Dear Friend,

This morning, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) joined interfaith, human rights, advocacy, and relief/aid organizations and supporters in front of the White House to call on the Obama administration to do more to address the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Syria. Together, we advocated for the implementation of a two-pronged American approach that confronts the root causes of the conflict and, at the same time, does more to relieve the threats to the civilian population in Syria as a result of the conflict. 

Coverage of the press conference can be found here: CNN, Huffington Post and AP.  Also, watch opening remarks by MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati. He said, “America accepted Vietnamese refugees in the order of 350,000, almost one million Cubans ... so to suggest that we're only going to take 10,000 Syrians is really an injustice to these refugees. It is like telling them, 'go back to your death chambers.'"

We called on President Obama to do the following:

• Increase protection for civilians in Syria
• Prioritize the resolution of the conflict in Syria as part of his foreign policy agenda
• Resettle at least 65,000 Syrian refugees in the United States by the end of 2016

Specifically, we called on the United States to establish safe zones in Southern and Northern Syria to protect civilians from aerial and chemical attacks; to apply greater diplomatic pressure on influential countries that can help stop the conflict; and to resettle between 65,000 and 100,000 refugees in the United States within the next year.

The diverse group of leaders present today included:

• Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Roman Catholic Church
• Sarah Margon, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch
• Antti Pentikainen, Finland Special Envoy for Refugee Crisis in Europe and the Mediterranean
• Dr. Zaher Sahloul, Syrian American Medical Society, American Relief Coalition for Syria
• Salam Al-Marayati, President of the Muslim Public Affairs Council
•  Dr. Sayyid Syed, National Director of ISNA Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances
• Nihad Awad, Executive Director for the Council on American Islamic Relations
• Mirna Barq, President of the Syrian American Council
• Rev. Aundreia Alexander, National Council of Churches
• Rachel Laser, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
• Annie Wilson, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
•  Catherine Orsborne, Shoulder to Shoulder
• Suzanne Akhras, Syrian Community Network
• Jomana Qaddour, Syria Relief and Development

Other supporters of this call include:

• The Syria Campaign
• Islamic Circle of North America 
• Karam Foundation
• The Syria Campaign 

The conflict in Syria is a full-fledged global crisis, with more than 250,000 Syrians killed, 12 million displaced, 1.5 million injured and hundreds of thousands more in daily danger from indiscriminate barrel bombings and aerial attacks targeted at civilian-populated areas. While many European governments are urgently working to address this conflict, the United States’ response has been less active and generated widespread criticism from many humanitarian and refugee advocates. 

Read our action alert to find out how you can take action to help urge the White House to address the current Syrian refugee crisis!

Sincerely,

Rabiah Ahmed
MPAC Media & Communications Director