With thousands of refugees moving across the borderlines of Turkey and Jordan to take protection over the past week among an escalation of furious fighting between government troops and rebel forces in Syria, Human Rights Watch has called upon neighboring countries not to close their borderlines to fleeing Syrians to avoid a deep humanitarian crisis.
On Thursday, the agency told host countries ought to respect the right to seek asylum and had better accept new arrivals in spite of the fact that all neighboring countries made it clear earlier this week that the countries are arriving at their limit and might close their borderlines.
More than 200,000 refugees have been recorded in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon in the past year and a half. In the last 24 hours, more than 3,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey, with a further 7,000 anticipated in the coming days, Reuters reported.
The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey could arrive at 200,000 as the conflict compounds and many others could flee to Jordan, the UN refugee agency told on Tuesday.
“The growth in the number of Syrians arriving in Turkey has been dramatic. When compared to previous weeks where we saw about 400-500 people arriving a day, we have been ascertaining peaks of up to 5,000 people in one day over the past 2 weeks,” Melissa Fleming, chief spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), stated in a news briefing.
On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told Turkey discoursed with the United Nations the possible action of housing refugees in Syria. “We anticipate the UN to engage on the issue of protective of refugees inside Syria and if possible sheltering them in camps there,”.
In spite of the pressure level of numbers, refugees from Syria should be allowed to cross into neighboring countries and stay there legally without fear of detention, confinement in closed camps or deportation, Human Rights Watch told.
“For many years, Syria kept its borderlines open to Palestinians, Lebanese and Iraqis fleeing conflict in their countries and let them free movement,” told Bill Frelick, Refugee Program director at Human Rights Watch. “Today, as Syrians flee horrific ferocity, neighboring countries had better broaden them the same hospitality.”
