Over 50 ombudsmen to discuss migration and refugees

By Sefa Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - More than 50 ombudsmen from 40 countries are going to discuss the refugee issue at an upcoming symposium in Turkish capital Ankara, according to Turkey's chief ombudsman on Wednesday.

Seref Malkoc said that 55 ombudsmen would be attending the 4th International Symposium on Ombudsman Institutions to be held on Thursday and Friday at the presidential complex.

Malkoc recalled Turkey was hosting around three million Syrian refugees -- more than any other country in the world -- and provided education for around 500,000 Syrian children.

"We are going to try to inspire the ombudsmen of the world with our activities. We will try to mobilize people who are sensitive about human rights," he said, adding they would be sharing Turkey's services in this regard with the other ombudsmen.

"Migration and refugees" is the main theme of the symposium which is co-financed by Turkey and the EU.

The topics to be discussed in the symposium are the countries' policies on migration and refugees, vulnerable groups including women and children, and xenophobia, racism and islamophobia in relation with migration.

Turkey has spent around $25 billion helping and sheltering refugees since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, which has left more than a quarter of a million people dead and upwards of 10 million displaced across the war-torn country, according to the UN.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research puts the death toll at more than 470,000.