Stories from Our Advertisers

Responding to a growing international crisis, thousands of Iceland’s residents have taken to social media to put pressure on their government to take in more migrants.

The island nation has already said it will take in 50 migrants, but officials said on Tuesday that the country would consider raising that number.

A newly formed Facebook group, Syria is Calling, which has more than 13,000 members, is urging the government to take in 5,000.

“The idea is to show the government that there exists a will to receive even more refugees from Syria than the 50 that have already been discussed. We want to push the government — show them that we can do better, and do so immediately!” a group post said in English and Icelandic.

The group said some of its members have offered to open their houses to migrants and others have volunteered to donate money, clothes, furniture and other items, or to help the new arrivals assimilate.

The Facebook page also said: “Refugees are our future spouses, best friends, our next soul mate, the drummer in our children’s band, our next colleague, Miss Iceland 2022, the carpenter who finally fixes our bathroom, the chef in the cafeteria, the fireman, the hacker and the television host. People who we’ll never be able to say to: ‘Your life is worth less than mine.’

Continue reading the main story

Traveling in Europe’s River of Migrants

Thousands of migrants and refugees are desperately pushing their way through the Balkans, trying to reach Hungary before it seals its border.

Sept 2Budapest Train Station Haunted by Ethnic Division

Sept 2Sneaking Across the Border to Hungary, 4-Year-Old Zain ‘Was a Real Hero’

Sept 1Budapest's Keleti Train Station Has Become a de Facto Refugee Camp

“Open the gates.”

The group said it would present the ideas to the country’s welfare minister “to show the government that there exists a will to receive even more refugees from Syria.”

One of the group’s hosts, the writer Bryndis Bjorgvinsdottir, said that she would pay for the flights of five Syrians, and that she knows a man who could house them.

Thousands of migrants, many of them from the Middle East and North Africa, are escaping war and strife in their homelands, with some of them taking a perilous journey across the sea in an effort to reach safe harbor in Europe.

Iceland, which has a population of 320,000, was hard hit by the financial crisis seven years ago, but there have been recent signs that its economy is improving, with tourism booming and 4.1 percent growth in the gross domestic product predicted for this year.

Multimedia Feature The Global Refugee Crisis, Region by Region In the latest crisis, tens of thousands are racing to Hungary before a border fence is finished. OPEN Multimedia Feature

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson said a special council of ministers would assess how many migrants could be taken in, Reuters reported.

Iceland Review quoted Eyglo Hardardottir, the social affairs minister, as saying in a televised interview that there were plans for municipalities to estimate how many refugees they would be able to accept.

Responding to concerns that an influx might strain Iceland’s resources, Ms. Hardardottir said migrants have historically paid taxes and contributed to society.

“We are one of the richest nations in the world, and we can accept many more than we have been accepting in the past,” she said.

The Syria is Calling Facebook page mentioned that the country’s people banded together to help in 1973, when 4,000 people fled to Iceland from a volcanic eruption in the Westman Islands off Iceland’s southern coast.

In the current refugee crisis, some citizens have offered rooms in their homes, or suggested housing migrants in a former army base.

“It is evident that it is immoral to have it standing empty while people are dying,” one Icelander, Oli Gneisti Soleyjarson, wrote in a Facebook comment.

Read more http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/640387/s/49825e21/sc/11/l/0L0Snytimes0N0C20A150C0A90C0A20Cworld0Ceurope0Ciceland0Eresidents0Ejoin0Eon0Efacebook0Eto0Eoffer0Ehelp0Eto0Erefugees0Bhtml0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm