With close to 1.8 million people having fled Syria to neighboring nations, and close to 4.25 million being internally displaced, the UN has said that the Syria refugee crisis is worse than that of Rwandan genocide in 1994. According to the UN, the refugee crisis has worsened since the start of the New Year, with almost 6,000 people fleeing the war-torn country every day. Speaking to the UN Security Council today, Chief Commissioner of the UNHCR Antonio Guterres said the refugee numbers in the country had not risen "at such a frightening rate" since the genocide in Rwanda, with nearly two thirds of the 1.8 million refugees who have fled the country fleeing in 2013 alone. Mr. Guterres added that this mass exodus was having a “crushing” effect on neighboring countries like Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq, but it was through this intervention that “thousands of lives” were being saved, concluding that there was a real “danger that the Syrian conflict could ignite the whole region." Also speaking at the public hearing, the UN aid chief, Valerie Amos, said that around 6.8 million Syrians were in dire need of aid and relief, saying that the Middle Eastern country was in the midst of a grave humanitarian crisis, adding, "We are not only watching the destruction of a country but also of its people."allvoices/contributed-news/15011451-syrian-refugee-crisis-worse-in-20-years-united-nations
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 07:34:37 +0000
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