Countries overwhelmed by an influx of refugees should put more effort into rescuing them on both land and sea, said Nobel Peace Prize nominee Father Mussie Zerai.
Governments should do more to help stateless people and others seeking refuge, as their numbers have hit record levels and they are people without a home.
He was speaking at a human rights session titled: "How can we protect migrants' rights during the greatest period of migration in the last 60 years?" held yesterday in Bangkok as a part of the One Young World Summit.
However, he said it's not only the duty of the government to handle the human rights of refugees. Everyone must play a part, and could play an advocacy role by pressuring governments to act, he said.
He urged people across the world to help protect refugees' rights.
According to the 40-year-old Catholic priest from Eritrea, an estimated 60 million people are seeking refuge around the world.
"The number of refugees hasn't been this high since World War ll and many of them were forced to leave their ancestral lands," he said.
Speaking at the same session, Kamolnan Chearavanont, from Thailand, said people should pressure their governments to take more action to help these people.
She also urged governments across the world to grant citizenship to the stateless as soon as possible.
Each participant at the summit represented one nation, she said, "but there are about 10 million stateless people who don't have their own land".
Ms Kamolnan, who is in her 20s, started the "Voices" organisation when she was 14, aiming to help orphans and women and children who are abused, raped and abandoned, particularly the stateless.
She said stateless people are more vulnerable to abuse, rape and trafficking as they don't have a permanent home. They can get sucked into crime because of their vulnerable status.
Among 1,300 selected youth leaders aged 18-30 from more than 190 countries, 100 Thai delegates were chosen by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to debate six topics at the meeting covering education, the environment, global business, human rights, leadership and government and peace and security.
The sessions yesterday also heard from former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan; Ethiopian-born model and maternal health advocate Liya Kebede; Epic Foundation CEO and founder Alexandre Mars, and former Thai PM Anand Panyarachun. The summit wraps up tomorrow.