Syrian refugees taking shelter in neighbouring countries after fleeing from the civil war could soon overtake Afghans as the world's largest refugee population, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.
Antonio Guterres made remarks via video-conference during an unofficial session at the UN General Assembly to discuss the latest situation in Syria and brief on Syrian refugees upon the request of Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Guterres reiterated that the number of registered Syrian refugees is two and a half million in neighboring countries across the Middle East.
"Five years ago, Syria was the world's second-largest refugee hosting country. Syrians are now about to replace Afghans as the present biggest refugee population worldwide," he said.
The UN Commissioner also said that the number of Syrian refugees could top 4 million by the end of 2014 "if current trends continue", whereas the number of Afghan refugees was 2.6 million at the end of 2012, according to UNHCR.
He said "it upsets him to see that the Syrian nation for decades welcomed refugees from other countries and is now itself ripped apart and forced into exile."
He noted that Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt continue to receive hundreds or thousands every day, and he highlighted the sacrifice of Syria's neighbors to provide shelter and safety for the refugees, and demanded "robust international support" for them to offset the "enormous cost" of welcoming such high numbers of people.
The UN refugee chief noted that Turkey has allocated $2.5 billion from its budget up till now to host Syrian refugees, adding that the total number of refugees Turkey hosts are tenfold to those countries from all across the European Union.
Guterres also warned that the violent clashes in Syria might spill over into other countries in the region, noting a further destabilization in the Mid-East “could have disastrous consequences in the rest of the world.”
Syria’s civil war, which will enter its fourth year in March, has resulted in the deaths of over 140,000 people and displaced millions, according to UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
According to UN figures, 9.3 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance.
In August last year, United Nations Refugee Agency announced one million Syrian children were registered as refugees in neighboring countries, raising fears of a 'lost generation' in Syria.
UNICEF, the United Nations' children agency, made a joint assesment Tuesday on the situation of Syria's refugees in Lebanon, saying that, "Across the country, almost 2,000 Syrian refugee children under five years of age are at risk of dying, and need immediate treatment to survive."
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