Czech Prime Minister Offers To Build Orphan Village In Syria

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said Friday he had proposed building a village for some 150 orphaned children in Syria, at a meeting with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.

PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2018) Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said Friday he had proposed building a village for some 150 orphaned children in Syria, at a meeting with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.

"These orphans were born in Syria, they know it and want to stay there. We need to improve living conditions for them instead of moving them to Europe," he said during a tv appearance.

The prime minister was criticized in October for refusing to resettle 50 Syrian children to the Czech Republic after a Czech member of the European Parliament came up with the idea.

Babis defended his decision, citing difficulties of integration, and suggested that Czech authorities help raise orphaned Syrian children by investing in local infrastructure.

The minister said the Syrian government had backed his proposal and offered to choose from any of the bombed-out schools to that end. He could not say how much the project would cost.