在俄罗斯,许多叙利亚难民不受欢迎

AS IT IS 2015-10-20 Not Many Syrian Refugees Welcomed in Russia 在俄罗斯,许多叙利亚难民不受欢迎

Tens of thousands of refugees from Syria continue to flee unrest by traveling to Europe and neighboring countries.

But many do not seek refuge in Russia, despite longtime political and economic relations between the two countries.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner¹ for Refugees, or UNHCR, there were 238,836 refugees and asylum² seekers in Russia as of January. Only 2,340 were from Syria. And that number has dropped to about 1,600. 

Turkey has taken in over 2 million Syrians. Germany is expected to have as many as 1.5 million refugees by the end of this year. Most of those refugees are from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Bayisa Wak-Woya is the UNHCR representative for Russia. He said, “Unlike in the West, where people have a tradition of dealing³ with asylum-seekers and refugees for the last six, seven decades, here it’s a fairly new phenomenon.” And many in Russia view refugees as foreigners and migrants.

Another reason is the great distance from Syria to Russia. The distance between Moscow and Damascus is about 2,500 km. That means most Syrian asylum-seekers have to come by plane, not by boat, bus, and train like those arriving in Europe.

A UNHCR spokesman says Russia's airstrikes could increase the number of Syrian refugees to neighboring countries like Turkey. But he adds that a jump in the number of asylum seekers arriving in Russia is unlikely.

Russia has granted refugee status for 790 people as of January. Most are from Afghanistan and Ukraine. Only two persons are from Syria. 

Elena Burtina is with the refugee aid group Civic⁴ Assistance Committee in Moscow. She notes that the much smaller Republic of Malta has given refugee status to more people than Russia.

"Russia ratified⁵ the convention on refugees," she said. "It's taken on the responsibility to accept them. Of course it should do more. They shouldn't have signed if they didn't want refugees. They weren't forced to do it."

Words in This Story

asylum – n. protection given by a government to someone who has left another country in order to escape being harmed

ratify⁶ – v. to make a treaty, agreement, etc. official by signing it or voting for it

status  - n. the official position of a person or thing according to the law

1 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

2 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

3 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

4 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

5 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

6 ratify   

v.批准，认可，追认

参考例句：

• The heads of two governments met to ratify the peace treaty.两国政府首脑会晤批准和平条约。
• The agreement have to be ratify by the board.该协议必须由董事会批准。