"As the second-largest humanitarian donor, Germany is willing to provide UNHCR with a further 116 million euros ($135 million) -- that is half of the amount currently needed -- to help Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon," Maas said. After all, the Charter talks about 'we the peoples'," he said in reference to the UN's founding treaty. With immigration becoming an increasingly toxic issue in Germany, Merkel's government has since repeatedly tightened immigration and asylum laws. According to the UN, around 5.6 million Syrians are living outside the country as refugees as a result of a devastating seven-year war. The foreign minister's speech to the body also included several thinly-veiled rebukes to US President Donald Trump's "America First" foreign policy.

Source: The Local September 29, 2018 00:56 UTC