A report published on Tuesday 29 March by Oxfam humanitarian organisation criticises rich countries for having resettled only 1.39% of the 4.8 millions of Syrian refugees since 2013.

One day before the international conference on refugees organised in Geneva by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Oxfam called upon rich countries to provide relocation opportunities or to admit on humanitarian grounds at least 10% of the refugees registered by the end of 2016, the equivalent of about 480,000 people.

Rich countries have so far provided relocation for 129,966 people, meaning only 27% of the minimum number they should have received. Only 67,000 (1.39%) of them managed to reach their final destination, as shown by the data collected by Oxfam.

Refugee relocation arrangements
Oxfam experts point out that only three countries with strong economies (Canada, Germany and Norway) have pledged to relocate more people than their allocated numbers. Five other countries – Australia, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand – have pledged to relocate more than half of the allocated number.

The other 20 countries included in the analysis have to offer safe and legal routes to Syrians fleeing the conflict, and to fairly increase their resettlement offer. For example, France has only pledged to relocate 4% of its fair share of refugees, the Netherlands and the United States 7% each, Denmark 15% and the United Kingdom 22%.

"Six years into this terrible crisis, more than 4.8 million Syrian people are now refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and elsewhere in the region", said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, according to the press release published on the organisation's website.

One in five inhabitants in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. In Jordan, they constitute 10% of the population, and the fourth largest ‘city’ is a refugee camp.

"These countries have fragile economies and weak infrastructure. They can no longer shoulder this responsibility virtually alone. The Geneva meeting should result in urgent solutions, offering people safe and legal routes to a welcome in third countries," said Byanyima.

Criticism to the EU - Turkey agreement The organisation explains that "the most vulnerable of refugees (women, children, the elderly) can’t go back, but don’t have the resources or support to live properly where they are. They need help moving forward to a better future."

Oxfam has criticised some attempts to use relocation policy as a bargaining currency for concluding other political agreements, such as the recent agreement between the European Union and Turkey. "Resettlement should be about providing a home to vulnerable refugees, not a method for managing migration or justifying harsh asylum policies", shows the press release.

All we need is political will
"We need to show Syrian people that ‘solidarity’ is an action, not a sound-bite. Countries with a strong economy, good services and developed infrastructure can immediately resettle 500,000 refugees between them – if they choose to. This is less than Washington DC’s population. Some countries have reached their fair share, and more. Others need to follow," said the Executive Director of Oxfam.

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Relocation (resettlement) = the selection and transfer of refugees from a state where they fled or sought protection to a third country which agrees to admit them as refugees, granting them a right to stay on its territory. (UNHCR)

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Source: oxfam.org

More details in the Oxfam Report: Resettling 10 percent of Syrian Refugees