EU refugee crisis: UN calls on UK to take more responsibilities
Migrants arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey. Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
(VOVworld) – The UN has called on the UK to take more responsibilities in addressing the EU refugee crisis, especially as winter approaches, said United Nations special representative for international migration Peter Sutherland on Saturday. He added that many refuges are expected to stand in freezing rivers at EU countries’ borders or live in tents with heir children as winter sets in across Europe. Speaking after the European Commission estimated that more than three million more people are expected to arrive in the EU by the end of next year and that those numbers are not expected to diminish until 2017, Sutherland said the EC had mechanisms to deal with the crisis, but that the humanitarian response had been woefully inadequate.
This year 700,000 people have come to Europe looking for sanctuary or jobs. Britain has pledged to take in 4,000 a year from camps near Syria, a tiny number compared with German and Swedish offers. Sutherland added that Britain will be adopting a morally unacceptable position if it turns its back on the refugee crisis in Europe.