“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 wrote. He called for further relocation of refugees from Greece to other European countries and asked for more worldwide support. “Our dream has become a nightmare”.
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Wealthier nations have been criticized for not committing to take substantially larger numbers of refugees, such as 10% of the refugee population annually that was suggested in an earlier draft of the agreement, which member states are accused of watering down.
“I think that’s really important as a start up”, she said. More than half the world’s refugees are fleeing conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia.
They said the summit was a “historic opportunity to garner the political will of world leaders to save lives, protect rights and share responsibility on a global scale”.
After some countries rejected an earlier draft that urged them to resettle 10 percent of the refugee population each year, Amnesty International Secretary-General Salil Shetty said that “instead of sharing responsibility, world leaders shirked it”, and that the United Nations summit “has been sabotaged by states acting in self-interest, leaving millions of refugees in dire situations around the world on the edge of a precipice”.
The declaration comes amid a surge in populist anti-immigrant movements around the world.
The Declaration additionally calls for preventing and responding to gender-based violence and working to end the xenophobia targeted at so many refugees and migrants.
Eni Lestari arrived in Hong Kong back in 2000 after the Asian financial crisis struck. “It is precisely in times and places where adherence to global law is most needed, that the temptation to circumvent it can be greatest”, noted Acer.
In Hong Kong, she is known for campaigning for equal rights for migrants and for advocating greater protection against exploitative employers.
Countries participating in the summit Tuesday are expected to announce individual pledges that are in line with a U.S. goal of increasing humanitarian aid by $3 billion, doubling resettlement and providing access to jobs and education, said Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Amnesty International called the United Nations summit an “abject failure” and a missed opportunity to commit to resettle refugees.
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Nadia Murad Basee Taha, 23, recently appointed a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told leaders at a U.N. refugee and migrants summit ahead of the 71st General Assembly: “You decide whether it is to be war or peace”.
