UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations high commissioner for refugees said on Thursday that European countries must accept more Syrian refugees to dissuade them from boarding overcrowded boats for a perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to escape the war in Syria as “the level of despair rises.”
Speaking to the United Nations Security Council, the high commissioner, António Guterres, said Syrians accounted for a third of the 220,000 migrants who reached European shores last year. This year alone, he said, for every 20 who made it across the sea, one drowned.
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This month, Mr. de Mistura announced vaguely that Mr. Assad had agreed to a temporary truce, but provided no details. On Thursday, the American ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, pointed out that Mr. Assad had already demonstrated his “abysmal track record” of abiding by the Council’s resolution of last year.
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