UN chief asked developed countries to shelter more refugees

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday asked developed countries to provide shelter for more refugees and to share the responsibility with developing countries that are hosting 80 percent of the world refugees.


"I ask countries in the developed world to increase their resettlement quotas at least to the levels that we had two or three years ago, to be able to offer an effective responsibility-sharing with those that are hosting millions of refugees in the deep South," said Guterres.

Tuesday marks the World Refugee Day. Guterres reminded countries that refugee protection is an obligation under international law as more borders have been closed worldwide and more refugees have been rejected.

UN statistics show that the global refugee population hit its highest level for two decades standing at 22.5 million at the end of 2016. The largest group of refugees was made up of the 5.5 million Syrians forced to flee.

"It is important to say that refugee protection is not a matter of solidarity or generosity. Refugee protection is an obligation under international law," said Guterres.

Therefore, he called on member states not to refuse entry to the refugees who are seeking asylum and manage their borders in a "protection-sensitive" way. ...
 [globaltimes.cn/Xinhua]
21/6/17