Her remarks come at the fourth annual Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards dinner, recognizing President Komorowski of the Republic of Poland for his pivotal role in Poland’s extraordinary evolution; Queen Rania Al Abdullah for her advocacy for human rights and promoting cross cultural dialogue; and Maestro Seiji Ozawa for his leadership in the arts.

NEW YORK ― Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah tonight called upon the international community to address the rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis in Syria and its destabilizing spillover effects into the region.

“With over half a million refugees in Jordan, and more arriving every day, we desperately need help,” Queen Rania said in her acceptance speech at the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards in New York City. “Governments have been generous. But the UN agencies and civil society groups on the ground are at a breaking point trying to meet growing demand. We urgently need the global community to dig deeper, help the most vulnerable, and show them what it means to belong to a global family,” she said.

There are an estimated 525,000 refugees from Syria currently in Jordan, with another 500,000 in other parts of the region, and more than half of registered refugees are children, according to the United Nations.

Queen Rania dedicated her Atlantic Council Global Citizen Award to the people of Jordan, saying, “For it is them from whom I’ve learned most about how to be a global citizen.”

Her remarks came at the fourth annual Global Citizen Awards where the Atlantic Council honored President of the Republic of Poland Bronisław Komorowski, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, and world-renowned conductor Maestro Seiji Ozawa.

Now in its fourth year, the Global Citizen Awards dinner recognizes visionary leaders who embody the Council’s mission to renew the transatlantic community for global challenges. The event annually convenes an influential audience of more than 350 top global government, business, military, media, and civil society leaders.

Previous honorees include Nobel Peace Prize laureates Henry Kissinger and Aung San Suu Kyi; IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde; US Secretary of State John Kerry; Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (posthumously); musician and producer Quincy Jones; and World Economic Forum Founder Klaus Schwab.

Follow the evening on Twitter at @AtlanticCouncil and #ACawards. To request high resolution photos, video, or transcript from the event, please contact us at press@AtlanticCouncil.org.