U.N. calls on Gulf countries to do more to help Syrian refugees

A senior United Nations refugee official on Sunday called on Gulf Arab states to give more to help Syrians displaced by six years of civil war, saying she saw little sign that the crisis would end any time soon.

Speaking during a visit to Kuwait to sign a $10 million aid agreement for Syrian refugees in Iraq, Kelly T. Clements, deputy commissioner for the United Nations High Commision for Refugees (UNHCR), also said the U.N. body lamented the “sad” fact that the number of refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war had passed the 5 million mark.

“For us at UNHCR, we don’t celebrate these milestones. We in fact try not to bring a lot of attention to it because it is not a good story,” Clements told Reuters.

“It means basically that we haven’t seen a political solution to make it possible for people to go home safely and in dignity and voluntarily.”

Syrians have poured across their borders into Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq since anti-government protests in 2011 descended into a full-blown conflict between rebels, Islamist militants, government troops and foreign backers.

 

Read More: U.N. calls on Gulf countries to do more to help Syrian refugees | Reuters