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Egypt calls on international community to share refugee burden

June 21, 2018 at 2:45 pm

Egypt has called on the international community to “share the collective responsibilities of hosting refugees,” Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said on Wednesday.

“We renew our moral and legal commitment towards refugees on our territory and keenness to integrate them into society despite high burdens and economic difficulties,” Abu Zeid added on his official Twitter account.

Abu Zeid’s statements came on the occasion of the World Refugee Day, which is marked on 20th June every year.

Last August, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt reported that the number of refugees and asylum seekers in the country was about 209,000 refugees. Unofficial estimates however indicate that there are more than 300,000 refugees in the country, including those who are registered in the UNHCR.

Read: Misconceptions around refugees are a threat to a tolerant society

The UN refugee agency announced on Tuesday that there were 68.5 million people who “had been driven from their homes across the world at the end of 2017.”

Turkey comes at the top of countries hosting large numbers of refugees. It hosts 4 million refugees who come mostly from Syria but also from other countries as well.

World Refugee Day is a world-celebrated event dedicated to raising awareness of the refugees’ cause; highlighting their plight and needs; and finding ways of supporting and assisting them as their crises and numbers grow.