One-in-ten Syrian refugees needs resettling

More than 450,000 Syrian refugees currently living in neighboring countries will need to be resettled by the end of 2018, the UN’s refugee agency said Tuesday.

Countries not previously involved in helping those fleeing Syria’s five-year conflict will also have to help on matters such as “visas, private sponsorship, medical evacuation, family reunion, academic scholarship and apprenticeships or labor schemes,” Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news conference in Geneva.

A ministerial-level conference is being held in Geneva on Wednesday to focus on resettlement. The representatives of around 92 countries will be present, including Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister Naci Koru.

Turkey hosts around 2.7 million Syrian refugees. Another 2.1 million are living in Lebanon and Jordan.

Edwards conceded the conference would have to tackle a “complex situation” as refugee-related issues had become highly politicized.