Earlier this year, when I was in the Middle East and working on the Forgotten Millions campaign, the humanitarians on the ground were referring to the refugee situation as the crisis of our generation.

That was six months ago -- and it really was. But since then, it’s steadily grown worse.

People are fleeing persecution and conflict in Syria and Iraq and Libya and beyond. And who can blame them? Who can blame a mother or a father for trying to save their lives and those of their children? It’s human nature. You do what you can to sustain life.

You may have heard an interview on this show on Monday – it was with a woman called Heaven Crawley, an expert on asylum and migration who's previously worked with the British home office.

She said something which I thought was very relevant about this crisis. She said no-one is looking at the source of the problem – European countries are trying to stop thousands illegally crossing their borders and that is understandable. Entirely understandable. But no-one is looking at a solution at the source of the issue.

What is the solution? A UN peace-keeping force.

A peace-keeping force could secure an area, a smaller province perhaps, somewhere inside of Syria near the Lebanese or Jordanian border or Turkish border to shelter and protect these people.

There are millions living along the borders, but there are millions who are internally displaced as well -- they're on the move within Syria and Iraq, trying to keep out of the way of ISIS. Trying to escape.

It would be a massive undertaking -- we're talking about vast, vast camps here. But if Europe could collectively help fund this, then it would stop thousands upon thousands risking their lives to escape across the borders.

It's not a new idea. There have long been calls for a UN peacekeeping force to shore-up supply lines, to secure areas of Iraq and Syria in order to reach those who are cut off and isolated.

And why hasn’t it happened? Russia and China keep knee-capping the UN Security Council. Two dictatorships who were loathe from day one to support what began as a public uprising against a regime. It's not in their brutal interests.

And so this is where our government, i think, should step in as a UN Security Council member. We should be lobbying China to change its stance, and we should be lobbying hard. If China moves on this issue -- if China said it would back a peace-keeping force, then the pressure would go on Russia. And as the images are beamed all around the world of people fleeing -- surely even the Russians would have to buckle.

It's not enough for us to have secured membership on the UN Security Council. We need to do something with it.

The council is designed to preserve life -- but right now it's standing by and watching an escalating problem, and problem that could be eased if we try and find a solution, albeit a temporary one, at the source.