In his final speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Obama offered praised for nations “right now that are doing the right thing” to help ease the largest refugee crisis since World War II.
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Standing before the United Nations for the last time as president, Barack Obama will reassure foreign leaders that the world is better equipped to tackle its challenges than at nearly any point in history despite a cascade of harrowing crises that seem devoid of viable solutions.
In a criticism of Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rhetoric, US President Barack Obama said if America turned away refugees simply because they are “Muslim”, it would reinforce the terrorists’ propaganda and the “ugly lie” that the US is opposed to Islam. We will build a wall.
“We are facing a crisis of epic proportion”, Mr Obama said.
“We all know that what is happening in Syria, for example, is unacceptable”, Obama said.
“We see too many governments muzzling journalists and quashing dissent and censoring the flow of information”, he said.
“I called this summit because this crisis is one of the most urgent tests of our time”, he said. He drew a parallel to the Holocaust, calling the USA move to turn away Jews fleeing Nazi Germany a stain on America’s collective conscience.
Obama was joined in hosting the summit by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and leaders from Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden.
But Ambassador Samantha Power said that was “still only a fraction” of what was needed because the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has assessed that some 1.2 million refugees need to be resettled.
Now in its sixth year, the war in Syria has displaced nine million people, while more than four million have fled to neighboring countries.
“And collectively, we continue to make excuses”. Germany, for instance, took in 1 million in 2015 alone.
After admitting one million refugees past year, Germany pledged to continue welcoming those in search of refuge.
“Reaching these ambitious objectives will be challenging, yet the level of need demands no less”, Rice said in a statement.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Newly named British Prime Minister Theresa May, making her first address at the United Nations after her country’s vote to leave the European Union, said Brexit was not a signal that Britain was retreating from its global responsibilities. “But the truth is, even if those numbers are hit, it’s nowhere near what’s actually needed”. “And that has an impact in terms of the resources that are dedicated to this effort”.
“Refugees are subject to more rigorous screening than the average tourist”.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011.
President Obama made an impassioned plea as he spoke during the Leaders Summit on Refugees at the United Nations headquarters.
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The summit on refugees, hosted by US President Barack Obama, with the participation of 52 countries and organizations, was held a day after the UN General Assembly (UNGA) hosted a high-level summit on the refugee crisis, which ended without concrete commitments. Ban called the bombers “cowards”. That is why this historic movement of refugees from the global south to the global north, and from rural areas to urban centers, is not just a problem for Europe but for the whole world.
