\n The United Nations should consider a peacekeeping force for war-ravaged Syria to help curb the surge of refugees which is destabilising the region and beyond, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said Sunday.\n<\/p>\n
\n An emergency meeting of the 57-member group called on the UN Security Council to urgently consider creating \"a multi-dimensional UN peacekeeping operation in Syria as a prelude to restoring security and stability in the country\".\n<\/p>\n
\n It also called for more to be done to find a rapid political solution to the Syrian conflict.\n<\/p>\n
\n The OIC, which calls itself the collective voice of the Muslim world, blamed the humanitarian crisis on \"the war crimes committed by the regime in Syria\".\n<\/p>\n
\n More than four million Syrians have fled their country where President Bashar al-Assad is battling various rebels including the Islamic State group which has carried out widespread atrocities.\n<\/p>\n
\n The migration from Syria has created a crisis in Europe, where Germany alone is expected to receive 800,000 asylum-seekers from Syria and elsewhere this year.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The meeting stressed the common responsibility of all nations, particularly OIC member states, to open their doors to the Syrian refugees as a mark of Islamic compassion and solidarity,\" a closing statement from the meeting said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The OIC noted that more than half of its member states are not signatories to the UN Convention on Refugees, and urged them to sign.\n<\/p>\n
\n No Gulf state has acceded to the convention which sets standards for the treatment and rights of those fleeing to a new country.\n<\/p>\n
\n Gulf Arab states have been among the most ardent opponents of Assad, providing funds and weapons for rebel groups fighting him.\n<\/p>\n
\n At the same time, Saudi Arabia and its neighbours last year joined a US-led military coalition bombing IS extremists in Syria.\n<\/p>\n
\n The OIC further \"urged all countries to refrain from extending military support to the Assad regime\".\n<\/p>\n
\n That call comes as Washington accuses Moscow of a military build-up in Syria, where Russia has backed Assad against the uprising of more than four years.\n<\/p>\n
\n The OIC said Syria's neighbours who have taken refugees have borne \"a huge portion\" of the humanitarian burden and the international community should give them more support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United Nations should consider a peacekeeping force for war-ravaged Syria to help curb the surge of refugees which is destabilising the region and beyond, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said Sunday. An emergency meeting of the 57-member group called on the UN Security Council to urgently consider creating \"a multi-dimensional UN peacekeeping operation in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-2035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n