Council of Europe Urges EU to Take More Responsibiltiy for Syrian Refugees

The European Union, one of the wealthiest regions in the world, has taken in only 6 percent of the nearly 4 million registered Syrian refugees. Furthermore, European countries lack efficient mechanisms to integrate the refugees into society.

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) — European countries should step up admission of refugees from Syria, which is approaching the fifth year of its devastating civil war, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights Nils Muiznieks said Tuesday.

"As another year has passed in which more and more Syrians suffered the consequences of conflict in their country, all European states are urged to be more generous and assume their responsibility for providing effective protection to those in need," Muiznieks said in a statement.

European countries have 2 reset their approach 2 #syrianrefugees http://t.co/h3d2C1GkoD @Refugees @hrw @ecre @amnesty @IOM_news @ProAsyl

— Nils Muiznieks (@CommissionerHR) 3 февраля 2015

He added that Europe had failed to "rise to the challenge" and was neglecting the refugee crisis.

According to the council, the European Union, considered one of the wealthiest regions in the world, has taken in only 6 percent of the nearly 4 million registered Syrian refugees. Of those, 126,590 were given asylum in Europe in 2014.

Muiznieks said that the European Union's no-entry policies violently push Syrians back from the bloc's borders.

According to the commissioner, European countries also lack adequate measures to integrate Syrian refugees who have been granted asylum in their countries.

In 2014, EU nations agreed to resettle a further 33,000 Syrian refugees, 85 percent of them in Germany.

The Syrian civil war began during mass protests in 2011. Since then government forces have been fighting numerous rebel groups opposed to President Bashar Assad's rule, including Islamic extremists. The ongoing conflict has forced some 3.8 million people to flee the country and has led to the death of about 200,000, according to the United Nations.