Governments on Tuesday pledged about $4.5 billion more than 2015 levels in contributions to the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to address the global refugee crisis at a summit hosted by Obama at the United Nations, a White House statement said.
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The president’s announcement also included a pledge by countries to increase financial contributions to United Nations appeals and humanitarian groups by about $4.5b (£3.5b) over 2015 levels.
It would not be the first time a US president took action on the Middle East at the end of a term.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has welcomed the significant new support committed today by governments to improve protection and solutions for refugees at today’s Leaders’ Summit on Refugees, convened by US President Barack Obama in NY.
Earlier in the day, Obama told the entire U.N. General Assembly that nations needed to follow through on their pledges “even when the politics are hard”.
A recent study by from the UN’s refugee agency estimated 65.3 million people were displaced from their homes by conflict or persecution in 2015, up by over five million from the prior year.
The president conceded that many people have grown frustrated with economic inequality and governments they see as unresponsive-attitudes that have helped fuel the rise of GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump in this country as well as the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom.
“Mr. Obama would have done much better to use this opportunity to advance an American agenda, not a global one, and praise our nation as a model of liberty and tolerance”. “It’s a crisis of our shared security, not because refugees are our threat but because refugees are often fleeing war and terrorism”.
“Some argue the future favors the strongman”, Obama said, in remarks that will echo in the 2016 U.S. campaign as much as the Kremlin, or Tiananmen Square.
He called it “an ugly lie that must be rejected in all of our countries by upholding the values of pluralism and diversity”.
“‘The world is too small for us to simply be able to build a wall” and prevent extremism from affecting societies. Save the Children calls on world leaders to host another summit next year to ensure the vision of the Leaders’ Summit is realized.
“Surely Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel”, he said to United Nations representatives, reports the Independent. He said that would send the message that countries like the USA were “somehow opposed to Islam”.
They pledged to help increase school enrollment for refugees, ease restrictions on employment and housing, and provide refugees legalized status.
David Swanson, a spokesman from the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Aid, said the airstrike was a “devastating blow” for the Syrian people.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II offered an impassioned defense of Islam while condemning extremists as outlaws who want to “drag us back to the dark ages”.
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That’s considered a blistering pace in the world of worldwide diplomacy, reflecting a sense of urgency in the fight against global warming and a desire to seal the deal before the Obama administration leaves office.
