HUMANITARIAN organisations have called for urgent action to help save the lives of refugees making the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean sea, after figures show the number who have died while trying to reach another country has increased by more than a fifth since the death of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi.

Despite the public horror which followed the photographs of the lifeless body of the three-year-old in September last year, 5,700 people have died since on refugee and migrant routes around the world.

In the year before Alan died, 4,664 deaths were recorded.

According to the UNHCR, thousands more, often packed into tiny unseaworthy boats, have been saved by rescue missions off the Greek, Italian and Libyan coasts.

Oxfam is now leading a call on the UK Government to commit to welcoming more refugees, as well as helping poorer countries which are sheltering the majority of refugees, and working to protect all people on the move.

Mark Goldring, Oxfam GB’s chief executive, said: “The images of Alan Kurdi’s body washed up on a Turkish beach were heartbreaking and the public was rightly shocked and saddened by them. And yet in the year since, the situation has not improved for refugees and migrants who are risking everything in search of safety and a better life for their families.

“In fact, the routes they take have become deadlier still.”

It was backed by Alan Kurdi’s father, Abdullah, who, having also lost his elder son and his wife, lives alone in Irbil, a Kurdish town in Iraq.

“After the death of my family, the politicians said ‘Never again!’” Kurdi told the German newspaper Bild. “Everyone apparently wanted to do something because the photo had moved them so much. But what is happening now? The dying goes on and nobody does anything.”

The call comes as Scotland celebrates becoming home to more 1,000 Syrian refugees who arrived in the country as part of a UK-wide resettlement programme.

The men, women and children, who began being placed in communities in October last year, are living across 29 of the country’s 32 local authority areas, and make-up around a third of the total number of the most-vulnerable Syrians resettled in the UK from refugee camps.

Scottish equalities minister Angela Constance said she was proud of the support Scotland had offered. Speaking during a visit to Welcoming Edinburgh, a project providing English language lessons to refugees, Constance said: “It’s been fantastic to see people extend the warm hands of friendship to their new neighbours. We will do all we can to ensure refugees have happy and productive new lives in Scotland.”

However, many said that while the milestone was a positive one, the UK was not doing enough to help Syrians caught up in “indescribable suffering”.

Figures suggest 4.8 million have fled to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, with 6.6 million internally displaced within Syria.

Vickie Hawkins, UK director of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said: “The problem is that while European leaders are doing all they can to focus on a policy of deterrents, the fallout is costing lives.”

Their response was causing “a ripple effect” she claimed. As borders between Syria and Turkey and Jordan closed yesterday, internally displaced Syrians were left trapped and unable to access humanitarian aid.

MSF has frequently reported on conditions in Syria, where in the town of Madaya, dozens of people have starved to death. Doctors claim people are frightened to go to hospitals as they have become targets for bombing, and medical supplies are often not available. In one case, three children bled to death when doctors said their lives could have been saved.

Yesterday, monitoring groups were reporting that air strikes in the Syrian town of Hama had killed at least 25 people, including six children.

Hawkins said: “The suffering of the Syrian people has gone beyond describable. I hope that when we reach a point where we can reflect on this, European leaders will look back with shame. They are eroding the very concept of refuge and asylum. We have a responsibility to do far more.”

Munir Emkideh, a lawyer who fled Syria almost four years ago, said that although he and his family were hugely grateful for the support that they had been shown since arriving in Scotland, more help was needed.

In coming weeks, he intends to travel to Greece for the second time to help fellow Syrians. He said: “The situation there is very bad. When people arrive, the conditions are very basic. I saw the wind blow tents away and families were left holding their children in their arms in the rain.

“We have been made very welcome in Scotland. But we need to help more people to come to the UK.”

The UNHCR is responsible for identifying those suitable for the Vulnerable Person’s Relocation scheme in a process described as “demanding” and “painstaking. It expects to have submitted about 10,000 names to the UK Government – which then does its own checks before deciding who to admit – by the end of the year.

But Andrej Mahecic, UK spokesman, said it was “no substitute” for asylum, an international right for everyone fleeing persecution to seek protection, which was brokered in Europe following the Second World War.

He said: “The solutions need to focus on the root causes and ultimately, only peace will end the suffering,” he added. “Where there is no prospect of peace, we have to support those countries in the region – Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt – who support 4.8million and continue to offer resettlement, as a genuine show of solidarity.”

Nazek Ramadan, director of campaigning group Migrant Voice, expressed frustration at “Britain’s slowness” to implement its pledge to settle 20,000 refugees by 2020 and called on UK and European governments to provide safe and legal routes “to put human traffickers out of business”.

She said: “It is appalling that people fleeing war, persecution and desperation are still having to risk their lives to reach safety because Europe has been unable to agree ways of helping solve the crises or the millions affected.”

Gary Christie, head of policy at Scottish Refugee Council, also said work was needed to create legal routes to safety.

He said: “The lack of progress on this and the fact that deaths in transit are higher than ever is utterly shameful.”

Two major summits on the global refugee and migration crisis will take place in New York later this month.

REFUGEE CRISIS IN NUMBERS

Number of Syrian refugees the UK Government has agreed to resettle by 2020: 20,000

Number of Syrian refugees internally displaced: 6 million

Number of Syrian refugees living in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq: 4.8million

Number of people who have died on refugee and migrant routes this year: 5,700

Number of refugees saved from drowning in one week in May:13,000