The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said Monday that according to its estimates, more than 1.44 million refugees currently residing in over 60 refugee-hosting countries will need resettlement in 2020, Trend reports citing xinhua.
"Given the record numbers of people needing safety from war, conflict and persecution and the lack of political solutions to these situations, we urgently need countries to come forward and resettle more refugees," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
He opened the two-day Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement (ATCR) in Geneva.
According to the Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2020 report, launched at the ATCR, refugees most at risk and in need of resettlement are Syrian refugees (40 percent).
They are followed by South Sudanese refugees (14 percent) and refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (11 percent).
"With the overwhelming majority, 84 percent, of the world's refugees hosted in developing regions facing their own development and economic challenges and whose own populations may live below the poverty line, there simply has to be a more equitable sharing of responsibility for global crises," Grandi said.
He noted that history has shown that with a strong sense of purpose, "countries can come together to respond to refugee crises collectively", and help millions of people to reach safety, find homes and build futures in new communities.
By region of asylum, East and Horn of Africa account for the highest resettlement needs (almost 450,000), followed by Turkey (420,000).
Resettlement involves the relocation of refugees from a country of asylum to a country that has agreed to admit them and grant them permanent settlement.
UNHCR said it is a life-saving tool to ensure the protection of those most at risk or with specific needs that cannot be addressed in the country where they have sought protection.
Owing to the gap between the number of refugees in need of resettlement and the places made available by governments around the world, it is available only to a fraction of the world's refugees.
Last year, 25 countries admitted 92,400 refugees for resettlement, out of which 55,680 refugees were resettled through UNHCR-facilitated programs.
UNHCR said that a Global Refugee Forum would be held Dec. 17 and 18 in Geneva and it "will be a critical opportunity to galvanize support through commitments and pledges from states and other relevant stakeholders."