World leaders are gathering in New York on Monday for a U.N. summit on tackling the refugee and migrant crisis. It is the first of its kind during the U.N. General Assembly. It comes amid a record number of displaced people.
According to figures provided by U.N. agencies, 65.3 million people had been driven from their homes by the end of 2015 because of conflicts and persecution. On average, 24 people were forced to flee every minute last year.
More than half of the refugees come from just three nations, Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia. Nearly one in 200 children in the world is a refugee.
And growing numbers of children are crossing borders alone. More than 100,000 unaccompanied minors have applied for asylum, triple the number in 2014.
Before the U.N. refugee summit, China said in a paper that symptoms and root causes should be addressed in tackling the issue.
While humanitarian care and security are needed, it is also important to focus on eradicating root causes, such as armed conflicts, poverty and unbalanced development.
