Photo: Reuters
Amnesty International has accused the world’s wealthiest nations of shirking responsibility towards refugees, saying they host the fewest and do the least, the BBC reports.
Ten countries which account for just 2.5% of the global GDP are sheltering more than half the world’s 21 million refugees, says a report by the charity.
Salil Shetty, Amnesty’s secretary general, called for wealthier nations to take in many more people.
Mr Shetty called the UK a “sad example” of the failure to take responsibility.
The UK has accepted about 8,000 Syrian refugees since 2011, according to the UN. The US has taken just 12,000.
And according to recent UN refugee agency data, no Syrian refugees have been resettled by China, Russia or any Gulf states.
By comparison, Jordan, which has a GDP just 1.2% the size of the UK’s, hosts nearly 655,000 Syrian refugees.
With more than 2.7 million refugees in total, Jordan is sheltering more than any other nation. Turkey has taken in more than 2.5 million people; Pakistan 1.6 million; Lebanon more than 1.5 million.
The other nations with the largest refugee populations are:
- Iran (979,400)
- Ethiopia (736,100)
- Kenya (553,900)
- Uganda (477,200)
- Democratic Republic of Congo (383,100)
- Chad (369,500)