UN chief urges Europe to respect refugees' rights

NEW YORK

The United Nations Secretary-General on Wednesday called for humane treatment of refugees by European countries in the wake of deadly attacks in Paris.

In a phone call with French President Francois Hollande, Ban Ki-moon reiterated his condemnation of Friday's terrorist attacks and extended condolences to the families of the 129 victims killed in the massacre, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"He underlined that many refugees were themselves fleeing extremism and terrorism and stressed the importance for France and Europe to continue to treat refugees and migrants with compassion and to respect their rights," Dujarric said referring to Ban.

Ban's call came as the attacks in Paris -- in which a militant posing as a refugee has been implicated -- prompted some far-right parties and newspapers in Europe to claim the deaths are a result of allowing so many refugees to enter the continent.

So far this year, more than 819,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by making perilous journeys across the Mediterranean, according to UN figures, with more than 3,400 people having lost their lives or reported missing as they seek to reach the continent.

Approximately 400,000 arrivals by sea are Syrians fleeing a civil war that has claimed more than 250,000 lives and made the country the world's single-largest source of refugees and displaced people, according to the UN.

On Tuesday, the UN chief expressed concern that the Paris attacks could prompt "reprisals or further discrimination against Muslims, in particular Muslim refugees and migrants".

"This would just exacerbate the alienation on which terrorists feed," Ban told a UN Security Concil meeting on root causes of conflict.

He stressed "the need for our response to uphold the rule of law, and to avoid being ruled by fear and inflaming tensions further still".