Mr Viita said: “While there is a need for increased funding, states and agencies should also be taking a broader perspective that allows refugees to integrate and find work so they can support themselves and contribute to their host countries”.
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The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants commits governments to protect the human rights of all refugees and migrants. “And those countries that are amongst the world’s worst abusers of refugee rights, such as Australia and European Union states, can not be allowed to tout small offers of help as a generous response to the crisis”.
The biggest more recent wave of refugees came from Syria. The Chinese leader stressed the coordinating role of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in solving matters concerning that topic.
Billionaire investor George Soros says he will invest $US500 million ($A663 million) to meet the needs of migrants and refugees.
The refugee crisis is at the top of George Soros’ agenda.
The increasing number of asylum seekers from those war-torn nations has sparked political debate in Europe and the USA over where the refugees should be rehomed.
In his remarks at the Leaders Summit on Refugees at the United Nations, Obama said 50 nations around the world have made the promise.
The issue of what to do about the world’s 65.3 million displaced people took center stage at the UN General Assembly with leaders from the 193 member states converging on NY for the first-ever summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants. General Assembly President Peter Thomson of Fiji said he was “horrified” that so many refugees were “met by hostility and hateful rhetoric”.
This roundtable is just one part of Obama’s Tuesday efforts to help increase opportunities given to refugees around the world.
On behalf of the UN Chief, his Deputy Jan Eliasson delivered the closing remarks last night, noting that the adoption shows that despite differing perspectives, the world can unite around common principles and around core commitments to refugees and migrants.
The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants is a multi-faceted pledge by the UN’s 193 member states to create by 2018 a universal document with guidelines for the treatment of refugees and migrants and more equitable sharing of the burden of absorbing itinerant populations. “We look forward to working with states to put them into action”, said Grandi.
The conflict in Syria and resulting migrant crisis in the Middle East and Europe have dominated headlines over the past 18 months, but refugees are a global problem.
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At the end of 2015, there were 65.3m forcibly displaced people.
