MOSCOW (Sputnik) — During the recent federal elections, the Canadian Liberal Party's leader Justin Trudeau pledged to accept additional 25,000 refugees from Syria in 2015. After winning the election and becoming a prime minister, Trudeau confirmed this intention.
“UNHCR today welcomed the announcement by the Government of Canada to take in a further 25,000 Syrian refugees through humanitarian admission programs by the end of 2015,” the statement said on Tuesday.
Ottawa's announcement is an example for other countries to follow, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said, as quoted by the statement.
Canada's decision comes almost a year after the country's previous pledge to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees before September 2016, a commitment that was also welcomed by the UN refugee agency.
According to UNHCR data, the number of refugees from Syria stands at over 4 million, with Turkey taking on the largest share of the refugee burden with 2 million Syrians staying in the country. Both Jordan and Lebanon are estimated to have taken in over a million refugees each, the agency's figures show.
