GENEVA (AP) — The head of the U.N. refugee agency says returns home by millions of Syrians living abroad are few, and insists that rescues at sea on the Mediterranean have been "taken hostage by politics" and must be restored.
Filippo Grandi also urged Myanmar's government to do more to create the conditions for Rohingya Muslims to return home. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape a bloody crackdown since August last year.
Grandi cited estimates that 750,000 internally displaced people in Syria returned home this year, but said returns of those who left Syria entirely have been under 1 percent since early 2017.
Speaking Monday to UNHCR's executive committee, he said the coming months of Syria's war will be important in refugees' decision-making. Some 5.6 million Syrian refugees are now in neighboring countries.
