WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States, Russia and other nations should overcome geopolitical differences and unite to provide additional aid to Syrian refugees, Human Rights Watch Refugee Rights Program Director Bill Frelick told Sputnik.
"Refugee protection and assistance ought to be an occasion for humanitarian solidarity regardless of politics or the happenstance of geographic location," Frelick said on Tuesday. "Not only the United States, but also Russia, the Gulf States and others could do more."
On Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told journalists that the Syrian conflict is one of the root causes of Europe’s migrant crisis and can only be solved with help from the United States and Russia.
On Monday, the State Department announced the US government will donate $419 million in humanitarian aid to help refugees fleeing political unrest and violence in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries.
Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Sunday that the United States will take in an additional 10,000 refugees next year for a total of 85,000 in 2016 and will raise the total number to 100,000 in 2017.
More than 500,000 migrants, many from conflict-torn Syria, have come to the borders of the European Union or have entered the bloc in 2015, according to the European Commission.