U.N. chief urges 'bold and concrete' commitments to cope with refugee tide

Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The world's nations must make "bold and concrete" pledges to effectively cope with the global refugee crisis, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Tuesday at a forum on the subject.

Guterres, who formerly served as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, declared such decisive action was needed from all nations at a time when 70.8 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide, including 25.9 million who have fled across international borders as refugees.

"Now more than ever we need international cooperation and practical and effective responses," he said at the start of the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva. "We need better answers for those who flee, and better help for communities and countries that host them."

With poor and developing nations hosting 85 percent of the world's refugees and shouldering much of the economic and societal toll, U.N. officials have placed burden sharing high on the forum's agenda.

"Gratitude is not enough at this time of turbulence. ... The international community must do far more to shoulder this responsibility together," the U.N. chief said. "I urge you to be bold and concrete in the pledges you'll make."

Leaders from several of the countries hosting the most refugees, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, also appeared at the forum appealing for help in establishing a more equitable system.

Khan warned that millions of Muslims could flee from India to Pakistan due to disputes in Kashmir and India's new citizenship law, creating "a refugee crisis that would dwarf other crises."

"We are worried there not only could be a refugee crisis, we are worried it could lead to a conflict between two nuclear-armed countries," he told the summit.