A Swiss call to action on refugees

Some Swiss politicians and personalities pressured the government on Saturday to accommodate 50,000 refugees to help ease a crisis in Europe inflamed by the five-year-old war in Syria. In an online petition posted at change.org, which also was published in the Tribune de Genève, some of the proponents called for the Swiss cabinet to open the nation’s arms to many more of the wave of refugees that has fled the horrors of war. Some 60 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes by war, violence and persecution, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency. More than 1 million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe mainly via the Mediterranean Sea last year, fueling crisis and conflict within the European Union over how best to resettle all the people. Most of the arrivals have been by sea, but some also make their way by land mainly through Turkey and Albania. Many of the refugees and migrants headed for Europe have come from Syria, but ...