How the world is failing Syria's 2 million refugees

Every 15 seconds, someone flees Syria. And they don't have a lot of great options on where to go.

Syrian refugees
(Image credit: AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Every day the president spends trying to rally support in Congress for a military strike against Syria, an average of 5,000 refugees will flee the country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). That is about one person every 15 seconds.

On Tuesday, the UNHCR announced that 2 million Syrians had become refugees due to the violence of the last two and a half years, a staggering jump from 230,670 a year ago. Around half of them are believed to be children, and three quarters of those are under the age of 11.

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Keith Wagstaff is a staff writer at TheWeek.com covering politics and current events. He has previously written for such publications as TIME, Details, VICE, and the Village Voice.