TOKYO: The number of Syrian people who are eluding the fighting in their country could hit 1.1 million by June, the United Nations said on Wednesday
In order to address the needs of those displaced by the Syrian conflict, the international community needed to support a $1 billion plan, pushed by his and other international groups, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said.
Talking to media persons in Tokyo, Guterres said the humanitarian situation in Syria is “the most dramatic crisis we are facing today,” adding that developed nations, including those in Europe, needed to accept more refugees, as Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon have done.
UN High Commissioner, who was making a routine visit to Japan to ask for its continued support, most of it financial, for his agency, said the refugee problem in Syria is getting worse as the government of President Bashar Assad and opposition groups continue their bloody battles for the control of the energy-rich nation.
In April last year, he said, the UNHCR recognized a total 33,000 Syrian refugees, but the agency is now registering an additional 35,000 people every week.
“That puts enormous pressure on the UNHCR’s capacity and resources to deliver protection and assistance,” Guterres said. But, he acknowledged political leaders may find it hard to convince electorates of the need to act when faced with a multitude of demands on their sympathies.
“Last year, simultaneously, we had four refugee crises. Mali, Sudan/South Sudan, Syria and Democratic Republic of Congo,” he said.
“Inevitably… there is certain fatigue because crises are so many. There is not capacity in public opinion to follow them with the same kind of interest,” he said. But, he warned, each was important.
“All these crises are creating hundreds of thousands of refugees, at the same time, they correspond to… global threats to peace and security,” he said.
DND
