UN chief: 'World must step up’ to take in more Syrian refugees
“The best way to offer hope to Syrians is by ending the conflict,” the UN chief said Wednesday at a one-day conference in Geneva, aimed at further efforts to resettle refugees from Syria, where the war has contributed to what the United Nations says is the worst humanitarian crisis of our time.
Referring to talks underway in Geneva, to bring an end to a six-year war that has killed some 250,000 people and displaced nearly 11 million, the secretary-general said that civilians affected by the conflict needed care in the meantime.
“Until such talks bear fruit, the Syrian people and the region still face a desperate situation. The world must step up, with concrete actions and pledges. All countries can do more,” Ban said, according to the UN’s news agency.
The conference, attended by officials from government organizations and NGOs from 90 countries, is considered one of the major meetings to deal with the Syrian conflict.
It comes as European Union nations that have been flooded with refugees – mainly from Syria and Iraq – have been shutting their doors. Earlier this month, the EU reached a controversial deal with Turkey which calls for deportation of refugees arriving through Greece, one of the major routes to other European countries for refugees fleeing Middle East wars.
“We are here to address the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time… This demands an exponential increase in global solidarity,” Ban said.
The UN’s refugee agency, UNCHR, reports that at least 480,000 resettlement places are needed for Syrian refugees by the end of 2018.
Meanwhile, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordination, Stephen O'Brien, said that more assistance is reaching Syrians in besieged areas, and this has marked a notable progress.
“There are signs of humanitarian progress in Syria with more aid reaching those in urgent need, but conditions remain “dire” throughout the country, with only 30 per cent of people in besieged areas reached and even fewer in hard-to-reach areas,” he said.
He explained that out of 18 besieged areas, aid convoys had managed to deliver life-saving assistance to 11, reaching out to 150,000 people.
“We are a long way from the sustained, unconditional and unimpeded access that is required of the parties under international law and was and is demanded by this Council in its resolutions,” O’Brien said.
According to latest figures published by the UN, some 13.5 million people remain in need of humanitarian aid, including 4.6 million living in hard to reach areas.
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