Amnesty: Europe should be ashamed by its attitude towards Syrian refugees

 

European leaders should be ashamed by the paltry numbers of refugees from Syria they are prepared to resettle, human rights group Amnesty says.

Only 10 member states have offered to take in refugees and even then only 12,000, it complains. The UK and Italy have offered no places at all, it adds.
But the UK government says it is focusing on the region and is one of the biggest international donors.
European Union aid has reached 1.3bn euros (£1.1bn; $1.7bn), officials say.
The bloc says its priority is providing help to Syria's internally displaced people, now thought to number 6.5 million, and those hosted in other countries.
The UN estimates almost 2.3 million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries since March 2011.
The harsh conditions faced by Syrian refugees have been highlighted this week with the first winter snowfalls in the Bekaa valley of northern Lebanon, where tens of thousands of Syrians are sheltering in tents.
A total of 838,000 Syrians have fled to Lebanon, living either in tented camps, unused buildings or with friends and family.
The bitterly cold weather has also halted a UN airlift of food and other humanitarian supplies from Iraq to Kurdish areas inside north-eastern Syria.

Bab al-Salam camp in Syria, near the broder with Turkey.