Syria Civil War: Rich Countries Urged to Accept 5% of Refugees

Oxfam has urged wealthy nations to accept between them at least 5% of Syria's refugees and called on them to increase humanitarian aid to fund the UN and other agencies.

The British charity accused the international community of "falling significantly short" of assisting and helping those affected by the Syrian civil war, in which 190,000 people have been killed and 6.5 people displaced inside the country.

The refugee crisis is particularly dire in Lebanon, which is hosting 38% of those fleeing Syria Jordan and Turkey which bear an excessive burden. Rich countries have committed to offer shelter to 37,432 of the three million refugees. The charity appealed to rich countries to "offer international protection by the end of 2015 to just 5% between them of the projected total Syrian refugee population", which amounts to 179,500 refugees.

Until now, only Germany, Austria and Australia have vowed to accept more refugees than their "fair share", calculated on the gross national income. Oxfam also blasted countries such as Italy, Japan and France for providing insufficient funds to humanitarian projects in Syria.

"The UN has launched its largest ever humanitarian appeal for Syria. Shamefully, well over halfway through the year, the UN appeals are only 40% funded," the charity said. "Oxfam's fair share analysis demonstrates that, out of 26 DAC donors, only 11 have met over 50% of their fair share of funding for Syria so far in 2014."

However, rich nations such as the UK, Luxembourg, Norway and Denmark along with Gulf donors such as Qatar, UAE and Kuwait have each provided 30% more than their fair share for humanitarian aid in the war-torn country.