海角大神

Last year聽Syrian refugee teenager聽Yusra聽Mardini聽swam for three hours in the Aegean Sea, pushing聽a boatload of marooned fellow refugees聽to the safety of European shores.

On Monday, Ms.聽Mardini聽鈥� who swam on the聽Olympic Refugee Team in Rio this summer聽鈥撀爐old leaders assembled at the United Nations that聽it鈥檚 time for the聽world to聽jump in and rescue the record 65 million refugees and displaced people around the globe.

As world leaders gather at the UN for the annual opening of the General Assembly, the focus is on聽ensuring that an unprecedented 21 million refugees 鈥� as well as more than 40 million internally displaced people 鈥� are afforded ways to live secure and productive lives despite their status.聽

But even as leaders seek new ways to address the largest refugee crisis since World War II, they are confronting at the same time a counter-current of rising global resistance to refugees and migrants that is putting leaders who do act at political risk.

Case in point: German Chancellor Angela Merkel 鈥� who last summer was portrayed in German and international media as the patron saint of refugees for her generous welcome to the more than 1 million who arrived in Germany last year alone 鈥� is pointedly absent from New York this week as her political party suffers election setbacks over her聽open-door refugee policy.

On Tuesday, President Obama will hold a leaders summit on refugees at the UN where聽participating聽countries will be required to聽put on the table higher refugee resettlement numbers, new money for refugee assistance, and initiatives for expanding refugees鈥� education and employment opportunities.

Mr. Obama鈥檚 summit will follow on the heels of a high-level meeting hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban聽Ki-moon Monday at which countries reconfirmed their commitment to a six-decade-old international convention on receiving and assisting refugees.

But even as some countries tout a new dedication to assisting the rising numbers of people uprooted by conflict, refugee advocates warn that a pulling back from some goals and a watering down of some commitments could leave the displaced in no better shape than they are now.

鈥淭hese efforts by the international community to commit to new levels of support for refugees and to address the rising phenomenon of migration are positive, but the truth is we already have the international conventions and compacts to guide action on this,鈥� says Shannon Scribner, who heads Oxfam America鈥檚聽humanitarian policy team in Washington.聽鈥淲hat we鈥檝e seen since this crisis surged onto the world stage is a chipping away at these existing agreements as leaders have come under pressure.鈥�

As originally envisioned, the聽UN鈥檚聽Monday gathering was to have adopted a new 鈥渃ompact鈥� committing (or recommitting) countries to international principles 鈥� such as no forced return of refugees facing danger at home, Ms. Scribner says.聽

Instead, the adopted document聽uses聽a lot of language like 鈥渨here appropriate鈥� and 鈥渨here possible,鈥� she adds, while pledging to work toward increasing the number of refugees with employment by 1 million and the number of refugee children in school by 1 million in coming years.

The problem is that even as countries reconfirm principles and pledge new support for refugees, facts on the ground paint a different picture.

Refugee advocates compile a list of recent actions that point to a backlash.聽

The European Union鈥檚 agreement with Turkey, whereby most asylum seekers in Europe would be returned to Turkey,聽appears to be unraveling.聽The EU is聽holding conversations with聽refugee-sending countries like Sudan and Eritrea about financing detention facilities in those countries for would-be refugees. Australia has faced searing international criticism for housing聽asylum-seekers on inhospitable islands.

Kenya's President聽Uhuru聽Kenyatta persists in his pledge to close聽Dabaab, the world鈥檚 largest refugee camp, by the end of the year. If carried out, the camp closing would send 260,000 Somalis back to their unstable and violence-torn homeland.聽And even Jordan, which聽normally receives kudos for accepting more than 1 million Syrian refugees, recently closed its聽border with Syria over security concerns 鈥� trapping 75,000 Syrians in the desert.

With such actions on the rise, world leaders must move beyond hopeful pledges to recommitting to international standards on treatment of refugees, human rights activists say.

鈥淢illions of lives hang in the balance,鈥� Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Monday. 鈥淭his is not just about more money or greater resettlement numbers, but also about shoring up the legal principles for protecting refugees, which are under threat as never before.鈥澛�

Still, advocates like Mr. Roth say summits like Obama鈥檚 on Tuesday, with its 鈥減ay-to-play鈥� format, are useful nonetheless.聽More than 30 countries are expected to attend 鈥� and announce concrete pledges that the US says will double refugee resettlement numbers, boost aid to refugees and the countries hosting them by 30 percent, and substantially increase refugees鈥� education and employment opportunities.

Another innovation of Obama鈥檚 summit is that it involves the private sector and will highlight companies鈥� commitments to working with refugees.

At the same time, simply holding a summit does not place Obama out of range of the kind of criticism hitting other wealthy countries over their treatment of refugees. In particular, rights groups blast the Obama administration over aspects of its policy toward Central American asylum-seekers 鈥� for example, repatriating migrants who face violence in their home countries, and detaining unaccompanied minors.聽

White House officials point out that Obama has announced a nearly 30 percent increase in the number of refugees the US will聽take in next fiscal year, to 110,000. And they underscore that the US remains the No. 1 provider of humanitarian assistance to聽the nearly 5 million聽Syrians who have fled their country鈥檚 civil war.聽

But officials also acknowledge that Obama is dealing with the聽same political friction that聽other world聽leaders face. Obama's modest plan to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the US in fiscal year 2016 met with stiff resistance, as mostly Republican governors as well as Republican congressmen said the risks of terrorists slipping in as refugees was too great. By late August, the Obama administration made good on its commitment to resettle that number, but public opinion surveys show that widespread concerns persist about welcoming Muslims, particularly from Middle Eastern countries.

鈥淚鈥檓 sure the president would be聽willing to consider increasing this commitment further if Congress were prepared to provide the resources to get it done,鈥� White House press secretary Josh Earnest said last week.

But, he said, Obama鈥檚 commitment to doing more for the world鈥檚 record number of displaced people does not meet with the approval of 鈥渁 lot of people in Congress, including 鈥� a lot of people in the Republican majority.鈥� 聽And that, he added, 鈥渉as an impact in terms of the resources that are dedicated to this effort.鈥�