Ten countries accounting for 2.5% of world GDP are hosting more than half the world's refugees, Amnesty International said Tuesday (October 4th) as it slammed what it called the selfishness of wealthy nations.
In a report on the plight faced by the world's 21 million refugees, the London-based human rights body lamented that countries immediately neighbouring crisis zones bear the brunt of the global refugee problem.
Fifty-six percent of refugees are being sheltered in 10 countries, according to the report.
"A small number of countries have been left to do far too much just because they are neighbours to a crisis," said Amnesty secretary general Salil Shetty, presenting the report entitled "Tackling the global refugee crisis: from shirking to sharing responsibility".
"That situation is inherently unsustainable, exposing the millions fleeing war and persecution in countries like Syria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq to intolerable misery and suffering," he said.
Amnesty said the top refugee hosting country was Jordan, which has taken in more than 2.7 million people, followed by Turkey (more than 2.5 million); Pakistan (1.6 million) and Lebanon (more than 1.5 million).
The statistics are based on figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Amnesty said many of the world's wealthiest nations "host the fewest and do the least".
