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Wealthy nations failing Syrian refugees: Charity group

Syrian refugees wait on the Istiklal avenue in Istanbul, Turkey, on February 1, 2016. ©AFP

An international charity group has criticized wealthy countries for falling short of their obligations to help Syrian refugees, who have fled the nearly five-year violence gripping their homeland.

A new analysis released by Britain-based Oxfam on Monday said many rich nations, including France and Saudi Arabia, are giving less than their “fair share” of financial aid to violence-stricken refugees from Syria.

“The world is failing the people of Syria,” said Mark Goldring, Oxfam’s Britain-based chief executive. “Five years on since the start of the crisis the violence and suffering continues to escalate but the level of funding and support fails to match,” he said.

According to Oxfam’s latest “fair share analysis,” which calculates aid according to size of national economies and the number of Syrian refugees each country has pledged to resettle, rich countries gave 56.5 percent of the USD 8.9 billion needed in aid last year.

Refugees queue for a security check near the village of Miratovac after crossing into Serbia via the Macedonian border on January 30, 2016. ©AFP

It said Kuwait gave the most, 554 percent of its share while Russia gave the least, just one percent.

According to Oxfam, the United States gave USD 1.6 billion, or 76 percent of its “fair share,” saying the US should contribute USD 2.2 billion in 2016.

The charity group added that wealthy countries, including Germany and Sweden, have pledged to resettle 128,612 Syrians in 2016, which is 28 percent of the minimum based on their fair share.

It called on rich countries to contribute USD 9.3 billion it estimates is needed to help Syrian refugees in 2016.

The organization also said that some 460,000 people should be resettled in countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Russia by the end of the year.

Oxfam’s analysis was published ahead of a Thursday conference in London co-hosted by Britain, Germany, Kuwait, Norway and the United Nations on raising money to support Syrians.

The crisis in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has so far claimed the lives of over 260,000 people and displaced nearly half of the Arab country’s population within or out of its borders.


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