2014-08-29 13:39:00

3 million refugees flee Syrian conflict


(Vatican Radio) The UN’s Refugee Agency said today that three million Syrian refugees have registered in neighbouring countries and that the situation will continue to get worse.

Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s interview with Maeve Bateman, Middle East policy change officer at Christian Aid

 

Statistics from UNHCR show that the number of people who have fled the country has soared from two million just under a year ago.

The figures also highlight a further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria.

In a statement the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said  "the Syrian crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era”…

Speaking to Vatican Radio about the figures, Maeve Bateman, Middle East policy change officer at Christian Aid says they underline the need for the conflict in Syria to be brought to a peaceful an conclusion.

“…for all of us there is a need to really recognize that these figures all represent very real people and families like our own and people who are in great need. It does put a great onus on the international community to do whatever it can to bring this conflict to an end…”

The country with the highest number of refugees from Syria is Lebanon with 1.14 million followed by Turkey with 815,000 and Jordan 608,000.

Some 215,000 refugees are in Iraq with the rest in Egypt and other countries.

UNHCR says more than half of those uprooted are children.








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