Australia’s Coptic community rallies to help Syrian refugees

‘We must be a voice for the voiceless’ says Coptic Church Leader

His Grace Bishop Suriel, Head of the Diocese of Melbourne and Affiliated Regions for the Coptic (Egyptian) Orthodox Church, has called on Australian governments and all people to assist refugees fleeing Syria and the rest of the Middle East.

 “The Western world including Australia needs to step up its performance and take the lead in assisting to find real and practical solutions to the asylum seeker crisis in the Middle East,” he said. “Which human being can bear to see such images as that of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi lying alone by the seashore in Turkey?

“Governments, politicians and all people with a conscience need to take a strong stand and end this inhumane situation. We must be a voice for the voiceless and stretch out our hand in meaningful support to alleviate the suffering and pain of each asylum seeker.”

As a Church with its roots in the Middle East, Copts understand the struggles faced by people in the region and Australia’s Coptic community has rallied to help refugees including immigration lawyer Jimmy Morcos.

“I was so deeply affected by the sight of this poor toddler, I am making immediate plans to send a team of immigration lawyers from my office to Lebanon or Turkey to process as many offshore humanitarian cases as possible,” he said.

“The majority of Syrian refugees are now living in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon, where Sabelberg Morcos Lawyers has been addressing their needs and processing their visa applications since 2012.

“In Jordan and Lebanon, weak infrastructure and limited resources are nearing a breaking point under the strain. We have recently been advised that in both of these countries, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has turned back people from registering officially as refugees. This is a serious problem. Australia will only give priority for Offshore Humanitarian Visa applicants that are registered with the UNHCR. There are scores of people now in limbo. 

“In August 2013, more Syrians escaped into northern Iraq at a newly opened border crossing. Now they are trapped by that country's own insurgent conflict, and Iraq is struggling to meet the needs of Syrian refugees on top of more than one million internally displaced Iraqis.

“An increasing number of Syrian refugees are fleeing across the border into Turkey, overwhelming urban host communities and creating new cultural tensions. Two months ago, I witnessed the inhumane conditions that these people are living in.

“Thousands of Syrians flee their country every day. Based on seeking their personal claims for protection, they often tell us they decide to finally escape after seeing their neighborhoods bombed or family members killed. The risks on the journey to the border can be as high as staying. Families walk for miles through the night to avoid being shot at by snipers or being caught by ISIS.

“The hundreds of applications that we have processed over the past three years are people from the regions of Aleppo, Homs and Damascus. There is a mass exodus of Christians from these regions due to IS targeting. Communities are completely decimated, churches are bombed and those that remain are extremely vulnerable. The Australian Syrian Christian communities are distressed for their loved ones that are both displaced and remain in Syria.”

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About the Coptic Orthodox Church

The Coptic Orthodox Church is the largest Christian church in Egypt and the Middle East. The Diocese of Melbourne and Affiliated regions is led by His Grace Bishop Suriel and comprises Coptic communities in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, ACT, New Zealand and Fiji. One of the oldest Christian churches in the world, it began in 55AD when Saint Mark the Apostle arrived in Egypt. Today there are 12 million Copts worldwide. The word ‘Coptic’ means ‘Egyptian’ and is derived from the Greek word ‘Aigyptos’.