United Nations: At a summit hosted by US President Barack Obama, 50 countries have pledged to take in 3,60,000 refugees.
Seven countries — Romania, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Italy, France, Luxembourg — committed to resettle or admit at least 10 times more refugees than in 2015.
While the new pledges would allow more asylum-seekers to rebuild their lives, it represented a fraction of the 1.1 million refugees who are in need of resettlement in 2016, according to the UN refugee agency.
Countries also boosted financial contributions to UN appeals and international humanitarian organisations by about $4.5 billion over 2015 levels.
The pledges included funds to ensure access to schools for one million refugee children and enabling one million refugees to work legally.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country has taken in more than 30,000 Syrian refugees since December, said the refugee crisis posed a challenge but also “an opportunity.”
After admitting one million refugees last year, Germany pledged to continue welcoming those in search of refuge. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party suffered electoral setbacks this month in the face of a surge of anti-migrant parties.
Only eight countries currently host more than half the world’s refugees: Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya and Uganda.
