United Nations member-states adopted a plan on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) to tackle the biggest refugee crisis since World War II amid dire warnings about rising xenophobia in Europe and the collapse of countries bordering war-shattered Syria.
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“Its a test of our worldwide system where all nations ought to share in our collective responsibilities, because the vast majority of refugees are hosted by just 10 countries who are bearing a very heavy burden – among them Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, Ethiopia”.
The announcement came during an ongoing United Nations summit in NY on the crisis.
Billionaire George Soros is known for taking strong stands, not just when it comes to currency bets.
Turkey, home to 2.7 million Syrians, said no country can afford to turn its back on the refugee crisis.
“It is an ugly lie that must be rejected in all our countries”, Obama said. “It’s a test of our common humanity, whether we give into suspicion and fear and build walls”.
Following his United Nation’s address, President Obama joined other world leaders to discuss the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
President Muhammadu Buhari and several other world leaders have adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. Germany, for instance, took in 1 million in 2015 alone.
The promise was that Jordan will continue to bear responsibility for refugees in return for donations by rich countries until the Syrian conflict is solved and refugees return home.
Now in its sixth year, the war in Syria has displaced nine million people while more than four million have fled to neighboring countries. The White House did not release a full list of participating countries or a breakdown of their pledges, making Obama’s boast of major headway impossible to confirm. Sweden has already offered $625 million in humanitarian aid this year, he said.
“Our collective failure to develop and implement effective policies to handle the increased flow has contributed greatly to human misery and political instability-both in countries people are fleeing and in the countries that host them, willingly or not”, Soros stated, urging governments to play more active roles addressing said issues.
Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Guillaume Long called the root causes of migration and displacement “a outcome of great inequalities in the distribution of wealth and power”. In total, the companies have committed to investing, donating, or raising more than $650 million.
Christian Aid welcomes the financial, resettlement and support pledges made at Tuesday’s Leaders’ Summit on Refugees, but said they were no substitute for more stable year-on-year funding and a permanent agreement on resettling refugees to meet the significant levels of need today.
They pledged to help increase school enrollment for refugees, ease restrictions on employment and housing, and provide refugees legalized status.
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And there are some who feel that the back-to-back United Nations summits are just plain late.
