US has unshirkable role in addressing refugee crisis

As the unprecedented refugee crisis envelops Europe, the international community should step up efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to people fleeing the wars in the Middle East and North Africa.

According to United Nations' estimates, 300,000 refugees, 80 percent of them from Syria, fled across the Mediterranean to Europe between January and August, exceeding the total number of such refugees last year. In all, the number of refugees arriving in Europe, some of whom also came from Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Egypt, is estimated to have reached 1 million.

Such a massive migration is the spillover from the ongoing crises in the Middle East and North Africa where conflicts have displaced tens of millions of people and threatened their basic right to existence.