Noting that much of this displacement has neither been voluntary nor orderly, the prime minister said the people have been fleeing from desperate conditions of conflict, war or poverty. Officials have not said how many will come from Syria.
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Obama’s other major priority at the United Nations this year is to force more aggressive action to mitigate the worst refugee crisis since World War II, stemming in large part from the Syria war.
I will invest in startups, established companies, social-impact initiatives and businesses founded by migrants and refugees themselves. In a toughly worded speech that drew loud applause from the hall, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein took aim at “bigots and deceivers”, pointedly noting that xenophobia is a major factor contributing to failure in addressing the crisis thus far.
Billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros responded today to US President Barack Obama’s call for private sector investment to end the refugee crisis, offering a pledge to spend $500 million in aid of refugees.
Nadia Murad Basee Taha, a 21-year-old Iraqi woman of the Yazidi faith who was abducted and held by the Islamic State for three months, meets with Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos (not pictured) at the Presidential Palace in Athens, Greece, December 30, 2015.
The Obama administration has emphasized that a half-dozen other countries including Germany and Jordan are co-hosting the refugee summit, but it’s largely been a US -driven endeavor.
“Today, we have a similar opportunity; to help create a world, where no one is left behind, in our shared quest for human dignity”, prime minister Sharif remarked.
Philippe Bolopion, deputy director of global advocacy for Human Rights Watch, said Monday that efforts to single out certain communities and make them responsible for the acts of a few individuals will likely backfire.
In an effort to make the United Nations response to the refugee and migration crisis more effective, the International Organization for Migration officially joined the United Nations family on Monday.
World leaders are grappling with the largest crisis of displaced persons since World War II, more than 65 million people who have fled their homes because of armed conflict or persecution, or because they are seeking asylum or a better way of life.
“The gap between the funds that we have and the funds that we need remains enormous”, Secretary of State John Kerry told the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants on Tuesday.
World governments adopted a non-binding political declaration pledging to uphold the rights of refugees, help them resettle and ensure they have access to education and jobs.
“We have to do our part to end wars, to fight violent extremism, to respect human rights and to support policies that humanely and effectively manage the flow of people who are on the move”.
The refugee issue, meanwhile, was for the first time the subject of a daylong United Nations summit on Monday.
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By adopting the New York Declaration, member states are now making bold commitments: to start negotiations leading to an worldwide conference and the adoption of a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration in 2018; to develop guidelines on the treatment of migrants in vulnerable situations among others.
