Zackery M. Heern
Today, in 2015, the Syrian refugee crisis is the darkest reminder that the world must come together or suffer the consequences. The civil war in Syria has raged since 2011 when it began in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings. After suffering the horrors of war, the majority of Syrians, a population that was roughly 23 million before the war, now seek refuge. Nearly a quarter million Syrians have already perished, half of whom were civilians. The number of displaced Syrians has grown exponentially since the beginning of the war.
The Syrian conflict has generated refugees of historic proportions. It is the largest refugee crisis since World War Two, and the world has not witnessed an outpouring of refugees on this scale since the genocide in Rwanda two decades ago. Over four million Syrians have already registered with UNHCR, and the UN expects an additional four million refugees to register by the end of this year.
Over half of these refugees are children, many of whom do not have access to basic human needs, including education. The world must now decide whether these children will be casualties of war, a lost generation whose fate will be determined by the most extreme elements of the war (which includes ISIS), or whether the international community will work collectively to ensure the human rights of these individuals.
The Syrian conflict is much more than a civil war. The so-called civil war is complicated by the numerous non-Syrian fighters involved in the conflict as well as regional and international powers that support competing sides. Indeed, Syria has become a battlefield on which regional and global powers (including the United States) have asserted their influence.
Now is the time for these global and regional powers to salvage the wreckage of the worst conflict the world has seen since World War Two. If countries are willing to participate in fighting the war and supplying warriors, can they not aid refugees? Beyond national debates over whether to take refugees and how many, the international collective response must also come into focus. This is not a Syrian or Middle Eastern problem. It is an international problem that demands international solutions.
As we should celebrate the willingness of Germany and other countries in the West to take refugees, we must also recognize what Syria’s neighbors have already done. Overwhelmingly, refugees have fled to nearby countries in the Middle East. Turkey has spent $7.6 billion caring for 2.2 million refugees, according to Turkey’s Prime Minister. More than one million Syrians are now in Lebanon, over 600,000 have sought refuge in Jordan, and several hundred thousand are in Iraq and Egypt.
These countries have already been taxed to their limits. Iraq especially was ill-equipped to handle refugees given that it had one million internally displaced people of its own. The first Syrian refugee camp (Za’atari) was opened in 2012 in Jordan and is now the country’s fourth largest city. The bulk of refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq live in urban communities. Many Syrians in each of these countries have limited access to the basic necessities of shelter, food, water, and other supplies. Poor living conditions present the very real potential for disease, and political and social unrest.
The UN and other organizations are currently underfunded and understaffed to put a band aid on the crisis, let alone develop long term strategies that will help Syrians meaningfully integrate into their new environments. National communities in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Gulf must stand up to assist Syrians in their darkest hour. Individuals and communities across the globe can also contribute to international aid agencies that are working to assist children, women, and men escape from a horrific situation, which the world has failed to prevent.
