Leaders from 193 member countries took part in the first-ever meeting on “Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants” to come up with a solution to help the 65.3 million displaced people, AP reported.
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The refugee issue is one 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.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says more than 65 million refugees exist and many have been forced to escape their homelands to sidestep unsafe conflicts – like the civil wars in Syria and Yemen and terrorist activities in Libya and Pakistan. More than 27 million refugees are so-called “internally displaced people” who live within their homelands.
He said there was still a long way to go in resolving the refugee crisis as he felt in many areas, protection for the refugees were in fact regressing.
The Obama administration is hopeful the Leader’s Summit on Tuesday afternoon can build momentum for more action.
Last week, the White House announced that the US would resettle 110,000 refugees in the coming year, a 30 percent increase over the 85,000 allowed in this year.
“I do think there’s a general feeling that things have hit some sort of a tipping point – the combination of events around the wold, and the fact that Syria keeps getting unbelievably worse” said Kate Phillips-Barrosso, senior director for policy and advocacy at the International Rescue Committee.
He also thanked countries participating in the summit for increasing their contributions to humanitarian assistance efforts by $4.5 billion.
George Soros promises to invest $500 million to “meet the needs” of migrants and refugees globally.
“We must seek to increase worldwide funding and humanitarian assistance, offer opportunities to resettle refugees and alternative legal routes for the admission, facilitate the access of the refugees to education and regular jobs”, they also said, noting the importance of increasing the number of countries providing significant levels of humanitarian assistance and resettlement”.
World leaders attending the United Nations summit for Refugees and Migrants have pledged to build a comprehensive response framework for the ongoing crisis.
Governments engaged in extensive, intensive negotiations, in an atmosphere of heightened political tensions surrounding refugees and migrants in many countries.
“You hear all around the world the United Nations hasn’t handled the refugee crisis”.
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Turkey houses the most refugees of any nation, with 2.5 million, followed by Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, Ethiopia and Jordan.
