The key driver of the modern crisis has been Syria’s long-running civil war, though large numbers have also fled instability in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We must finally get ahead in tackling this crisis”, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. “To slam the door in the face of these families would betray our deepest values”.
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The idea is for nations to show up with concrete commitments to accept and support more refugees, and Obama’s U.N. ambassador, Samantha Power, said the US told several nations that their initial offers were insufficient.
Last week, the White House announced that the United States would resettle 110,000 refugees in the coming year, a 30 percent increase over the 85,000 allowed in this year.
More than 65 million people in the world are displaced, the highest number on record since the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) began collecting statistics, according to the White House.
Nine million people alone have been displaced by the six-year conflict in Syria while more than four million others have fled the war-torn country.
The participating countries have also pledged an additional $4.5 billion in refugee aid, Obama said. In the months ahead, Save the Children calls on all states to take additional action as a matter of urgency to make sure all 3.7 million out of school refugee children have access to education.
The summit was held a day after the 193 United Nations member-states adopted a global plan to confront the refugee crisis.
But rights groups dismissed the agreement as falling far short of the needed global response.
Also missing from the summit were strong commitments to take steps to ensure access to protection for the many refugees who-at this very moment-are blocked from fleeing across borders to access asylum and other worldwide protection, many stranded in risky or hard situations.
The Obama administration itself has said it will raise the number of refugees entering the United States to 110,000 next year, up from 85,000 this year.
His speech comes as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump renewed his call for a ban on Muslim immigrants after terror attacks over the weekend in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota caused mostly minor injuries.
“‘The world is too small for us to simply be able to build a wall” and prevent extremism from affecting societies.
The Obama administration has emphasized that a half-dozen other countries including Germany and Jordan are co-hosting the summit, but it’s largely been a USA -driven endeavor. But I believe this thinking is wrong.
Ten countries, including Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran and Ethiopia, take in the vast majority of refugees.
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Looking back on his almost 10 years at the helm of the United Nations, Ban cited the rise of “people power” with mobile phones that now blanket the world, reductions in poverty, political transitions in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, and the cease-fire agreement in Colombia.
