MOSCOW (Sputnik) – International non-governmental organizations cover only one-fifth of the costs associated with addressing the Syrian refugee crisis while the Syrian government shoulders the remainder, the Syrian reconciliation minister told Sputnik on Thursday.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has registered over 4 million refugees from Syria in North Africa, the Middle East and Turkey as of Tuesday.
Also Haidar said that Europe must stop complaining about the refugee crisis and instead provide assistance to the countries from which refugees are fleeing.
In recent months, Europe has been grappling with a major influx of asylum seekers fleeing war-torn countries in the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa.
"Europe needs to stop complaining about the migrant crisis, instead, it needs to help us [Syria in] eradicating roots of the problem by helping refugees in the region," Haidar stated.
Over 200 state and non-governmental partners, including scores of UN agencies, are working with the UNHCR in crisis response efforts.
The four-year Syrian civil war has left 7.6 million people internally displaced and another 4 million people living as refugees outside the country, according to the UN.