Syrian Refugees Fleeing Strife and Civil War Pass 4 Million Mark, According to UN
Fleeing a civil war, Syria's refugees have nearly doubled in the past year.
— -- The number of Syrians fleeing their war-torn homeland for neighboring countries has passed the 4 million mark, according a United Nations report released today. The report comes just ten months after the U.N.'s refugee agency reported the number of Syrian refugees passed the 3 million mark.
"This is the biggest refugee population from a single conflict in a generation. It is a population that needs the support of the world but is instead living in dire conditions and sinking deeper into poverty," said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres in a statement today.
The majority of Syrian refugees, just over 1.8 million, have fled to Turkey, according to the report, while other neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and other north African countries have also registered high numbers of refugees seeking asylum. Meanwhile, an additional 7.6 million people are still displaced inside Syria, many of them unable to get out, the report states.
"The factor that is most important at this point is the ability of people to cross borders into neighboring countries," Bill Frelick, Human Rights Watch's director of refugee program, told ABC News.
Frelick pointed to restrictions that neighboring countries have placed on refugees fleeing Syria's civil war, such as Lebanon's visa restrictions and Jordan's unofficial closing of crossing points. Such neighboring countries, often unprepared economically and politically for an influx of Syrian refugees, have slowed the ability for refugees to cross their borders, Frelick said, arguing that it was up to the international community to provide the support necessary to keep them open.
"We have to recognize that the international community has a moral responsibility to support these countries and enable them to keep their doors open," Frelick said.
Last year's U.N. appeal calling for financial assistance to countries facing an influx of Syrian refugees was only half met, according to the UNCHR. Halfway through this year's appeal, funds received to date only reach 24% of the agency's more than $4.5 billion goal.
"This is a problem that is going to mushroom," Frelick said, noting that without the support of the international community, neighboring countries risk "becoming destabilized and a year so from now could produce even larger refugee populations."