Arab League irked by rising number of refugees in region

The Arab League expressed concern over the increasing number of refugees in the region for the sixth year running as a result of the crises in some Arab countries topped by Syria.

In a statement on Monday, the Arab League said the region's refugees exceeded 53 percent of the world refugees, pointing out that the Palestinian refugees also badly suffer as a result of the measures taken by Israel which expelled them from their homeland.

The statement called on the international community and United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to shoulder responsibility with working on returning the Palestinian refugees to their homeland.

It called for tackling the roots of the crises which forced millions of refugees to leave their homelands with establishing development projects in the region.

The U.N. refugee agency said earlier that conflict in places like Syria and Afghanistan raised the total number of refugees and internally displaced people worldwide to a record 65.3 million at the end of last year.

The year 2014, had already seen the highest number of refugees worldwide since World War II, with 60 million displaced people. But last year — when Europe staggered under the arrival of large numbers of migrants — topped that record by nearly 10 percent, the UNHCR said in unveiling its annual Global Trends Report.

The Geneva-based agency urged leaders from Europe and elsewhere to do more to end the wars that are fanning the exodus of people from their homelands.

“I hope that the message carried by those forcibly displaced reaches the leaderships: We need action, political action, to stop conflicts,” said Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. “The message that they have carried is: ‘If you don’t solve problems, problems will come to you.’”

Source ; MENA