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, providing shelter to the Syrian orphans would be a voluntary contribution of Slovakia and Bratislava has been championing such an approach long-term. Representatives of the opposition SaS maintain that Slovakia is a country rich enough both in wealth and empathy to take care of the Syrian orphans.