Rich nations must do more

UN chief Antonio Guterres called on countries to take joint responsibility for caring for a surging number of displaced people as he opened a global refugee summit in Geneva y.

"It is a moment to build a more equitable response to refugee crises through a sharing of responsibility," Guterres said in his opening speech to the Global Refugee Forum.

With a full 80 percent of the world's refugees living in poor and developing countries, which often feel left to shoulder the heavy economic and societal costs alone, burden-sharing is high on the agenda at the meeting.

"The world owes all countries and communities that welcome large numbers of refugees a debt of gratitude," Guterres said, stressing though that "gratitude is not enough."

"At this time of turbulence, the international community must do far more to shoulder this responsibility together."

At the end of 2018, nearly 71 million people were living in forced displacement due to war, violence and persecution, including nearly 26 million people who had fled across borders as refugees.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday said that millions of Muslims could flee India due to the curfew in the disputed territory of Kashmir and India's new citizenship law, creating "a refugee crisis that would dwarf other crises".

Khan, addressing the Global Forum on Refugees in Geneva, said: "We are worried there not only could be a refugee crisis, we are worried it could lead to a conflict between two nuclear-armed countries."

"Our country will not be able to accommmodate more refugees," he added, urging the world to "step in now".

The need for the world's wealthier nations to do their share will likely be hammered home by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey is the world's largest refugee host with more than three million refugees on its soil, mainly from Syria.

The forum, which will last through Wednesday, begins exactly a year after the UN General Assembly adopted a framework aimed at creating a more predictable and equitable approach to providing assistance to refugees and host communities.

During the forum, hundreds of pledges are expected from countries.