United Nations: States pledge more than $3 billion for refugees, asylum rights 'under threat'

Stateshavepledgedmorethan$3billion(£2.34billion) to supportrefugeesand about 50,000 resettlement places, theUnited Nations Refugee Agency said on Wednesday at the end of a ministerial conference.

UNHigh Commissioner forRefugeesFilippo Grandi said that the Global Forum onRefugeeshad broadened responsibility, sharing for 25.9 millionrefugeeswho have fled war and persecution, mainly exiled in poor neighbouring countries.

Grandi told a final news conference that the $3billionwas in addition to the World Bank and otherpledges. The private sectorpledged $250 million, but all the figures were preliminary, Grandi said.

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Germany, which has taken in hundreds of thousands of Syrianrefugees,pledged some 1.7billioneuros, Grandi said. The Inter-American Development Bankpledged $1billionto communities hostingrefugeesin Latin America, while the World Bank announced it was expanding funding for projects supportingrefugeesby 10 per cent to $2.2billion, Grandi added.

Statespledged 50,000 new resettlement and other legal pathways forrefugeesto remain in host countries, he said.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump said in September that it planned to allow only 18,000refugeesto resettle in theUnitedStatesin the 2020 fiscal year, the lowest number in the history of the modern refugee programme.

The right to claimasylum, enshrined in international law, remains "under threat", Grandi said, without naming names.

"The reality is there has been no real systematic burden and responsibility-sharing," he said.

"We cannot go into a world in which responsibility-sharingmeans somestateskeep all therefugeesand somestatespay all the money. We cannot do that, that is why we have resettlement, why we have different types of partnerships.

"That is whyasylumhas to remain a reality in all parts of the world including in the rich countries and evenmorein rich countries that have so many responsibilities," Grandi said.