European leaders should "hang their heads with shame" over their treatment of Syrian refugees fleeing the country's brutal crackdown, rights group Amnesty International has said.

In a briefing, released on Friday, entitled; "An international failure: The Syrian refugee crisis", the rights group states that European Union (EU) member states have only offered around 12,000 places to Syrian refugees as part of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee's goal of securing 30,000 places.

"The EU has miserably failed to play its part in providing a safe haven to the refugees who have lost all but their lives," said Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty.

"The number of those it's prepared to resettle is truly pitiful," he added.

He called upon EU leaders to open their borders, provide safe passage to those seeking refuge, and refrain from "unlawful push-back operations" currently being employed to stop refugees entering the continent.

Only 10 EU member states offered resettlement or humanitarian admission places to refugees from Syria, according to the report. Of the 12,000 places offered, 10,000 have been pledged by Germany. France has offered 500 places and Spain 30.

Eighteen EU member states - including the UK and Italy - have pledged no places, said the London-based charity.
Amnesty claims that the low chance of being granted asylum is forcing refugees to risk their life by undertaking dangerous boat and land crossings.

'Deplorable treatment'

The report claims that those who make it to Europe are often mistreated.

"In two of the main gateways to the EU, Bulgaria and Greece, refugees from Syria are met with deplorable treatment, including life threatening push-back operations along the Greek coast, and detention for weeks in poor conditions in Bulgaria," it said.

In Bulgaria, Amnesty said it had found refugees "living in squalid conditions in containers, a dilapidated building and in tents".

"It is deplorable that many of those that who have risked life and limb to get here, are either forced back or detained in truly squalid conditions with insufficient food, water or medical care," said Shetty.

About 55,000 Syrian refugees have managed to get through and seek asylum in the EU, said the report.
Almost 97 percent of Syria's refugees - estimated by Amnesty to be 2.3 million in total - have fled to five neighboring countries: Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt since fighting began.

The crackdown, which has killed an estimated 126,000 people and driven millions from their homes, was sparked when the regime of Bashar al-Assad launched a crackdown after a series of protests in March 2011.

PHOTO CAPTION

Syrian refugees from the town of Qara gather around a fire to keep themselves warm in a Syrian refugee camp on the Lebanese border town of Arsal, in eastern Bekaa Valley December 12, 2013.

Source: Aljazeera.com