UN Chief Antonio Guterres has used World Refugee Day to chastise the United States over its refugee policy. Germany, meanwhile, has been honored for being a "humanitarian frontrunner" in confronting the refugee crisis.
Image: Reuters/L. Jacksoon
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the administration of US President Donald Trump that retreating from global issues won't be good for America or the rest of the world.
"I believe if the US disengages in many aspects of foreign policy it will be unavoidable that other actors occupy that space," he told reporters Tuesday at his first press conference since taking over as secretary general in New York.
Speaking on World Refugee Day, Guterres voiced concern over recent US decisions to cut funding to the UN, withdraw from the Paris climate change accord, and reject refugees. He said the US should return to its "generous and positive" refugee policy of three years ago under former President Barack Obama. He also urged other countries around the world to reset their resettlement quotas to ease the burden on developing countries, which currently host 80 percent of refugees.
The Trump administration has proposed slashing US contributions to the UN by roughly $1 billion, a move Guterres said would create an "insolvable problem" for the world body. The UN chief said he planned to travel to Washington next week to lobby members of Congress to reject the cuts.
Guterres also spoke about the war in Syria, which has displaced millions of people over the past six years. He said he feared the US downing of a Syrian jet over the weekend could escalate the conflict and lead to a direct confrontation between the US and Russia.
World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis
Photographs of the massive migrant influx to Europe in 2015 and 2016 circulated around the world and influenced public opinion. Migration and its related suffering have never been as comprehensively documented as today.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Messinis
The goal: Survival
A journey combined with misery as well as dangers for the body and the soul: In their escape from war and suffering, hundreds of thousands of people, mostly from Syria, traveled to Greece from Turkey in 2015 and 2016. There are still around 10,000 people stranded on the islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos. More than 6,000 new arrivals were recorded this year from January to May.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Messinis
On foot to Europe
In 2015 and 2016, more than a million people tried to reach Western Europe from Greece or Turkey over the Balkan route - through Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary. The stream of refugees stopped only when the route was officially closed and many countries sealed their borders. Today, most refugees opt for the dangerous Mediterranean route from Libya to Europe.
Image: Getty Images/J. Mitchell
Global dismay
This picture shook the world. The body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi from Syria washed up on a beach in Turkey in September 2015. The photograph was widely circulated in social networks and became a symbol of the refugee crisis. Europe could not look away anymore.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/DHA
Chaos and despair
Last-minute rush: Thousands of refugees tried to get into overcrowded buses and trains in Croatia after it became known that the route through Europe would not remain open for long. In October 2015, Hungary closed its borders and installed container camps, where refugees would be kept for the duration of their asylum process.
Image: Getty Images/J. J. Mitchell
Unscrupulous reporting
A Hungarian journalist caused uproar in September 2015 after she tripped a Syrian man who was trying to run from the police at Roszke, near the Hungarian border with Serbia. At the peak of the crisis, the tone against refugees became coarser. In Germany, attacks on refugee homes increased.
Image: Reuters/M. Djurica
No open borders
The official closure of the Balkan route in March 2016 led to tumultuous scenes at border crossings. Thousands of refugees were stranded and there were reports of brutal violence. Many tried to circumvent border crossings, like these refugees at the Greek-Macedonian border shortly after borders were closed.
A child covered in blood and dust: the photograph of five-year-old Omran shocked the public when it was released in 2016. It became an allegory of the horror of the Syrian civil war and the suffering of the Syrian people. One year later, new pictures of the boy circulated on the internet, showing him much happier. Assad supporters say the picture last year was planted for propaganda purposes.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Aleppo Media Center
The unknown new home
A Syrian man carries his daughter in the rain at the Greek-Macedonian border in Idomeni. He hopes for security for his family in Europe. According to the Dublin regulation, asylum can be applied only in the country where the refugee first entered Europe. Many who travel further on are sent back. Above all, Greece and Italy carry the largest burden.
Image: Reuters/Y. Behrakis
Hope for support
Germany remains the top destination, although the refugee and asylum policy in Germany has become more restrictive following the massive influx. No country in Europe has taken in as many refugees as Germany, which took in 1.2 million since the influx began in 2015. Chancellor Angela Merkel was an icon for many of the newcomers.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Hoppe
Emergency situation in the camps
In France's north, authorities clean up the infamous "jungle" in Calais. The camp caught fire during the evacuation in October 2016. Around 6,500 residents were distributed among other shelters in France. Half a year later, aid organizations reported many minor refugees living as homeless people around Calais.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/E. Laurent
Drowning in the Mediterranean
NGO and government rescue ships are constantly on the lookout for migrant boats in distress. Despite extreme danger during their voyage, many refugees, fleeing poverty or conflict in the home countries, expect to find a better future in Europe. The overcrowded boats and rubber dinghies often capsize. In 2017 alone, 1,800 people died in the crossing. In 2016, 5,000 people lost their lives.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/E. Morenatti
No justice in Libya
Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Sub Saharan Africa and the Middle East wait in Libyan detention camps to cross the Mediterranean. Human smugglers and traffickers control the business. The conditions in the camps are reportedly catastrophic, human rights organizations say. Eyewitnesses report of slavery and forced prostitution. Still, the inmates never give up the dream of coming to Europe.
Image: Narciso Contreras, courtesy by Fondation Carmignac
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UN honors Germany
Also on Tuesday, the UN's refugee agency honored Germany for being a "humanitarian frontrunner" in helping to tackle the world's refugee crisis as it marked World Refugee Day. The day highlights the plight facing millions of displaced persons and calls on state actors to make tangible efforts in alleviating the suffering.
Volker Turk, the Assistant High Commissioner for the UN's Refugee Agency (UNHCR), told German media that Germany had taken a leading role in helping to tackle the plight of refugees.
Since 2015, Germany has taken in more than a million refugees fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, although the flow of refugees into the country has significantly slowed in the past year.
More recent efforts instead focused on providing humanitarian aid to besieged regions. Last year alone, Berlin spent some 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion) on aid, making it one of the world's most generous humanitarian spenders. Its humanitarian budget increased ten-fold over the past five years, according to Germany's foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel.
Around 307 million euros ($342 million) of that funding went to the UNHCR.
Refugees work in Germany
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Gabriel: More international support needed
Gabriel, on Tuesday praised the UNHCR for being the country's "most important humanitarian partner."
However, Germany's top diplomat also had stern words for the international community, calling on it to do more in dealing with the global refugee crisis.
"Germany can't cope with these challenges on its own," Gabriel said. "We need joint international efforts and a fairer distribution of responsibility in order to alleviate the suffering of refugees around the world and prevent long-term refugee crises from happening in the first place."
Germany has accepted more than a million refugees since the refugee crisis beganImage: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Oczeret
The UNHCR reported in its annual global trends on Monday that the total number of people displaced either within their own country or abroad had reached a record of 65.5 million.
In the past year alone more than 10 million people were forcefully uprooted from their homes, while more than 3.5 million people fled their countries. Syria and Afghanistan remain the biggest sources of refugees, with 5.5 million and 2.5 million nationals from the two countries displaced respectively.South Sudan became the world's fastest-growing displacement crisis last year, according to the UNHCR. The number of South Sudanese who fled across the border almost doubled in 2016 from just under 800,000 to around 1.4 million.
