Argentina’s Cabinet chief said on Saturday that the South American nation is willing to welcome more Syrian refugees fleeing their country’s civil war.
Anibal Fernandez said the Government eased the entrance of Syrians through a programme begun last year, but he didn’t specify how many of the refugees had arrived so far. He said the Syrians will be welcomed through the country’s tradition of helping out during humanitarian crises.
“When you do something like this, it’s a very honest act that springs from affection and solidarity,” Fernandez said.
He said he had been troubled this week by the image of a dead 3-year-old Syrian boy on a Turkish beach. The photograph has drawn the world’s attention to a wave of migration fueled by war and deprivation.
Since civil war broke out in their country in 2011, more than 4 million Syrians have sought refuge abroad, the largest number from any crisis in almost 25 years, the United Nations has said.
Juan Pablo Terminiello, legal associate at Argentina’s office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, estimates that the South American country so far has welcomed less than 100 Syrian refugees.
leaders of the Syrian-lebanese community, with an estimated 4 million people in Argentina, have asked authorities to speed up procedures so more of the refugees can enter the country.