国际英语新闻:Humanitarian group calls on Australian gov't to take more Syrian refugees

SYDNEY, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Advocates have urged the Australian government to announce an extraordinary additional humanitarian resettlement of Syrian refugees.

Despite Australia having filled its intake of 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq, with 10,400 having already arrived, humanitarian groups say the circumstances demand Australia do more.

Helen Szoke, CEO of charitable organization Oxfam Australia, said that "considering the success" of the initial 12,000, Australia was well-placed to resettle more people.

"The international community seems intent on watching on as millions of people are stuck between the rock that their country has become and the hard place that exile offers them," Szoke told the Guardian Australia from Oxfam's headquarters in Melbourne on Tuesday.

"Oxfam calls on rich countries to show their support for Syria's neighbours that have welcomed these refugees and to resettle at least the most vulnerable 10 percent of Syrian refugees by the end of 2017."

Bob Bowker, an Australian ambassador to Damascus from 2005 to 2008, agreed with Szoke, saying "the Australian community will benefit" from more refugees.

"I would like to see Australia doing much more to accept Syrian refugees that have been assessed as such and provide more support in local communities to assist their settling into Australia," Bowker said.

Bowker said the initial group of Syrian refugees had proved that younger refugees adapt better, and more quickly, to their new country.

He said that if Australia were to take on more refugees they needed to be accepted on the basis of those in the greatest need of protection, not religious division.