UN: Syrians to Be World's Biggest Refugee Group-expected to pass 4 million

[The Straight Story]

UN: Syrians to Be World's Biggest Refugee Group


Syrians could soon overtake Afghans as the world's biggest refugee population, with their numbers expected to pass 4 million by year's end, a top U.N. official said Tuesday.

High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres spoke as the international community sharply urged Syria to comply with a new Security Council resolution demanding that President Bashar Assad and the opposition provide immediate access for humanitarian aid.

Opposition activists say more than 140,000 people have died in the conflict, which enters its fourth year next month. The U.N. says 9.3 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The number of Afghan refugees was 2.6 million at the end of 2012, UNHCR says. Syrians, with nearly 2.5 million registered as refugees, should overtake that long before the end of the year. About one-half of the refugees are children.

"It breaks my heart to see this nation that for decades welcomed refugees from other countries ripped apart and forced into exile itself," Guterres told the U.N. General Assembly. Just five years ago, Syria hosted the world's second-largest number of refugees, he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/syrians-worlds-biggest-refugee-group-22667454

[pampango]

1. ... new Security Council resolution demanding that President Bashar Assad and the opposition provide

immediate access for humanitarian aid."

Regardless of which side one thinks is better or worse, we can all agree that the civilians caught in the middle deserve all the aid that the rest of the world can provide.