British singer Sting has called world leaders "half-men and cowards" for their failure to solve the refugee crisis. Sting hit out at leaders during an Amnesty International concert in Athens, Greece. Amnesty International is the largest human rights NGO in the world. Sting also praised Greece for the way it has helped refugees over the past few years. He said: "Thank God for Greece because you have shown the way. You have shown how to treat refugees when other people are building walls. When children are being taken from their mothers and put in cages, you are acting with compassion and generosity and common sense.…Our so-called leaders, a sad parade of half-men, cowards, have not got the solutions."

Sting told crowds that Greece helped nearly a million refugees in 2015, even though it was dealing with a major financial crisis. Other countries refused to help the refugees. Many quickly built barbed-wire fences to keep them out. Sting had harsh words for the recent family-separation policy in the USA. More than 2,000 children have been detained and separated from parents who tried to cross the Mexico border into the US illegally. The concert audience cheered and applauded when Sting called this policy "brutal" and "barbaric". Some European countries still seem unwilling to help refugees. Italy recently turned away a German boat of 350 immigrants. Spain eventually agreed to accept the refugees.