HRW: Russia failing to do fair share to help Syrian refugees

Russia’s contribution to meeting the needs of refugees displaced by the Syrian conflict has been negligible, while its military involvement in the conflict has been significant, Human Rights Watch said today in a report published on its website.

Russia should use the upcoming summit meetings on the global refugee crisis to make commitments to share responsibility for refugees in line with its capacity.

The United Nations Refugee and Migration Summit will be held on September 19, 2016, followed by a Leaders’ Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis the next day.

Russia should also address serious shortcomings in its asylum system that are preventing most Syrian asylum seekers who have made it to Russian territory from receiving the protection they are entitled to under international law. 

Since 2011, Russia has not offered one resettlement place for Syrian refugees, and Russian officials have claimed the question of receiving Syrian refugees in Russia is “not on the agenda.”

“Russia is extensively involved in the Syrian conflict but has done virtually nothing to help the 11 million people who have lost their homes and livelihoods as a result,” said Bill Frelick, refugee rights program director at Human Rights Watch. 

“Russia has the resources to do much more, but it has yet to show any inclination to pull its weight.”

The charity Oxfam International has issued a “fair share analysis” for the past several years on Syria-related assistance. Its calculations, based on gross national income, among other factors, have assigned Russia approximately 13 percent of the humanitarian funding burden. 

Oxfam calculated Russia’s actual contributions to be 1 percent of its fair share, the lowest percentage of any of the 32 donor countries surveyed.

Source: MENA