Uruguay accepted 42 Syrians fleeing the civil war in their country last year and five Syrian refugee families want to leave the South American country now. According to Reuters, they protested outside of the president’s offices in Montevideo and demanded the country permit them to leave.
“I am not afraid to go back to Lebanon,” 36-year-old Aldees Maher, whose family had initially sought safety in a refugee camp across the border from Syria told Reuters. “I want a place that guarantees me, my family a life.”
The families want to leave Uruguay, because they believe the Uruguay did not deliver on the promises of high-income jobs when they were granted asylum. The families’ complaints about the country comes at a time when hundreds of thousands refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan are flooding Europe.
“I don’t have any way of getting a job to earn enough money and look after the family. Before we came, the embassy told us we could earn $1,500 a month,” said Maher, whose family was turned away by immigration officials in Istanbul, Turkey.
Uruguay’s government says it is not up to them as to whether another country allows entry for refugees settled in Uruguay.
Refugees settled in other countries are also showing discontent in Italy and other European countries.