UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on countries to re-settle nearly half a million Syrian refugees in the next three years, though only Italy, Sweden and the United States immediately announced concrete plans to play a part.
Speaking at the start of a ministerial conference hosted by the UN refugee agency UNHCR in Geneva, Mr Ban said: "This demands an exponential increase in global solidarity."
The United Nations is aiming to re-settle some 480,000 refugees, about 10% of those now in neighbouring countries, by the end of 2018, but concedes it is battling to overcome widespread fear and political wrangling.
Mr Ban urged countries to pledge new and additional legal pathways for admitting the refugees, such as resettlement or humanitarian admission, family reunions, as well as labour and study opportunities.
"Success at this high-level meeting today will drive momentum in the months ahead," Mr Ban told reporters, pointing to a series of upcoming conferences.
Italy and Sweden were among very few countries to make new concrete pledges to resettle refugees at the morning session, an annual increase of some 1,500 and 3,000 refugees respectively, but not all of them would be Syrians.
The five-year conflict has killed at least 250,000 people and driven nearly 5 million refugees abroad, mostly to neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.
