World leaders hold UN summit on refugee crisis * Over 65 million refugees world wide * Aid chiefs call for “dependable humanitarian funding” * Syrian refugees living in a camp in the Bekaa Valley i
- World leaders hold UN summit on refugee crisis *
- Over 65 million refugees world wide *
- Aid chiefs call for “dependable humanitarian funding” *
ADVERTISEMENTSyrian refugees living in a camp in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon just want to go home.
That’s their message to world leaders who meet today in New York at the start of a UN summit that is set to discuss their fate and that of 65 million others.
But those living in the camps aren’t expecting much to change:
“We only have faith is in God. These summits are never useful for us. They hold them only as a show for themselves.”
Syrian refugees in Jordon feel the same hopelessness.
“With all these meetings, the world was unable to allow humanitarian aid into Aleppo. The whole world could not get aid there. So to solve a problem that has been going on for more than five years, I say it’s impossible,” said one refugee living in Zaatari.
Aid chiefs are calling on rich countries to shoulder their fair share of taking in refugees. They are also calling for dependable humanitarian funding. A report by a leading anti-poverty group ““The ONE Campaign”“:https://www.one.org/us/2016/09/17/launch-of-the-2016-data-report-a-bolder-response-for-a-changing-world/ says goals such as tackling disease and ending extreme poverty by 2030 may slip down the agenda as donor governments shif funds away from long-term development aid.
The 193-member UN General Assembly is expected to adopt a political declaration on migrants and refugees but it won’t be legally binding.
Some more hoped-for outcomes from UN Refugee Summit:
1) No more detention of refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant children.— Jeff Crisp (@JFCrisp) September 18, 2016
UN Refugee Summit should recognize that naval blockades, fences, walls, etc. are not an adequate or equitable response to human displacement
— Jeff Crisp (@JFCrisp) September 18, 2016
Ahead of the #UN4RefugeesMigrants Summit, we have a reading list on the international protection regime https://t.co/cp0IC75unQ#migration
— Oxford Academic (@OUPAcademic) September 18, 2016