Steaming global refugee crisis

Photograph of a small boy lying lifeless on the sands of a Turkish beach has jerked the minds and thoughts of every one across the world. It has sent chills through the spine of all, from a commoner to a leader, from young children to elderly parents, devouring everyone in deep emotional fallout.  The ill fated baby, Aylan, was just a three year-old Syrian who got drowned in the Mediterranean after falling off the lap of his parents while trying to migrate away to Europe. The family was one of the tens of thousands of other Syrians betting life into the wild uncertainties just to have an escapade from the curse of an unending civil war in their country.
It is estimated that about 11 million Syrians have been trekking the rugged mountains of neighbouring Turkey or Jordan and then braving the waves of the Mediterranean Sea to reach the shoreline of Europe. For many years now, Syria has been a hot pot of civil unrest. In the first phase, it was the political strife between Assad's regime and those opposing it and then came the ravaging attacks by ISIL or ISIS trying to establish Islamic state.
The Mediterranean itself became the headline maker in the recent times as thousands of people from Iraq, Afghanistan and lately Syria as well as those from Libya and several African countries embarked upon risky boat or dinghy rides across the sea into Europe. While many of them made it safe, many were drowned and lost forever in the sea. It was evident that some human traffickers were involved in making a brisk business. As reported, unscrupulous rings have grown fast in financially-hit Greece as well as those in some Balkan states to be engaged in this new multi-million dollar business.
Refugee problem has always been there but, of course, never before with such complexities and volume. This time, the roots are mainly the civil war stemming out from local, regional and international politics.           
No can deny the fact that the "refugee" issue is becoming a global crisis of serious dimension. It has been already labelled as the biggest humanitarian crisis in the century and the Syrian case obviously merits non-precedence. According to a recent write-up published in the International New York Times, "little was done to blunt the slow-motion disaster befalling Syria's residents".  "The exodus highlights political failure of the West", the newspaper added.
It is also undeniable that the crisis within Syria got precipitated due to several factors which include the absence of sustained efforts by the global leadership, "couldn't-care-less attitude" of the regional leadership and a poor math of extending humanitarian assistance by the United Nations. People with lost homes, lost income and lost hope will certainly develop spinning desperation to travel miles seeking opportunities to survive with security and dignity.
Though the conscience-tearing image of Aylan has been able to soften the hard-rock sentiment of some European leaders, we are yet to see an effective global plan to deal with the roots of such refugee crisis. The onus lies with the United Nations, the organisation which was formed to ensure global peace, security and development. If the crisis is left steaming, all goals for sustainable development stand the risks of being evaporated!  
    (Email: mohicsr@gmail.com)