From the Serbian Cultural Center „Danilo Kiš“, Ljubljana,
to the attention of:
Ban Ki Moun, Secretary General of UN
Angela Merkel, PM of Germany
We address this Plea to you with the hope that you will act ASAP and end the crisis which, at this very moment, is endangering lives of tens of thousends of refugees moving from Anatolian and African coasts toward the North of Europe, and at the same time challenging the fragile stability in the Balkan region.
We ask for a free corridor for refugees thrughout the Balkans and Central Europe.
We will not discuss or judge the policies and behavior of the governments in the countries along this tragic journey: the main problem now is that in athe absence of any agreed common policy, regulations and practices along the Schengen borders are constantly changing as it comes, by countries, thus generating confusion in the region, resulting in poor decisions and often inhuman measures, and clearly arbitrary and manipulative small politics. The UN principles concerning refugees have been violated, human rights trampled upon, families and friends are being separated, children tyranized and scared, lives put to highest risk. The recent decision to virtually close the Schengen borders may seriously impact both local legal systems and the basic EU and UN documents.
We plea for the opening of all fronteers from Greece to Scandinavian countries and a free flow of refugees by state-provided transport to ensure their human dignity. This could be a temporary measure, to protect these people and the whole region from suffering and possible bloodshed.
We address you as citizens, regardless of country, religion, gender or ethnic origin and completely independent of our respective governments. We are, however, ready to cooperate with any local and EU administration in solving the unbearable plight of the refugees, our fellows men, women and childen in distress.
We are confident that you have the authority, will and means to suggest firmly and quickly such measures to all governments in the region, in order to prevent an even more catastrophic situation.
We offer our help in accommodating refugees on the way, feeding them, sharing, talking to them, perhaps convincing some of them to stay with us without burdening any public funds. We are ready to work in information centers in order to control the flow, to document, personalize, guide and support refugees with no conditioning whatsoever regarding their identity or personal goals.
We are ready to drive refugees from one point to another without any remuneration. We think that the hospitality is a small, but important relief. We can make it even better by engaging voluntary translators, nurses, cooks, nannies, artists to make them smile, musicians and lots of others.
We are sure that this is the right moment to show that EU is not a closed community of privileged, and that UN is not a bureaucratic fortress, to show to you and to the world that citizens are the most important part in deciding and caring about human rights.
By signing this plea, I declare that I am ready to offer whatever may be in my capacity to put through this action to save both human lives and the political stability in the region.
I pledge that all I can and will do will be voluntary and without remuneration.
I hope that my contribution will both help people and confirm my belief in basic UN and EU princliples.