Obama presides over a summit Tuesday that aims to hike financing of global humanitarian appeals for refugees; increase ways in which refugees can be resettled; and place more refugees in school – all goals more specific than the general ones pledged to on Monday by all member states of the United Nations, which adopted the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants.
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States attending the summit committed to increase funding by US$4.5 billion over 2015 levels.
The top US diplomat has urged Pakistan’s prime minister to prevent “all terrorists” from using the nation’s territory as safe havens.
The issue of what to do about the world’s 65.3 million displaced people will take center stage at the General Assembly with leaders from the United Nations’ 193-member states converging on NY for the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants.
“Lebanon, Iran, Ethiopia. Countries that often have fewer resources than many of those who are doing little or nothing”, he said.
During the summit, the American president highlighted that the refugee crisis represents a ‘test for our worldwide system, where all nations must share collective responsibilities given the majority of the refugees are welcomed in 10 countries’.
The key driver of the modern crisis has been Syria’s long-running civil war, though large numbers have also fled instability in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It was the second time that Obama has used the podium at the General Debate to attack Donald Trump’s stated desire to erect a wall along the U.S. -Mexico border. “But we need to wait to see whether governments will actually go back home and practice what they signed up for”, said Liebl.
“It is an ugly lie that must be rejected in all our countries”, Obama said.
“This crisis is a test of our common humanity”.
National Security Advisor Susan Rice in June announced that the gathering – co-hosted along with the United States by Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico, Sweden and the UN Secretary General – would seek an increase in funding of at least 30%, a doubling of permanent resettlement, and expanded access to education and work rights for refugees.
He added it was not fair that a handful of countries, mostly with limited resources, are bearing the burden of hosting the maximum refugees.
“Protecting and assisting refugees is a part of our history as a nation, and we will continue to alleviate the suffering of refugees overseas and to welcome them here at home, because doing so reflects our American values and our noblest traditions as a nation, enriches our society, and strengthens our collective security”, he recently told a crowd during World Refugee Day. “In order to move forward.”, the president said, “we do have to acknowledge that the existing path to global integration requires a course correction”.
“It’s an issue that’s captured the world’s attention more in the past two years than at perhaps any time since World War II, seared into the public’s consciousness by photos like that of a 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned in the Mediterranean and the flood of migrants into Europe”.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven pledged to donate more funds and to increase refugee resettlement in his country.
“Just as failure to act in the past … is a stain on our collective conscience, I believe history will judge us harshly if we do not rise to this moment”, he said.
The investment comes three months after a White House-led “Call to Action” asking private sector businesses to give opportunities to refugees who are “a valuable, untapped resource” and “can thrive and contribute wherever they reside”.
Facebook, Twitter, MasterCard, Johnson & Johnson, yogurt maker Chobani are among companies that have pledged financial and in-kind support to help ease access to education, employment and financial services for 6.3 million refugees in more than 20 countries.
In particular, seven countries – Romania, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Italy, France, Luxembourg – committed to resettle or admit at least 10 times more refugees than in 2015, according to United States officials.
Last week, the White House announced that the USA would resettle 110,000 refugees in the coming year, a 30 percent increase over the 85,000 allowed in this year.
In addition, Turkish President Erdogan also commented on the issue on the sidelines of United Nations summit on refugees.
The commitments announced Tuesday fell far short of what aid groups say is needed to address the crisis. “There are some credibility issues”.
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Perhaps not surprisingly, he struck an above-the-battle, intellectual approach designed more for the leaders in the hall than for partisans looking for sound bites.
