More than 50 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes, the highest number recorded since World War II, Amnesty International said in a new report that blames world leaders' neglect for the death of thousands of refugees fleeing wars in Africa and the Middle East.
The report, titled, "The Global Refugee Crisis: A Conspiracy of Neglect," criticizes the response of the international community to address the refugee crisis, calling it a "shameful failure" that world leaders have pledged "almost no meaningful international support" to the worsening crisis. The group recommends that world leaders radically overhaul their refugee policies and initiate comprehensive strategies to handle the growing crisis.
"We are witnessing the worst refugee crisis of our era, with millions of women, men and children struggling to survive amidst brutal wars, networks of people traffickers and governments who pursue selfish political interests instead of showing basic human compassion," Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's secretary general, said in a statement.
The report heavily focuses on Syria, where nearly 4 million people have fled the country due to conflict fueled by multiple waring parties, including the Syrian government, U.S. government and the Islamic State. About 95 percent of those refugees have relocated to the neighboring countries of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
More than 1.2 million now reside in Lebanon, meaning that one in five people in the country is a Syrian refugee, and 627,287 Syrians have taken shelter in Jordan, as well as 13,800 Palestinian refugees also from Syria.
These countries are struggling to maintain their infrastructure, which has been stretched near the breaking point, and have received little meaningful support from world powers, the report says, adding that the United Nations' humanitarian appeal for Syrian refugees was only 23 percent funded as of June 3. Eighty percent of Syrians in Jordan are living below the poverty line, according to the report.
In regards to the Mediterranean migrant crisis, Amnesty asked for European nations to share the burden of resettling fleeing civilians. About 3,500 people died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in 2014, with 1,865 deaths occurring this year. Most of those fleeing by boat are Syrians, but European governments such as Italy have handled the situation poorly, Amnesty said.
"The European governments have pushed them back into sea rather than resettle them," Shetty said, according to the Guardian, adding that the world is "turning its back on the most vulnerable people."
Amnesty International also criticized the international community for its handling of the crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, where an estimated 3 million civilians have taken refuge from conflicts in Nigeria, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Burundi.
The group called for an international summit on the global refugee crisis, for countries to guarantee fundamental rights and access to services for refugees, and to prioritize saving people in distress over implementing immigration policies, as well as global ratification of the Refugee Convention.
