EU leaders cannot forget the humanitarian tragedy unfolding at its doorstep, Amnesty International said today, as all attention turns to the Greek crisis.

"We’ve got the biggest number of refugees displaced since the Second World War. We’ve got four million refugees in the neighbouring countries alone,” Amnesty International Europe acting director Iverna McGowan told Times of Malta.

The EU Council is scheduled to discuss the migrant relocation, resettlement and return policy but the plans are expected to be overshadowed by the Greek financial crisis.

"There’s a humanitarian crisis apart from a financial one. There has been an increasing number of migrants arriving in Greece where detention conditions are very serious. European leaders cannot afford not to discuss the migration crisis in the broader sense of Europe,” Ms McGowan said.

While the EU’s plans to resettle 20,000 migrants is a good step in terms of upping the numbers the only long-term solution is to offer more dramatic increases in safe and legal routes through more resettlement, EU schemes, humanity visas and family reunification measures, she said.