UN refugee summit kicks off as Syria truce teeters

The first summit to address the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War opens at the UN on Monday – as Syria’s truce teeters on the brink of collapse.

World leaders will adopt a political declaration at the first-ever summit on refugees and migrants, as a record 65 million people flee wars, repression and poverty worldwide.

Human rights groups, however, have already dismissed the meeting as falling short of the needed international response.

Japan, Brazil and South Korea have been criticised by Human Rights Watch for only taking in a handful of refugees, or none at all, in the case of Russia.

"We really don't feel that there is a strong political will," Francoise Sivignon, president of the aid group Medecins du Monde, told AFP.

Sivignon said she was particularly concerned with the failure to offer protection to child refugees who are "extraordinarily vulnerable" when they are separated from their families.

Only eight countries currently host more than half the world's refugees: Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya and Uganda

The summit kicks off a week of high-level diplomacy as world leaders are set to address the annual General Assembly meeting, which this year will be dominated by the conflict in Syria, now in its sixth year and driven nearly nine million people from their homes.

During negotiations leading up to the summit, a proposal by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to resettle 10 percent of the global refugee population was dropped from the non-binding draft declaration.

Instead, the 193 UN member-states will agree to meet the targets set by the UN refugee agency, which is pushing for the resettlement of five percent of the global refugee population.

That would amount to 1.1 million resettlements in 2017, compared to 100,000 in 2015, Ban’s representative Karen Abuzayd told AFP.

"It's 10 times as many," she said. "Things will change gradually."

Ban is to also launch a global campaign against xenophobia at a time when welcoming migrants and refugees has become a divisive issue in Europe and the United States.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama will host a second summit at which some 40 countries will make new offers of aid, either by taking in more refugees or supporting access to education and jobs.

Only eight countries currently host more than half the world's refugees: Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya and Uganda.

Six of the world's richest countries – the United States, China, Japan, Britain, Germany and France – hosted only 1.8 million refugees last year, just seven percent of the world total

Six of the world's richest countries – the United States, China, Japan, Britain, Germany and France – hosted only 1.8 million refugees last year, just seven percent of the world total, according to research by the British charity Oxfam.

Meanwhile, the Syria ceasefire deal – brokered by Russia and the US – appears to be on the brink of collapse, after rebel-held Aleppo came under the first barrage of airstrikes in nearly a week. Meanwhile, the US-led coalition killed dozens of regime soldiers in a strike on Saturday that Washington says was unintentional.