Rich nations 'failing to help Syria refugees'

Rights group says "pitiful" number taken in by wealthy
countries, with burden placed mainly on ill-equipped
neighbours.

Affluent nations have taken in a "pitiful" number of the
million of Syrian refugees uprooted by the country's civil
war, placing the burden on Syria's ill-equipped neighbours,
according to Amnesty International.
The London-based rights group, in advance of a December
9 donors' conference in Geneva, deplored on Friday what
it called the shocking failure of rich nations to host refugees.
"Around 3.8 million refugees from Syria are being hosted
in five main countries within the region: Turkey, Lebanon,
Jordan, Iraq and Egypt," Amnesty International said in
the statement.
Highlighting what it referred to as "the pitiful numbers of
resettlement places offered by the international community",
the group said that Russia, China and the Gulf Arab states
had not offered a single location for resettlement of refugees.
Meanwhile, the European Union as a whole, excluding
Germany, has pledged to take in only 0.17 percent of
refugees residing in countries bordering Syria.

"The shortfall ... is truly shocking," said Sherif Elsayed-
Ali, Amnesty International's head of refugee and migrants'
rights.
"The complete absence of resettlement pledges from the Gulf
is particularly shameful. Linguistic and religious ties should
place the Gulf states at the forefront of those offering safe
shelter."
The failure of wealthy nations to share the burden had
placed a increasing strain on host countries, which were
largely ill-equipped for the influx of people escaping violence
in Syria.
Amnesty International said it was calling for the
resettlement of five percent of Syria's refugees by the end of
2015, and an additional five percent the following year.
The plan would accommodate approximately 380,000
refugees identified by the UN as being particularly
vulnerable including lone children and torture survivors.
"Countries cannot ease their consciences with cash pay-outs
then simply wash their hands of the matter," Ali said.
"Those with the economic means to do so must play a
greater role."
In addition to those who fled the war-ravaged country as
external refugees, the UN says more than seven million
Syrians are internally displaced.
The refugees face poverty, illness and growing tensions with
host communities in their already-impoverished temporary
homes.
Syria's civil war began in March 2011, escalating into a
bloody civil war that has displaced around half the country's
population.

Source:Aljazeera and Agencies