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 Ban, kicking off a ministerial conference hosted by the U.N.
refugee agency UNHCR in Geneva, said: "This demands an exponential
increase in global solidarity."
The United Nations is aiming to re-settle some 480,000 refugees,
about 10 percent of those now in neighboring countries, by the end
of 2018, but has conceded it needs to overcome widespread fear and
political wrangling.
Ban urged countries to pledge new and additional pathways for
admitting the refugees, such as resettlement or humanitarian
admission, family reunions, as well as labor and study
opportunities.
Filippo Grandi, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said the
refugees were facing increasing obstacles to find safety.
 "We must find a way to manage this crisis in a more humane,
equitable and organized manner. It is only possible if the
international community is united and in agreement on how to move
forward," Grandi said.
The five-year conflict has killed at least 250,000 people and driven
nearly 5 million refugees abroad, mostly to neighboring Turkey,
Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.
"If Europe were to welcome the same percentage of refugees as
Lebanon in comparison to its population, it would have to take in
100 million refugees," Grandi said.
Lebanon's minister of social affairs, Rachid Derbas, said his
country of 4 million was struggling to host 1 million official
refugees and another 1 million Syrians who have not registered.
"Lebanon is on fragile ground and is taking on a heavy burden. If
Lebanon fails, and is crushed by the burden, it may itself be a
source of concern for the High Commissioner," he warned.
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The European Union sealed a deal this month with Turkey, which hosts
2.7 million Syrian refugees, that is intended to halt illegal
migration flows to Europe in return for financial and political
rewards for Ankara.
Turkey's deputy foreign minister, Ali Naci Koru, called the deal a
"game changer".
Ban, referring to U.N.-led efforts to end the war, which resume in
Geneva in April, said:
"We have a cessation of hostilities, by and large holding for over a
month, but the parties must consolidate and expand it into a
ceasefire, and ultimately to a political solution through dialogue."
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Alison Williams)
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