Obama addresses refugee crisis at UN speech
US President Barack Obama says the United States “cannot ignore” the refugee crisis that has gripped Europe, calling on all countries to open borders to asylum seekers.
Addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit at the UN General Assembly in New York, Obama said Sunday that more should be done to deliver aid to asylum seekers.
“These are humanitarian crises and refugees that we cannot ignore, and we have to deliver the urgent aid that is needed right now,” Obama said. “Those countries that can must do more to accommodate refugees, recognizing that those children are just like ours."
The White House has already agreed to grant asylum to not a very generous number of 10,000 people.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 350,000 refugees have been registered in Europe since the beginning of this year.
Obama’s remarks came as the US was dealing with a refugee influx in its southern borders with Mexico, where critics say, rights of the migrants are frequently violated by American authorities, making the issue a crucial one for the presidential hopefuls of the 2016 election.
Climate change refugees
The US president also touched on climate change in his address, quoting visiting Pope Francis who raised the issue at the US Congress on Thursday.
“All of our countries will be affected by a changing climate, but the world’s poorest people will bear the heaviest burden from rising seas and more intense droughts, shortage of water and food,” Obama said. “We will be seeing climate change refugees.”
“As his holiness Pope Francis has rightly implored the world, this is a moral calling,” stated the US president.
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