MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Europe is not doing enough to help Syrian refugees who have fled the war-torn country in even bigger numbers as hostilities intensified, a UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Germany told Deutsche Welle on Tuesday.
Hans ten Feld praised Germany for agreeing to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees, while at the same time hitting out at the 28-member bloc for not pulling its weight.
“It's clear that there is more solidarity required within Europe. Out of 28 countries in the European Union, only about 10 really receive asylum applications,” he said, adding that Berlin has played a very positive role in implementing UNHCR’s humanitarian admission program.
“We would really like to see other European countries to follow that example,” the senior UN refugee official was quoted by Deutsche Welle as saying.
Ten Feld said the UNHCR is running a worldwide program to resettle Syrian refugees. He said Europe has only admitted some 5,000, while Syria’s neighboring countries have been taking in more. According to the official, the plan is to see Europe take in and resettle 20,000 Syrians by 2020.
Most of the refugees fleeing to Germany come from Syria, Eritrea, Somalia, Afghanistan and Nigeria, according to DW. Meanwhile, German investigators are probing reports that refugees were abused by security guards at a detention center in the town of Burbach.
