Syria refugee count tops three million - UN
30 Aug VOA
The United Nations says more than three million people have fled
Syria's civil war, creating what it calls “the biggest humanitarian
emergency of our era.”
In a statement Friday, the U.N. refugee agency said one million of
those refugees fled in the past year alone from the “increasingly
horrifying conditions” in Syria. The statement said the figure does not
include hundreds of thousands who have not registered as refugees. It
also said a further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria.
The U.N. estimates that half of Syria's population has now been
forced to abandon their homes since the fighting began in March 2011.
Almost half of those are children.Most of the refugees have fled to
Lebanon, Turkey or Jordan, where the U.N. says they arrive in a
“shocking state, exhausted, scared and with their savings depleted.” The
U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, said the world is
“failing to meet the needs of refugees and the countries hosting them.”
The world body says it needs another $2 billion by the end of this
year to help those affected by the conflict.David Miliband, the head of
the International Rescue Committee, said the new refugee count
represents “three million indictments of government brutality,
opposition violence and international failure.” The former British
foreign secretary said the “appalling milestone needs to generate action
as well as anger” and called for “greatly increased efforts” to reduce
the suffering of those affected by the conflict. |