UN chief urges more solidarity with Syrian refugees

GENEVA

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on all countries to share their responsibility in dealing with the refugee crisis, urging them to accept about 480,000 Syrian refugees for resettlement by 2018.

Addressing a high-level meeting on responsibility sharing for Syrian refugees at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva Wednesday, Ban said: "Today’s meeting is an important step towards those goals. It will be followed by the World Humanitarian Summit that I am convening on 23rd and 24th May in Istanbul, where displacement will be high on the agenda."

Last month in London, donors pledged $11 billion at an international conference on supporting Syria and the region. “Now these pledges must be honored," he said.

"Today, I ask that countries act with solidarity, in the name of our shared humanity, by pledging new and additional pathways for the admission of Syrian refugees. These pathways can include resettlement or humanitarian admission, family reunions, as well as labor or study opportunities," Ban said.

Commenting on the pledge for about 178,000 places for Syrian refugees so far in the West, Ban called on all countries to expand on these commitments and urged other countries to join in these efforts.

"The UNHCR estimates that at least 10 percent of Syrian refugees need resettlement or another form of admission into a third country. That is 480,000 people – a relatively small number, compared with the millions being hosted by Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan," Ban said.

About the truce and political transition in Syria, Ban said: "We have a cessation of hostilities – but the parties must consolidate and expand it into a cease-fire, and ultimately to a political solution through dialogue.”

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said: "We cannot respond to a global refugee crisis by closing doors and building fences."

Grandi called for offering legal alternative avenues for the admission of Syrian refugees as part of the solution.

He also noted that only 12 percent of refugees were resettled last year.

He said neighboring countries cannot be made to continue bearing brunt of the refugee crisis. “The world must show solidarity and share this responsibility. Our aim is to find a form of admission for 10 percent of the Syrian refugee population, or 480,000 people, over the next three years. This may seem a large number, but it is not if compared to the number of refugees the neighboring countries have been hosting," he said.

The on going ministerial-level conference in Geneva has representatives from around 92 countries, including Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister Naci Koru.