In 2013, more than 150,000 Syrians crossed into neighbouring states every month, mainly to Lebanon and Jordan
LONDON, Nov 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Thousands of Syrians face no escape from fighting because neighbouring countries, straining to cope with huge refugee populations and limited international help, are making it harder for them to enter, two charities said on Thursday.
More than three years of conflict has left 7.2 million people uprooted inside Syria with 3.3 million more fleeing abroad, mainly to neighbouring countries such as Lebanon and Jordan, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday.
In 2013, more than 150,000 Syrians crossed into neighbouring states every month, according to a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and International Rescue Committee (IRC). But last month, only 18,453 new refugees were registered by UNHCR, it said.
"Neighbouring countries are kneeling under the pressure of millions of Syrians and have placed a whole series of new restrictions on border crossings ... that means women, children, men are turned away at the border in increasing numbers," NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland said.
"There are hundreds of thousands of people close to the borders who, we think, would want to leave if they could but there is no escape for them," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Egeland, who was the United Nations' top official for humanitarian affairs from 2003 to 2006, said relief had not reached many of the communities that are in most need in Syria.
He also said the international community's approach to tackling the crisis -- through supporting Syria's neighbours rather than resettling more refugees -- was a failure.
"We are witnessing a total collapse of international solidarity with millions of Syrian civilians," he added.
"There has to be a complete rethink. We cannot live with this situation where there is no escape for people fleeing brutal war and massive abuse."
According to the U.N. Financial Tracking Service, a U.N. appeal for $3.7 billion to help Syrian refugees in the region is only 53 percent funded.
IRC's president David Miliband said there was much more the world could do to share the burden with Syria's neighbours.
"As well as providing direct financial assistance to plug gaps in basic services and offer long-term development support, the international community can make the symbolically important step of agreeing to take in its fair share of refugees," Miliband said in a statement.
"More refugees have been displaced from Syria in the last month than have been resettled outside the region in the last three years. It is a depressing failure of international solidarity and should spur the world's wealthier countries into action."
Lebanon is home to 1.12 million or 36 percent of all registered Syrian refugees. In contrast, Germany has pledged to resettle 28,500 Syrians, France 500 and Britain several hundred, the report said.
(Reporting by Katie Nguyen; Editing by Ros Russell)
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