Refugees endure worsening conditions as Syria?s conflict
enters 5th year
Geneva, 12 March 2015 – As the Syrian conflict enters its fifth year, millions
of refugees in neighbouring countries and those displaced within the country are
caught in alarmingly deteriorating conditions, facing an even bleaker future
without more international support, UNHCR warned today.
With
no political solution to the conflict in sight, most of the 3.9 million Syrian
refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt see no prospect of returning
home in the near future, and have scant opportunity to restart their lives in
exile. Well over half of all Syrian refugees in Lebanon live in insecure
dwellings ? up from a third last year ? posing a constant challenge to keep them
safe and warm. A survey of 40,000 Syrian families in Jordan?s urban areas
found that two-thirds were living below the absolute poverty line.
UN
High Commissioner for Refugees Ant?nio Guterres reiterated that much, much more
needed to be done to pull Syrians out of their nightmare of suffering. ?After
years in exile, refugees? savings are long depleted and growing numbers are
resorting to begging, survival sex and child labour. Middle-class families with
children are barely surviving on the streets: one father said life as a refugee
was like being stuck in quicksand ? every time you move, you sink down further,?
he said.
?This
worst humanitarian crisis of our era should be galvanizing a global outcry of
support, but instead help is dwindling. With humanitarian appeals systematically
underfunded, there just isn?t enough aid to meet the colossal needs ? nor enough
development support to the hosting countries creaking under the strain of so
many refugees,? Guterres added. He pointed out that with the massive influx of
Syrian refugees over the past four years, Turkey had now become the world?s
biggest refugee hosting country and had spent over US$ 6 billion on direct
assistance to refugees.
But
faced with growing security concerns and insufficient international support,
several of Syria?s neighbours have taken measures in recent months to stem the
flow of refugees, from new border management regulations to more onerous and
complex requirements to extend their stay.
More
and more Syrians are losing hope. Thousands have tried to reach Europe by taking
often deadly land or sea routes after paying their life savings to smugglers.
Many have not made it. Those who do, face rising hostility as refugees are
conflated with security concerns in a climate of rising panic.
?Refugees are made scapegoats for any number of problems from terrorism to
economic hardship and perceived threats to their host communities? way of life.
But we need to remember that the primary threat is not
from refugees, but to
them,? Guterres said.
Inside Syria, the situation is deteriorating rapidly. More than 12 million
people are in need of aid to stay alive. Almost 8 million have been forced from
their homes, sharing crowded rooms with other families or camping in abandoned
buildings. An estimated 4.8 million Syrians inside the country are in places
that are hard to reach, including 212,000 trapped in besieged areas.
Millions of children are suffering from trauma and ill health. A quarter of
Syria?s schools have been damaged, destroyed or taken over for shelter. More
than half of Syria?s hospitals are destroyed.
More
than 2.4 million children inside Syria are not in school. Among refugees, nearly
half of all children are not receiving an education in exile. In Lebanon, there
are more school-age refugees than the entire intake of the country?s public
schools, and only 20 per cent of Syrian children are enrolled. Similar numbers
can be seen among refugees living outside of camps in Turkey and Jordan.
?We
have only a narrow opportunity to intervene now as this potentially lost
generation confronts its future. Abandoning refugees to hopelessness only
exposes them to even greater suffering, exploitation and dangerous abuse,?
Guterres warned.
There
are more Syrians under UNHCR?s care today than any other nationality on earth.
Yet by the end of last year, only 54 per cent of the funding needed to assist
refugees outside Syria had been raised. Inside Syria, humanitarian organizations
received even less.
In
December, the UN launched the largest aid appeal ever for $8.4 billion. Fully
funded, this would cover basic needs for refugees, while also helping host
communities to bolster their infrastructure and services. UNHCR is hoping
significant pledges will be made at the funding conference in Kuwait on 31
March.
?Further abandoning host countries to manage the situation on their own could
result in serious regional destabilisation, increasing the likelihood of more
security concerns elsewhere in the world,? Guterres said.
Situation in
Armenia
The conflict
in Syria which is home to a traditional and significant Armenian diaspora has
impacted on Armenia as well. Presently more than 15,000 persons fleeing the
conflict in Syria, primarily of ethnic Armenian background, have sought and
found protection in Armenia, benefitting from the
Government offering a variety of protection options to persons displaced from
Syria,
namely
by way of
(i) simplified acquisition of citizenship, (ii) accelerated asylum procedures or
(iii) privileged granting of short, mid-term or long-term residence permits. It
must be emphasized, however, that refugee protection must be offered
irrespective of the ethnic background of a refugee.
In this context the UNHCR Representative in Armenia, Mr. Christoph Bierwirth
observed: ?UNHCR acknowledges with appreciation that the Government in principle
pursues a receptive approach towards persons displaced from Syria and has taken
a number of measures offering assistance and promoting integration. However,
needs a huge and growing, not least given that more recent arrivals find
themselves in extremely destitute situations and that some of the displaced who
arrived earlier have use up their resources. It is therefore important that all
actors, Government, international organizations, diaspora and faith-based
organisation and NGOs enhance their efforts and work closely together to
mitigate suffering and pave the way for successful integration, allowing the
displaced to build a new future for them in Armenia?. He also noted that
many of the
persons displaced from Syria bring with them to Armenia good, secondary and
frequently tertiary education, sound vocational skills, a highly developed
service culture and often extended entrepreneurial experience, thus have the
potential to significantly contribute to the future economic development of
Armenia and emphasized: ?It is important to create conditions, which allow for
the maximum use of this potential, for example by considering a tax moratorium
for young Syrian-Armenian entrepreneurs?. He called on all members of the
society to think how best each of them can assist those who fled the conflict in
Syria, by renting out empty apartments at fair rates, offering job opportunities
at adequate conditions, offering other forms of assistance or granting donations
to agencies and NGOs assisting the displaced or by serving as volunteer in such
organizations.
END
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