Citing reports by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Nazrin said the world was facing a crisis of “mounting severity”, with 70 million displaced persons worldwide.
Of the figure, 26 million were refugees, with nearly 10 million from Muslim-majority countries, he said.
Nazrin said Turkey and Lebanon were currently hosting over 3.7 million refugees and 1.5 million refugees, respectively. Nations like Jordan, Pakistan and Iran, he said, were also doing their part.
However, he lamented that Islamic nations were simply not doing enough.
“The Muslim world could do much more, particularly as it develops and grows in wealth and power. Many Muslim-majority nations are more affluent now.
“Many more of us could, therefore, be working much harder to raise awareness, to contribute to the global dialogue, and to provide the financial and material support that humanitarian aid efforts so desperately need,” he said when closing the Kuala Lumpur Summit today.
Nazrin said the Muslim world had a vital responsibility to their nationless “brothers and sisters”, and Muslim nations must start reaching out and offer refugees homes and hope.
He pointed out that many Muslim refugees sought shelter in Europe as they believed it will afford them greater opportunities, better access to education, routes to financial security and, “crucially, the freedom, dignity and human rights they were stripped of in their home countries”.
Nazrin said as Muslim nations became more prosperous, more stable and developed in terms of technology, education and work opportunities, they would become better placed to offer hopeful, safe and productive lives to refugees.
These nations, he added, would also become more able to fund humanitarian efforts and command greater power and sway nations to pay attention to the crisis.
“For these possibilities to be realised, though, we have to care about what lies beyond our own borders, even as we pursue national development agendas.
“Tackling the hardships faced by nationless Muslims the world over has to become a priority; we must be more involved in the conversation.”
Nazrin announced that at its next gathering, the KL Summit will be known as the “Perdana Dialogue”.
This, he believed, was a hugely significant name change, reaffirming this summit’s commitment to the power of collaboration and conversation, “while at the same time, emphasising the responsibility that befalls us all, to ensure that the outcomes of these discussions are implemented without delay”.