Kerry calls for 30-percent hike in international aid for refugees

US Secretary of State John Kerry called Friday for a 30-percent increase in humanitarian funding from the United Nations for refugees.

Kerry told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the US wanted to “increase by 30 percent the response to UN humanitarian funding appeals”.

The State Department said this call would amount to an increase in international humanitarian aid for refugees from $10 billion (9.2 billion euros) in 2015 to $13 billion in 2016.

Kerry said President Barack Obama would host a summit on refugees at the UN General Assembly in New York later this year.

“This summit will be the culmination of a sustained, rigorous effort to rally the world community on several fronts,” Kerry said.

The US was also seeking to persuade 10 more countries to take in refugees, he said, without saying which countries they were.

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