US to welcome 5,000 to 8,000 Syrian refugees in 2016

WASHINGTON - The United States expects to accept between 5,000 and 8,000 Syrian refugees in 2016, officials said Monday.

State Department spokesman John Kirby also said 15,000 Syrian refugees have been referred to the US for resettlement by the UN refugee agency.

In December, Washington said it had received 9,000 referrals from the UN.

It had also previously said it would admit between 1,000 to 2,000 Syrian refugees in fiscal year 2015, and increase that number by a few thousand in fiscal year 2016.

The United States has been criticised for not taking more of the estimated four million refugees fleeing the civil war that began in 2011.

Kirby argued that the US was a "leader" in terms of accepting refugees and contributing financially to resettlement efforts, but that this work was "not the metric of success here."

"And so, what we're really committed to is helping to foster the kind of political transition inside Syria, so that it is a safe environment for Syrian people to return, including the millions that are seeking refuge in Turkey right now," he added.

The US has contributed $4bn in humanitarian aide to those affected by the Syrian violence since 2011.

It has agreed to accept a total of 70,000 refugees from around the world, with 33,000 of the places reserved for people from the Middle East and south Asia, including Syria, according to the Guardian.

Responding to criticism for the small numbers of refugees admitted to the country, Anne Richard, the US assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, said, “It’s the natural development of this process. It takes 18 to 24 months for refugees who have been referred to us to go through the process to the point where they’ve been approved and can get on an airplane and be brought to the US.”

The Guardian also reported that Richard confirmed US plans to accept thousands of Syrian refugees in 2015 and 2016, the majority of them being widows, women and children, elderly people and people with debilitating medical conditions.

“There are challenges with screening and vetting refugees, and selecting them and then helping them start over, and the challenges they themselves face starting over,” Richard said. “But overall the resettlement programme tends to be very successful, and is a very fine American tradition.”

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has said that the number of Syrian refugees surpassed four million in July and was expected to grow to 4.27 million by the end of the year.