NGOs urge wealthy countries to welcome Syrian refugees

Nongovernmental organizations are asking that rich countries around the world pledge to take in at least 180,000 displaced Syrians — just 5 percent of all Syrian refugees.

The request came on Monday, a day before a pledging conference hosted by the United Nations refugee agency in Geneva. "We're counting on governments in Geneva to move quickly to demonstrate the kind of international solidarity that is desperately needed to transform the lives of the most vulnerable refugees," Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam Great Britain, said in a statement.

Countries bordering Syria are imposing stricter limits on the number of refugees they let in, and Amnesty International has criticized several Persian Gulf nations, China, and Russia for not opening their doors to Syrians, The New York Times reports. The U.S. has admitted a tiny number of refugees, while in Europe, Germany and Sweden have pledged to let in several thousand.

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