Soros, who has a net worth of $24.9 billion, made the announcement on Tuesday to coincide with a meeting led by President Obama one day after the first-ever United Nations summit on migrants and refugees. After Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and South Sudan are the largest sources of refugees.
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The landmark declaration contains commitments on protecting the human rights of all refugees and migrants.
“In response to this, Soros earmarked “$500 million for investments that specifically address the needs of migrants, refugees and host communities” mostly in Europe, but also in several other regions around the globe.
Obama was joined in hosting the summit by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and leaders from Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden.
The U.N. estimates that worldwide, 65.3 million people are now forcibly displaced, 21.3 million of them are refugees and about 54 percent of those refugees are coming from Somalia, Afghanistan, and Syria.
An estimated 65 million people worldwide are considered refugees and migrants. He called on world leaders to show their compassion to the 21 million people across the world like Mardini who are classified as refugees, asking, “If not us, then who can do it?”
Kerry’s speech, the day before President Barack Obama is to hold a summit on the same topic at the UN General Assembly, came as the world body announced its formal affiliation with the International Organization for Migration, symbolizing the UN’s commitment to resolving the refugee crisis. William Brangham interviews Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, about its importance.
Some 50 world leaders took part in Obama’s summit. “U.S. leadership is critical to addressing the world’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II, but the administration must end policies at home that penalize refugees who seek protection at its own borders and must press other nations to allow refugees to cross borders to access asylum or other protection”.
Billionaire investor George Soros says it’s time for the private sector to step in where governments have failed to solve the problems facing migrants and refugees.
World leaders at the NY summit agreed to resettle twice as many refugees in the coming year, increase funding for humanitarian aid, provide education to a million refugee children and help one million refugees work legally. “And we need to counter polarizing forces which aim to instill fear and to divide us into us and them”, he said.
Christian Aid welcomes the initiatives to provide much needed education for refugee children and create many more employment opportunities for refugees.
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Although the 2015 peacekeeping summit seemed to yield significant pledges for peacekeeping troops, equipment and other support, fulfillment has been an issue. It also said that access to education and legal work for refugees was improved.
