Berlin – Amnesty International on Thursday said Chinese citizens have the most welcoming attitudes toward refugees of any country in the world, beating Germany and other European countries facing an influx of migrants.
Some 85 per cent of those surveyed in China would welcome refugees fleeing war or persecution into their country, with Germany coming a close second at 84 per cent.
Meanwhile Britain, Canada and Australia ranked third, fourth and fifth.
According to the survey, Russian respondents, for now, had the least welcoming attitudes towards refugees.
It noted that only 18 per cent said they would welcome those fleeing war or persecution in their country.
The data is from the latest Refugees Welcome Survey, commissioned by Amnesty to determine global attitudes towards refugees.
The research was carried out by Toronto-headquartered consultancy GlobeScan, which interviewed people in 27 countries.
Some 86 per cent of Chinese respondents said that their government should do more to help refugees fleeing war or persecution, while only 76 per cent of Germans said the same.
According to Amnesty’s Secretary General Salil Shetty, these figures speak for themselves.
“People are ready to make refugees welcome, but governments’ inhumane responses to the refugee crisis are badly out of touch with the views of their own citizens,’’ he said.
Report says some 1.1 million refugees and migrants entered Germany in 2015, the largest group of which comes from Syria. (dpa/NAN)
