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2 million refugees have fled violence in Syria

More than two million Syrians have now fled their country, according to the UN refugee agency. In ad...
TodayFM
TodayFM

8:44 AM - 3 Sep 2013



2 million refugees have fled v...

News

2 million refugees have fled violence in Syria

TodayFM
TodayFM

8:44 AM - 3 Sep 2013



More than two million Syrians have now fled their country, according to the UN refugee agency.

In addition to the two million Syrians living as refugees, some 4.25 million people have been displaced within the devastated country since the conflict began in March 2011, according to UN figures.

"Syria has become the great tragedy of this century," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement, describing the situation in the country as "a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparallelled in recent history."

In the past 12 months, almost 1.8 million people have flooded out of Syria, and an average of 5,000 continue to cross into neighbouring countries each day, UNHCR said, pointing out that on August 23, the number of Syrian children living as refugees topped one million.

The massive influx is placing an overwhelming burden on the host countries, UNHCR warned.

"If the situation continues to deteriorate at this rate, the number of refugees will only grow, and some neighbouring countries could be brought to the point of collapse," she said, cautioning that "the world risks being dangerously complacent about the Syrian humanitarian disaster."

 

The new figures are released as the Irish government pledged a further 1 million Euro in funding to support refugees from the conflict in Syria.

The money being pledged by the Irish government will be used by UN agencies to provide basic services in camps.

It brings Ireland's contribution in response to the Syrian crisis to 10.8 million Euro.



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