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Davos, Switzerland: Countries around the world should increase their donations for refugee aid by 30 per cent to tackle the unprecedented global refugee crisis, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday at the World Economic Forum.
Annual contributions should rise from the current 10 billion dollars to 13 billion dollars, according to the US plans.
The Syria crisis has boosted the global number of people who have fled conflicts or hunger to a record 60 million, according to the latest UN estimates from late last year.
US chief diplomat told government and business leaders gathered in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos that countries should also make efforts to offer significantly more opportunities to resettle refugees permanently who have been living in overwhelmed host countries in crisis regions.
Another aim was to get 1 million additional refugee children into schools and to get 1 million refugees to find legal work, he said.
Kerry said his plan would be at the centre of a refugee summit that US President Barack Obama plans to host when the UN General Assembly meets in September in New York.
"The private sector, civil society, religious organizations will also be called on to help integrate refugees into host communities - socially, academically and through access to employment," Kerry said.
The war in Syria has caused the biggest current refugee crisis, with more than 4.6 million people having fled the country.
UN agencies this month appealed for 7.73 billion dollars to fund humanitarian operations in and around Syria in 2016 as the conflict is soon entering its sixth year.
QNA
