Refugees

Syrian Refugee Response Paper SYRIAN REFUGEE RESPONSE PAPER The Syrian civil war, which began in March following clashes between government forces and demonstrators (cmsny. org, 2013), has had grave consequences for the people of Syria. In “ Discussing the Syrian Refugee Crisis and Humanitarian Response at the High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development”, Rachael Reyes focuses on the refugee crisis. Contending that more than six million Syrians have been displaced from their homes, the main issue in the article is about the response of the world to the refugee crisis. The article begins by reporting on the High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development’s 2013 meeting, which was hosted by the Permanent Observer Mission to the Holy See to the UN to discuss response to the refugee crisis (cmsny. org, 2013). In discussing the refugee crisis, the article highlights the countries that have had to deal with the refugee crisis, as well as the main challenges they face in hosting refugees. According to the writer, other countries should be doing more to assist in the refugee crisis by giving more aid and assistance to the host countries and partnering with them for long-term solutions. This is important to ensure that the situation is not made worse by inability of host countries to admit refugees.
The article’s main argument holds that the slow response by the international community, aside from Syria’s neighbors, will worsen the already critical refugee situation. The refugee crisis has resulted in over one million children living in refugee camps and camps for the internally displaced, which has placed them in danger of exploitation through trafficking, early marriage, and child labor (cmsny. org, 2013). In addition, the crisis has also affected fellow refugees from Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Somalia, who have had to flee most parts of the country. This mass exodus of humans from Syria to neighboring countries has burdened host countries with extra budgetary expenses, which will only worsen as the war drags on. Any more significant numbers of refugees will place huge economic and social burdens on the host countries (cmsny. org, 2013), which may turn refugees to maintain their own countries’ socio-economic wellbeing. In making this argument, the writer makes the assumption that there will be no cessation of hostilities and that the refugee crisis will only get worse as more of Syria becomes a war zone.
In my opinion, it is important that other countries become in the mitigation of the Syrian refugee crisis. This is because the failure of the international community to broker a peace deal in Syria, which has been exacerbated by the funding given by various international actors to non-state actors within Syria, makes it their responsibility. The increasing number of refugees will place incredible strain on the neighboring countries, especially Lebanon, which borders the most affected regions of the war, and not helping out these countries may lead to unrest in them, as well. A regional crisis is not in the international community’s interest, especially given the importance of the region to the global energy sector. Therefore, all possible attempts must be made to ensure that neighboring countries are able to absorb Syrian refugees without placing too much strain on their economies and society. This will have positive consequences for the stability of the critical region and will also act mitigate the incidences of recruitment into terrorism of young Syrians with nowhere to go.
References
cmsny. org. (2013, October 15). Discussing the Syrian Refugee Crisis and Humanitarian Response at the High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development. Retrieved January 2014, 2014, from Center for Migration Studies: http://cmsny. org/2013/10/15/discussing-the-syrian-refugee-crisis-and-humanitarian-response-at-the-high-level-dialogue-on-international-migration-and-development/