Syria on track to become the largest refugee population globally

The United Nations said Tuesday that Syria has become the world’s largest exporter of refugees, as it urged the world to ramp up its support to neighboring states affected by the exodus of Syrians from their war-torn home country.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres commented on instability in the Middle East region as he continued urging for global aid to pour in for Syrian refugees.

A U.N. report released Tuesday stated that nearly 2,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon are in danger of starving to death if they do not receive immediate treatment. UNICEF further warned of a looming malnutrition crisis, while Guterres added in his separate comments that Syria had become the world’s largest exporter of refugees.

Guterres made the remarks during an unofficial session held in New York on Tuesday, carried out upon a request from Saudi Arabia, to discuss human rights and refugees, in addition to the worsening situation of people in the war-torn country.

During the meeting, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged the Syrian government to allow more humanitarian aid into the country.

In the same vein, Saudi Arabia’s U.N. Ambassador Abdullah Al Mouallimi said the Syrian government is continuingly escalating conditions in the country by violating human rights.

Al Mouallimi noted that the government in Damascus did not respond to calls for establishing an interim government to end the Syrian conflict, which will soon enter its fourth year.

The Saudi ambassador described mass killings, starvation, and the alleged use of barrels bombs by the Syrian government as acts that amount to war crimes.

Al Mouallimi also urged for an immediate application of the U.N. aid resolution to the Syrian case, which was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Syria’s U.N. representative Bashar Al Jaafari said at the meeting that the government of President Bashar Al Assad is open to all sorts of initiatives to resolve the Syrian crisis.

He said the Syrian government has facilitated international humanitarian access into the country, adding that his government rejects using the humanitarian crisis in the country as a justification for foreign powers to enter Syria.