Syria: wealthy countries have taken in only 1.39 per cent of refugees
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
According to an Oxfam report, to date wealthy nations have opened their doors to just 67,100 Syrian refugees. Out of a total of 4.8 million.
Syria: wealthy countries have taken in only 1.39 per cent of refugees
According to an Oxfam report, to date wealthy nations have opened their doors to just 67,100 Syrian refugees. Out of a total of 4.8 million.
Wealthy countries have taken in only 1.39 per cent of Syrian refugees. Exactly 67,100 people fleeing the terrible war that has been under way for more than five years in the country. And governments have committed to opening their doors to only 129,000 people. This is explained by the non-governmental organisation Oxfam, which in a report published on 29 March once again calls on the wealthiest nations to admit to their territories at least 10 per cent of the migrants who have so far fled the war in Syria.
Promises kept only by Canada, Germany and Norway
According to the analysis, only three wealthy nations — Canada, Germany and Norway — have done more than what the NGO itself considers "fair" (a benchmark constructed on the basis of, for example, how much governments contribute in support of humanitarian aid and the economic weight of each nation). A further five states have adopted policies sufficient to guarantee a contribution equal to only 50 per cent of what would be within their means: these are Australia, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and New Zealand. But another twenty countries examined by Oxfam fall well short of their potential contribution.
In more concrete terms, a nation such as France would, according to the organisation, have the means to take in 26,000 refugees, yet has committed to doing so for only 1,000 of them. The United States, similarly, has decided to open its doors to 1,812 Syrians, when it could potentially welcome 171,000. A meagre commitment, then. As is that of the Netherlands, Denmark and Great Britain. For its part, Italy has pledged to take in 1,400 refugees, compared with the 21,519 considered "fair" by Oxfam.
| Country | Number of refugees to be taken in (according to government pledges) | "Fair" number of refugees that could be taken in, according to Oxfam |
| Australia | 6,727 | 10,557 |
| Austria | 1,900 | 4,009 |
| Belgium | 1,325 | 4,773 |
| Canada | 38,039 | 15,951 |
| South Korea | 0 | 16,650 |
| Denmark | 390 | 2,601 |
| Finland | 1,900 | 2,247 |
| France | 1,000 | 25,937 |
| Germany | 41,899 | 36,869 |
| Japan | 0 | 49,768 |
| Greece | 0 | 3,085 |
| Iceland | 75 | 118 |
| Italy | 1,400 | 21,519 |
| Luxembourg | 60 | 376 |
| New Zealand | 850 | 1,419 |
| Norway | 9,000 | 3,612 |
| Netherlands | 545 | 7,857 |
| Poland | 900 | 8,771 |
| Portugal | 48 | 2,805 |
| United Kingdom | 5,571 | 25,067 |
| Czech Republic | 70 | 2,795 |
| Russia | 0 | 35,052 |
| Slovakia | 0 | 1,440 |
| Spain | 984 | 16,037 |
| Sweden | 2,700 | 4,515 |
| Switzerland | 2,000 | 4,837 |
| USA | 11,812 | 170,779 |
| Total | 129,966 | 481,220 |
"Neighbouring countries cannot bear the impact of the refugees"
"Since the beginning of this terrible crisis," explained Winnie Byanyima, the NGO's executive director, "more than 4.8 million Syrians have been taking refuge in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries in the region. The most vulnerable among them — women, children and elderly people — can no longer return to their homes, and do not have the means to live with dignity."
In Lebanon today, for example, one in five inhabitants is a Syrian refugee. In Jordan, they account for 10 per cent of the population. "But these are nations with fragile economies and precarious infrastructure. They cannot bear this immense responsibility almost entirely alone," the organisation's director adds.
It is for this reason that Oxfam is calling on wealthy nations to take in at least 480,000 people: "We must show the Syrian people that solidarity is not limited to words, but translates into concrete actions," Byanyima concluded.