A new report by international aid agency Oxfam has called on Governments around the world to do more to address the Syrian refugee crisis.
The report, A Fairer Deal for Syrians, warns how the international response to Syria is failing on three fronts – insufficient aid, meagre resettlement offers and continued arms transfers.
A Fairer Deal for Syrians details how the $7.7 billion humanitarian appeals are less than half funded, while a continued supply of arms is fuelling widespread violations and undermining peace efforts.
Rich countries are offering a safe haven to a paltry number of refugees from Syria while neighbouring countries are struggling to support more than 3 million people who have fled the conflict.
Oxfam is calling for five percent of the projected refugee population to be resettled or offered humanitarian admission to rich countries by the end of 2015. The charity maintains that each rich country should take their fair share of the total based on the size of their economy.
While the UK has been a generous donor of aid to the region, it is falling disappointingly short on the numbers of resettlement places it is offering, with the Government repeatedly insisting it only envisages helping ‘several hundred people over three years’.
Oxfam has calculated the UK’s fair share of refugees to be 9,610. According to the Home Office, just 50 people have been resettled in the UK so far.
Refugee Council Advocacy Manager Anna Musgrave said: “This report confirms what has been plain to see for some time; that the world’s response to the greatest humanitarian crisis in a generation has been woefully inadequate.
“David Cameron has the chance to respond by stepping up and making sure Britain gives many more of Syria’s refugees a fair deal, by offering them a route to safety and quite simply, the hope of a better future.”
Photo courtesy of UNHCR
