UN says western countries promise to accept up to 1,00,000 Syrian refugees for resettlement

The United Nations Refugee Agency has said that western countries have agreed to increase the number of Syrian refugees they would accept for resettlement to 1,00,000 over the next few months.

Around three million Syrian refugees are living in neighbouring Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan while 62,000 have been allowed into western countries up till now.

The commitment from western countries to accept more refugees came at the end of a pledging conference in Geneva, reported the BBC.

The Human Rights council said that the figure was still short of what it had expected since there are still so many refugees suffering from war trauma and ill health.

 

UNHCR head Antonio Guterres said at the conference that 28 countries expressed their concern for Syrian refugees and the neighbouring countries that are hosting them.