A report by Amnesty International accuses world leaders of neglect as millions of refugees face “an unbearable existence,” while the world faces the “worst refugee crisis since World War Two.”

Amnesty International said that governments around the world had effectively let thousands of people, who are fleeing wars in Africa and the Middle East, die by failing to provide them with basic human protection.

The number forcibly displaced in the world is now thought to be above 50 million.

“We are witnessing the worst refugee crisis of our era, with millions of women, men and children struggling to survive amid 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 refugee crisis is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century, but the response of the international community has been a shameful failure.”

Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said the situation in Syria is “the most dramatic humanitarian crisis the world has faced in a very long time.”

The report, called The Global Refugee Crisis: A Conspiracy of Neglect, pays particular attention to the situation in Syria, Mediterranean, Africa and South East Asia.

The UN’s humanitarian appeal for Syrian refuges has received less than a quarter of the funds it needs. The report also blasted the international community for doing nothing to alleviate the massive displacement of people across sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 3 million refugees are thought to be living there, including hundreds of thousands who have fled conflict further in such countries as Nigeria, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Burundi.

Conflict and wars raging across the Middle East and Africa have directly caused the Mediterranean migrant crisis, which has seen thousands of people drowning. About 3,500 people died while making the sea crossing to Europe in 2014, with 1,865 thought to have perished so far this year.

Amnesty called on all of Europe to share the burden of dealing with the refugee crisis.

There were also incidents where Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand refused to allow boats carrying refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar to land, putting migrants at further risks.

Amnesty is urging world leaders to call an international summit on tackling the refugee crisis focusing on sharing the burden of dealing with it, and that all countries must ratify the Refugee Convention.

As the entire Muslim world enters the benevolent and beloved month of Ramadan we pray that mankind shows compassion and heeds to the needs of those who are desperately suffering strife, hardship, poverty and affliction due to wars, unrest and crises in their respective countries and for peace to prevail.

Friday, 19 June 2015

SENT TO: Daily News, The Mercury, Independent on Saturday, The Witness, The Star

Darul Ihsan Media Desk

*PUBLISHED: Daily News - Tuesday, 23 June 2015