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While Europe struggles with the refugee crisis, Saudi Arabia, less than 2,032.5 km from Syria, has been largely unresponsive to the crisis.
ressure continues to mount on Saudi Arabia to take Syrian refugees as it has been revealed that that the Middle Eastern country has 100,000 air conditioned tents that could house more than three million people, sitting empty.
The 20 square km tent city of Mina is used for five days each year by Hajj pilgrims, and deserted for the rest of the time.
The neatly arranged campsite is made up of eight-by-eight meter fire-proof tents, with kitchen and bathroom facilities.
Yet while Europe struggles to find a solution to the millions asylum seekers making perilous journeys there, Saudi Arabia – less than 2,032.5 km from Syria and with resources at its disposal – has been largely unresponsive to the crisis.
According to the UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, there are around 500,000 Syrians living in Saudi Arabia, but they are not classified as asylum seekers, and it is not known when they arrived in the affluent country. source