“These include ensuring access to territory, access to asylum procedures, harmonized approaches to the adjudication of asylum claims and mutual support between member states,” UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said in Geneva. “There is an opportunity for the EU to put its commitment to solidarity into practice,” he added.

European Union countries, together with Norway and Switzerland, received 16,474 asylum applications from Syrians between January 2011 and August 2012, according to European Commission figures. Germany received 5,515, Sweden had 2,506, followed by Switzerland (1,405), Austria (972), the United Kingdom (912), Denmark (908) and Belgium (796). The numbers in other member states were considerably lower.

While most EU member states are processing claims and granting protection to Syrians, approaches to interpreting protection criteria and the type of status and entitlements granted vary considerably. “In Greece, for example, the asylum-system fails to meet the protection needs of many refugees,” Edwards noted.

In some countries on the eastern border of the EU, rejection rates are more than 50 per cent. In addition, some countries are more likely to give Syrians a tolerated stay rather than actual protection. “There is therefore a risk that people in need of protection will be denied the rights to which they are entitled under EU or international law and will be compelled to move on, usually to other EU states,” the UNHCR spokesman said.

Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey continue to host the overwhelming majority of refugees – now numbering more than 340,000 Syrians who have either formally registered as refugees or are being assisted. Arrivals of asylum-seekers from Syria in the EU have been relatively small, with less than 20,000 Syrian asylum claims filed in the past 18 months.

“With the crisis continuing, contingency planning at national level for new arrivals should take place,” Edwards said. “At EU level, there must also be readiness to consider applying the Temporary Protection Directive and other appropriate responses, if the conditions demand it. As always, it is important that the right to seek asylum is upheld at all times,” he added.

The European Union and its member states are among the largest contributors to the Syria Regional Response Plan, which represents the combined planning of 52 UN agencies and NGOs who are supporting Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. This plan was recently updated with an appeal figure of US$487.9 million. It is currently 29 per cent funded.

The EU has provided more than 8 million euros to the regional response plan to date, and is considering further contributions. Individual EU member states have also offered welcome financial support. “However, further funding is and will be required to meet the pressing humanitarian needs of displaced people,” Edwards stressed.

“The death toll is staggering, the destruction is reaching catastrophic proportions and the suffering of the people is immense,” he said in a speech Tuesday to the 193-member assembly in New York.

Lakhdar Brahimi, who took up the role on Saturday and described his bid to broker peace a few days ago as “nearly impossible,” called for a unified approach by the international community to end the crisis in Syria.

“I am looking forward to my visit to Damascus in a few days time, and … to all the countries who are in a position to help the Syrian-led political process become a reality,” he added.

Mr. Brahimi is taking over the peace-facilitation role which has been carried out since February by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who stepped down at the end of August. The former UN secretary general complained about the lack of international support shown for his six-month campaign to end the violence in Syria.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon in his address to the assembly condemned countries sending arms to Syria of contributing to further misery.

In general, United Nations and Western officials have accused Iran of sending weapons to Syria’s forces, while Damascus has accused Qatar and Saudi Arabia of arming rebels.

Meanwhile, Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in a 45 minute meeting with Assad on Tuesday, expressed concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country, ICRC spokesman Hisham Hassan said.

State television SANA said Assad assured Maurer that he supported the work of the Red Cross in Syria “as long as it remains impartial and independent.”

Maurer’s visit comes amid surging violence in the country where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims more than 5,000 people were killed in August only.

Over 100,000 people fled the war-torn country in August to seek refuge in neighbouring states, the UN refugee agency said, the highest monthly figure since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011.

“I declare my resignation as soon as a replacement is found through elections or consensus,” Ghalioun announced in a statement released by the Syrian National Council’s official facebook page.

“The results of the presidential election of the Syrian National Council has created reactions and criticism . As I have repeadetly stressed, I have not chosen this post for personal gain, but I have been accepting it to preserve unity and I will not accept to be a cause for division,” he added.

Ghalioun, who has led the Syrian National Council by consensus rather than through election since it was founded in October 2011, was re-elected as the main opposition group’s chairperson in a vote held in Rome on Tuesday despite SNC rules that require the chairperson’s rotation every three months, Reuters reported.

Some  activists have criticised him for being out of touch with the opposition inside Syria and for failing to unify the SNC.

“For my part I will remain to serve the revolution, I work from my side as a member of the Council, hand to hand combat with young people, youth, freedom, dignity, revolution until victory.

Ghalioun’s announcement came shortly after the Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground in Syria, threatened to pull out of the SNC over its “monopolization” of power, Al Arabiya reported.