AMMAN, JORDAN -- UK Prime Minister David Cameron toured two refugee camps in the Middle East on Monday, urging the international community to prioritize aid to the 4 million Syrian refugees in the region.
His visit comes on the same day European leaders held crisis talks in Brussels on how to redistribute the thousands of asylum seekers that have reached Europe's shores in recent months, but Cameron has reiterated his calls to deliver aid to those in refugee camps rather than those entering the continent.
Speaking in Za'atari refugee camp in northern Jordan, near the border with Syria, Cameron stressed the need for other countries to provide monetary aid to the countries hosting the largest numbers of people displaced by the Syria's bloody civil war.
"I would encourage others to step up to the plate and spend and invest in the way Britain has done," Cameron said.
Rather than taking steps to address the ongoing crisis of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants entering Europe this year, however, Cameron has maintained a focus on providing aid to those living in the countries that neighbor Syria.
The UK announced plans last week to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees from camps over the next five years.
But Cameron made it clear at the time that the UK would only be offering resettlement to refugees currently living in camps in the Middle East, and not those who have crossed the Mediterranean into Europe. His government has said it will not participate in an EU-wide quota system currently being discussed by European leaders.
At the time, the British government also pledged £100 million to support refugees in the camps, with a particular focus on children.
The vast majority of the more than 4 million refugees who have fled the country's civil war are living in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.
Some are living in refugee camps with some access to aid, while others live in urban environments where they struggle to provide for their most basic needs.
It's a great pleasure to receive David Cameron in #Zaatari today. PM received updates on refug's situation in Jordan pic.twitter.com/KkisT1PN9a— Za'atari Camp (@ZaatariCamp) September 14, 2015
While in the camp, run jointly by UNHCR and the Jordanian government, Cameron visited a school and met with young Syrian refugees.
After his visit to Za'atari, Cameron tweeted a photo with a boy who lost a leg during a barrel bomb attack on his city.
Malik lost his leg to a Syrian barrel bomb. British aid in Jordan is helping him get his life back together. pic.twitter.com/Ze8qvh8Ulv— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) September 14, 2015
In Za'atari alone, more than 80,000 Syrians live in temporary housing in a patch of desert near the town of Mafraq. Since 2012, the camp has sprung from a small cluster of tents and administrative buildings providing shelter to a few hundred people into a booming makeshift city.
With no end to the Syrian conflict in sight, Za'atari is now the largest refugee camp housing men, women and children displaced by the country's war.
After the visitors depart we get back to the reality of dealing with a @refugees camp & all its challenges @DFID_UK pic.twitter.com/lusJ0mQNgN— Andrew Harper (@And_Harper) September 14, 2015
While at the camp, Cameron noted that millions have been displaced by the Syria conflict and said that helping those still in the Middle East was the biggest priority for the UK.
"There is an enormous number who could decide to come to Europe," he said. "That underlines the importance of other countries supporting the refugee camps and supporting people who remain in Syria."
Earlier in the day, Cameron also visited a refugee camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, on the western border of Syria. Lebanon has taken in over 1.1 million refugees, according to official figures from the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
I'm at a refugee camp in Lebanon, hearing some heartbreaking stories. British aid is doing so much to help. pic.twitter.com/dqpCfDgVKM— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) September 14, 2015
Public pressure due to the huge uptick in dangerous and sometimes deadly Mediterranean crossing in recent months has refocused international attention on the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis that is in part driving the mass migration into Europe.
European countries have yet to come up with a comprehensive approach to dealing with the more than 410,000 people who have arrived on the continent via the Mediterranean in 2015. The vast majority of those who make the journey -- 81% -- are refugees, and most are Syrian.
Cameron's decision to focus attention on the Middle East camps, rather than addressing the need for resettlement of refugees in Europe, has drawn criticism from some.
Former UK Foreign Secretary and now International Rescue Committee (IRC) President David Miliband criticized Cameron's approach. Miliband is currently visiting the Greek island of Lesbos, which has become a main landing point for the thousands arriving in Europe.
“The UK’s decision to annually resettle 4,000 Syria refugees over the next five years is the equivalent of accepting the number arriving on a single day on the beaches of the Greek island of Lesbos, where the IRC is providing humanitarian assistance," said Miliband in a statement released Sunday. "The total offer of 20,000 is the same as the number of refugees who arrived in Munich last weekend."
This mound of life jackets is testimony to the tide of misery coming from the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/xc6MEWiQAu— David Miliband (@DMiliband) September 13, 2015
At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, EU leaders held talks to address the crisis.
EU ministers are due to vote on a plan from May to redistribute 40,000 asylum seekers to European countries with mandatory quotas. However several central and eastern European countries have opposed the idea. Border control measures have been put in place in some European countries, in a move the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR fears may leave refugees in "legal limbo."
Some information from the Associated Press.