Syria now the world’s largest source of refugees, latest UN report reveals

Homs, Syria (Twitter photo)

OTTAWA — A grim milestone for Syrian refugees today: for the first time in three decades, they outnumber Afghans as the largest refugee population under the protection of the United Nations.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has released a report examining trends in refugee populations over the first half of last year.

It says that just two years ago, Syria didn’t even register on its top 30 list of source countries for refugees but the conflict raging in the country has changed that dramatically.

Countries all over the world are being asked by the UN to help resettle up to 10 per cent of the estimated 3.2 million refugees displaced by the civil war in Syria.

Canada had committed to resettling some 1,300 refugees from that pool by the end of last year.

Though not all have arrived, the Conservative government has said they will commit to taking in more.