European Union leaders should "hang their heads in shame" at their failure to provide safe haven for Syrian refugees fleeing the brutal conflict, Amnesty International said on today.
In a new report, the rights group condemned EU member states for their response to a UN appeal to resettle some of the most vulnerable Syrians forced to leave their homes.
Amnesty also criticised the bloc for making it so difficult to enter the EU legally, and for leaving those who manage to get through the border languishing in squalid detention centres.
"The EU has miserably failed to play its part in providing a safe haven to the refugees who have lost all but their lives," said Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty.
"The number of those it's prepared to resettle is truly pitiful. Across the board European leaders should hang their heads in shame."
As winter storms brought fresh misery to hundreds of thousands of refugees sheltering in tents in camps in Lebanon and Jordan, Amnesty urged the EU to do more to ease pressure on Syria's neighbours.
The EU has accepted 55,000 asylum seekers from Syria, according to the Amnesty report, but the Middle East continues to bear the brunt of a refugee crisis that has seen an estimated 2.3 million people flee Syria.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appealed in October for resettlement places for 30,000 of the most vulnerable Syrians over the next year.
EU nations have offered 12,340 places so far, Amnesty said, noting that the vast majority -- 10,000 -- are in Germany, while 18 member states offered no places at all.
"The EU must open its borders, provide safe passage and halt these deplorable human rights violations," added Shetty.
In response to the criticism, the French foreign ministry said the 500 places it has offered in response to the UNHCR appeal are in addition to 3,700 Syrians accepted over the past two years.
"France is taking in as many of them as possible, and we are also supporting Syria's neighbours who are taking in refugees," a spokesman told AFP.
Britain is among the countries with no resettlement programme, but a spokesman for the interior ministry said it was focused on providing humanitarian aid to the region.
"We are one of the highest international donors to the Syrian relief effort -- our USD 800 million, pledged so far is more than the other EU member states combined," he said.
