Syrian refugees a priority, says US
EU urged to assist those fleeing misery
EUROPE must offer guaranteed relocation for Syrian refugees, as record numbers flee to Macedonia and Greece due to the misery in their homeland and surrounding countries, the US said yesterday.
A record 7 000 Syrian refugees arrived in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia on Monday, while some 30 000 are on the Greek islands, including 20 000 on Lesbos, it said.
“We expect the movement to continue,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a Geneva news briefing. “Discussions in Europe this week are taking on even greater urgency because it obviously cannot be a German solution to a European problem.”
Germany told its European partners on Monday they must take in more refugees as it handles record numbers of asylumseekers.
Fleming welcomed separate offers announced by Britain and France on Monday to take in Syrian refugees, but said reception centres must be set up in countries including Hungary and Greece to process asylum claims.
“Those can only work if there is a guaranteed relocation system whereby European countries saying yes will take X number. We believe it should be 200 000 – that’s the number we believe need relocation in European countries,” Fleming said.
“A total of 350 000 have arrived in Europe, which has half a billion people, it is a manageable situation if the political will is there.”
Programmes of UN aid agencies, including the UNHCR and the World Food Programme, are under-funded in Syria’s neighbouring countries, including Lebanon and Jordan, where support to refugees has been cut, she said.
“Deteriorating conditions inside Syria and neighbouring countries are driving thousands of Syrians to risk everything on perilous journeys to Europe,” Fleming said. “This is obviously leading to a sense of desperation, a sense of entrapment.”
“We believe that if we were better funded, and didn’t have to subject people to this misery, many people would have wanted to stay.”
The WFP’s operation to feed Syrians costs $26 million (R358m) a week, but it has cut rations to 1.3 million refugees due to a funding shortage, spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said. “Basically now the refugees are living on around 50 cents a day in those countries around Syria.”