The United Nations refugee agency says the number of refugees fleeing conflict in Syria, for the first time, has topped 4 million, making Syria the world’s biggest refugee crisis in a generation.
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The United Nations refugee agency says this milestone comes barely 10 months after the 3 million mark was reached. An additional 7.6 million people are displaced inside Syria, the report said.
The Syrian civil war, which started in March 2011, has caused higher number of refugees than any crisis since the Afghan civil war, which erupted in 1992 and caused 4.6 million people to flee.
Syrians are so desperate to escape the nightmare conditions in their country that they made up a third of the 137,000 people who flooded across the Mediterranean to Europe during the first half of 2015 – many in rickety boats and at the mercy of human traffickers, UNHCR figures show. He said the refugees are sinking into poverty and are urgently in need of help.
Turkey is now the biggest host of refugees in the world.
Turkey is hosting the highest number of Syrian refugees at more than 1.8 million, followed by Lebanon with 1.17 million, and Jordan with 629,000. At current rates, UNHCR fears the figure will reach around 4.27 million by the end of this year. Last month, more than 24,000 Syrians fled to neighboring Turkey from the intense fighting going on between rebel and Kurdish fighters, Islamic State, and Syrian forces. He said the lack of money is putting huge pressure on the refugees and local communities hosting them.
“Worsening conditions are driving growing numbers towards Europe and further afield”, Guterres said, but stressed that “the overwhelming majority remain in the region”.
With no end in sight to Syria’s war, now in its fifth year, the crisis is intensifying and the number of refugees is rising.
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The UNHCR noted that funding of the Syria refugee situation has become an equally pressing problem. Edwards added that only one quarter of the $5.5 billion needed in worldwide humanitarian and development aid this year has been received. This means refugees face tough new cuts in food aid, and struggle to afford lifesaving health services or send their children to school.
