Most of the Syrian refugees remain in the region and in fact, according to UNHCR data, at 16 Jun 2016 they were 4.837.134.
This figure includes 2.1 million Syrians registered by UNHCR in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, 2.7 million Syrians registered by the Government of Turkey, as well as more than 29,000 Syrian refugees registered in North Africa.
More or less in the same period, since April 2011 till April 2016, the Syrian asylum application in Europe reached 1,037,760, of which 137,798 [1] in 2014 only. Many application for asylum in Europe come from people already living in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, who are still trapped in miserable conditions.
According to UN, that has been monitoring the situation since the civil war broke out, there are six main factors behind the movements of Syrian people once they've fled their home country:
1) Increasing loss of hope and feelings of uncertainty about the future. In fact after five years of Syria's crisis there are no sign of a solution and people is losing the hope they can return home.
2) Deepening poverty: because of the high cost of living in Jordan and in Lebanon, and the underpaid jobs, sometimes not enough to afford basic needs, many Syrians cannot pay rents.
3) Difficult access to work: Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon don’t offer work permit and refugees can also be sanctioned for working illegally. For example new regulations in Lebanon foresees that refugees must sign a pledge not to work when renewing their residency status. The Syrians in Iraq find an increased competition for jobs with Iraqi IDPs. Work on construction sites in the region has dried up with the drop in oil prices. For these reasons many Syrians are obliged to accept informal employment, risking exploitation, unsafe conditions or manipulative employers who withhold payment. In some camps there is a growing prostitution problem.
4) Aid and healthcare shortfalls: There is shortage of funds for aid programs in the region for refugees and local population since the Donor Support Plan for Syria of 2015 has received only 41% of the total amount pledged. This led to cuts in food aid for thousands of refugees, while those that do receive it have to survive on $0.45-0.50 a day. The food aid cut forced many Syrians to begging and child labor. Inadequate funding has also seen refugees losing free access to healthcare. As a result, 58.3 per cent of adults with chronic conditions do without medicine or health services, up from 23 per cent in 2014. For this reason many of them decided to go to Europe.
5) Difficulties in renewing legal residency in Lebanon and Jordan: refugees already in Lebanon must pay $200 per year to renew their stay, causing many to leave for Turkey. They are required to sign a pledge not to work and they must present a certified lease agreement. Many refugees are fearful of arrest or detention and feel vulnerable because of lapsed residency visas. In Jordan, the new legal requirement for a $42 health verification certificate is also proving prohibitive.
6) Scarce education opportunities: because of the growing poverty, some refugee children (20% in Jordan) are abandoning school in order to work and in some cases girls are being forced into early marriage. Some 90,000 Syrians of school age have no formal education. Across the region, Syrian youth are missing out on tertiary education and losing hope about their future.
An alternative migration destination for them could be the Gulf countries - wealthy states, closer to home where Syrians could find a nearer culture and the same language - but refugees want to go to Europe because Europe has the best laws for them. In fact none of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) has signed the 1951 Refugee Convention that defines the term ‘refugee’ and outlines the rights of the displaced, as well as the legal obligations of States to protect them. For this reasons GCC countries, offer no standardized procedures to deal with large numbers of people arriving from abroad seeking help. On the other hand, receiving refugee status in European states gives migrants the right to receive citizenship after some time, guarantees access to social support, accommodation, schooling for children, language courses, and help with training for the job market.
The application procedure and benefits may differ from country to country (this is why many Syrians prefer Germany or Sweden to Hungary, Austria or Denmark) but the overall principle remains the same: the refugees are granted the right to work, a place to live and, above all, a chance to live in a safe environment.
Pending the solution of the conflict in Syria, it is foreseen that the huge number of Syrian asylum seekers will grow also this year, since in 2016, an estimated 13.5 million people, including 6 million children, are in need of humanitarian assistance. Of these 5.47 million people are in hard-to-reach areas, including close to 600,000 people in 18 besieged areas.
According to OCHA reports, “11.5 million Syrians require health care, 13.5 million need protection support and 12.1 million require water and sanitation, while 5.7 million children need education support, including 2.7 million who are out of school in Syria and across the region. About 2.48 million people are food insecure, while more than 1.5 million need shelter and household goods. Syria's development situation has regressed almost by four decades. Four out of five Syrians now live in poverty. Since the crisis began in 2011, life expectancy among Syrians has dropped by more than 20 years, while school attendance has dropped over 50 per cent, with more than 2 million children now out of school. Syria has also seen reversals in all 12 Millennium Development Goal indicators. The Syrian economy has contracted by an estimated 40 per cent since 2011, leading to the majority of Syrians losing their livelihoods.”
It is therefore foreseeable that should the conflict stop tomorrow, the internal and external displacement of Syrians will not end soon and that returning to Syria will not be a viable option for refugees in the short or medium term.
Syrian Refugees in Italy
Out of the total number of Syrians arriving in Europe, the number of individuals asking asylum in Italy is not a big one, compared with the other countries: only 2852 within 2011 and 2015. Italy in fact is not a destination country for the Syrian “diaspora”, but many Syrians arrive via Libya on the Italian shores and as with Greece, many opt to use the country as a bridge to wealthier, northern countries.
Italy is absolutely devoted to support Syrian people in this tragic moment, not only for the humanitarian reasons, but also for the associated security risks for Europe and for the whole Mediterranean Region.
Out of the total number of Syrians arriving in Europe, the number of individuals asking asylum in Italy is not a big one, compared with the other countries: only 2852 within 2011 and 2015. Italy in fact is not a destination country for the Syrian “diaspora”, but many Syrians arrive via Libya on the Italian shores and as with Greece, many opt to use the country as a bridge to wealthier, northern countries.
Italy is absolutely devoted to support Syrian people in this tragic moment, not only for the humanitarian reasons, but also for the associated security risks for Europe and for the whole Mediterranean Region.
In effect, in order to maintain the regional security stability and block the growth of extremist movements like Daesh, it is necessary to tackle the deteriorating situation of refugees and to support Syria’s neighboring countries efforts.
Italy is particularly worried for the situation in Lebanon because we are part of the UNIFIL Multinational Force, which has been operating along the Lebanese-Israeli border since 1978.
Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
The regional refugee crisis is having a huge impact on the host countries’ social services, job market, public services (housing, water resources, waste management, electricity) and public infrastructures (schools, roads…).
Lebanon, in particular, hosting more than 1.6 million Syrian refugees dispersed in over 1.000 municipalities, is facing one of the toughest humanitarian, social, and economic challenges in its history. Besides the Syria crisis has led increasing economic, social, demographic, political, and security challenges to Lebanon, until now the country has been resilient and it was possible to maintain stability but it is necessary to avoid further deterioration of the humanitarian situation and to perform conflict prevention activities in order to maintain peace and security.
From the demographic point of view in less than 5 years the refugees flow in Lebanon has led to a population growth of more than 30% and the vulnerable population increased to about 3,3 million of which 1,5 are displaced Syrians, 1,5 are the vulnerable Lebanese and 320.174 the Palestinian Refugees to which we have to add about other 40.000 registered Palestinian Refugees in Syria seeking shelter in Lebanon.
Over 1.07 million Syrians are registered as refugees with UNHCR in Lebanon at end-2015 with many more present but unregistered. Of these, 52% are unable to meet their survival needs and an estimated two third lack legal stay documentation, limiting their capacity to sustain their own well-being. Equally, 10% of the Lebanese population and 68% of Palestine refugees live under Lebanon’s lowest poverty line of $2.4 per day. Refugees live throughout Lebanon in over 1,700 localities. Many refugees are living in communities that are among the poorest in the country. In some places, refugees now outnumber local residents.
With Syrians and Lebanese becoming partners in the deprivation, the economic impact of this situation is relevant:
Economically, Lebanon has suffered a loss of trade, tourism and investment. Its public services and infrastructure -- fragile even before the crisis -- are now under severe strain as a result of the refugee influx.
GDP growth decreased from 8% in 2010 to an average of less than 2% over the last four years: for 2016 its level of growth it is estimates at 1.2%.
As reported by the “Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2015-2016”, “the crisis has negatively affected key growth drivers such as construction, tourism and the service sector. The overall volume of exports has been impacted by the deterioration of Lebanon’s only land export route which crosses Syria. Transportation and insurance costs have increased while alternative options by air or sea remain much more expensive. The country’s fiscal balance has deteriorated significantly in the last three years, with debt swelling from 130 percent to about 143 percent of GDP, and expected to increase again in 2015 by about US$4 billion. Small and medium enterprises, although critical job creators, are still largely unsupported, with local economies heavily dependent on remittances (19.5 percent of GDP or US$8.89 billion in 2014)”.
Since 2011, overall poverty of Lebanese has increased from 28% to 32%; Youth unemployment has increased by 50% in since 2011; Water network coverage reduced from 80% pre-crisis to 48% in 2015 due to power shortages and non-revenue water; Water demand has increased by 28% in since 2011; Wastewater generation and pollution have increased between 8 and 14% since 2011, challenging a system that treats only 8 percent of its sewage; Municipal spending on waste disposal increased by 40% between 2012 and 2013; US$18 million of due bills for the hospitalization of displaced Syrians are uncovered (from the unsubsidized 25% of hospitalization bills); Additional cost of electricity usage by displaced persons from Syria between 2012 and 2014 is estimated at US$500-580 million.
Long-standing economic inequalities are becoming deeper and more widespread, affecting social relationships and wellbeing, and ultimately threatening the country’s stability.
From the point of view of security it has to be considered that 16% of Syrian Refugees live in 2000 informal Settlements and 40% of them live in unfinished buildings, empty stores and parking lots. The number of small crimes have increased by more than 60% since 2011 and the Lebanese prisons have become over-crowded with a 26% of their population made by Syrians.
Beside this, during last an increase in Human Trafficking of Syrians and Palestinians from Syria has been registered. Following suicide bombs attack on the border with Syria, in some areas a curfew on Syrian refugees has been imposed.
The refugees linked economic and political pressures in Lebanon have increased social tensions both between the refugee population and the local residents and between different politico-sectarian sectors of society that support opposite sides in the Syrian civil war, resulting in a general deterioration of social cohesion.
Most of the socio-economic and security problems depicted above are concentrated in some areas of the country and particularly in the Bekaa.
In the South, Unifil has had a big part in maintain the balance in cooperation with the Lebanese Forces.
After the first wave of refugees’ arrival the number of Syrians coming in the South has stabilized and the local population has been able to support and absorb the new comers.
During latest years only one major incident has been registered on the border with Israel and the situation can be described as “sensible” but stable.
Unifil mission is very well accepted and appreciated by the population.
EU and Italian support for Syrian Refugees
On February 2016 the “Supporting Syria” London Conference of donors pledged about 10 billion dollars to help the country and to support the resilience of the main regional actors, mainly Lebanon and Jordan, that host most of the refugees. It is important to support the Syrian neighboring countries to create a better investment environment, to facilitate their trade in western countries and to create jobs for local communities and for refugees. At the conference Italy has pledged US$ 400 million for the next three years and EU pledged to give the project €2.6bn for 2016 and 2017.
On December 2014 Italy was the first State to sign, together with the European Commission, the constitutive agreement to launch the first ever EU Regional Trust Fund as a new strategic financing tool to mobilize more aid in response to the Syrian Crisis. The fund is called MADAD broadly meaning providing aid and help jointly with others. The start-up funding provided amounts to 20 million from the EU budget and 3 million from Italy as the first founding donor. Additional funding is foreseen for 2015. The EU Trust Fund will initially focus on support to refugees and host communities in Syria's neighboring countries.
The TRUST FUND has been increased to about 1 bn $. The funding procedures of the Madad funds are very quick, and the fund is flexible enough to quickly react to new crises and displacements.
In partnership with the host governments, all these actions will be fully aligned and implemented in accordance with the refugee crisis response plans of the affected countries, in particular the Jordan Response Plan 2016- 2018, the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, and the national plans in Turkey and Iraq, as part of the regional UN refugee and resilience response framework in this regard.
An Italian Best Practice to support refugees
Some Italian organizations have launched a program of humanitarian corridor: since February three groups of Syrian refugees from Lebanon have arrived in Rome by plane through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation - General Directorate for Italians Abroad and Migration Policies; Ministry of Interior - Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration; Community of Sant'Egidio; Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy; Tavola Valdese.
The arrivals are part of a pilot project that allows people escaping from war or who are in a "vulnerable condition" (victims of persecution, torture, and violence; families with children; single women; elderly; sick; disabled) to entry on Italian territory with humanitarian visa, with the possibility to apply for asylum without risking their lives on the Mediterranean.
The humanitarian corridors envisage the arrival in Italy, over two years, of a thousand refugees from Lebanon (mostly Syrians who fled the war – about 600 refugees), Morocco (where land most of those coming from sub-Saharan countries affected by civil wars and widespread violence - 150 refugees) and Ethiopia (Eritreans, Somalis and Sudanese – 250 refugees). The initiative is totally self-funded by organizations that have promoted it through eight per a thousand of the Waldensian Church and other fundraising. It does not therefore weighs in any way on the State
The refugees, once in Italy are not only welcomed, but they are offered integration in the Italian social and cultural fabric, through the learning of the Italian language, schooling of minors and other initiatives. In this perspective they are given a copy of the Italian Constitution translated into their language.
For all these reasons the humanitarian corridors are proposed as a replicable model by Member the Schengen area, and not only by associations or individuals.
After the evaluation of the results by a monitoring commission, the organizations will consider the possibility of continuing.
Conclusions
The regional refugee crisis has already produced political social economic and security effects on the hosting countries whose stability and resilience is endangered: the host communities human security is directly hit , the host countries economy performance is deteriorated and social tension increases.
It is paramount to tackle the refugees crisis on regional level because it is a potential source of further domestic and regional instability. In this sense, funding the refugees crisis is an important part of the general plan to stabilize the region.
In order to fight Daesh the hard power of weapons cannot be avoid, but it is necessary a coordinated action with the “soft power” of the effective humanitarian relief. In this sense, the effective disbursement of the funds pledged by the donors, increased resettlement of refugees to ease the burden on Syria neighboring countries, the increase of productive investments in the region in order to creates jobs for local vulnerable population and refugees, and granting more favorable trade conditions are all measures with the same dignity of the hard power ones.
[1] This amount is based on data for 37 European countries which provide monthly information to UNHCR. To the extent possible, the figures reflect first time asylum applications, but some of the statistics are likely to include repeated applications (same or different country).
Italy is particularly worried for the situation in Lebanon because we are part of the UNIFIL Multinational Force, which has been operating along the Lebanese-Israeli border since 1978.
Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
The regional refugee crisis is having a huge impact on the host countries’ social services, job market, public services (housing, water resources, waste management, electricity) and public infrastructures (schools, roads…).
Lebanon, in particular, hosting more than 1.6 million Syrian refugees dispersed in over 1.000 municipalities, is facing one of the toughest humanitarian, social, and economic challenges in its history. Besides the Syria crisis has led increasing economic, social, demographic, political, and security challenges to Lebanon, until now the country has been resilient and it was possible to maintain stability but it is necessary to avoid further deterioration of the humanitarian situation and to perform conflict prevention activities in order to maintain peace and security.
From the demographic point of view in less than 5 years the refugees flow in Lebanon has led to a population growth of more than 30% and the vulnerable population increased to about 3,3 million of which 1,5 are displaced Syrians, 1,5 are the vulnerable Lebanese and 320.174 the Palestinian Refugees to which we have to add about other 40.000 registered Palestinian Refugees in Syria seeking shelter in Lebanon.
Over 1.07 million Syrians are registered as refugees with UNHCR in Lebanon at end-2015 with many more present but unregistered. Of these, 52% are unable to meet their survival needs and an estimated two third lack legal stay documentation, limiting their capacity to sustain their own well-being. Equally, 10% of the Lebanese population and 68% of Palestine refugees live under Lebanon’s lowest poverty line of $2.4 per day. Refugees live throughout Lebanon in over 1,700 localities. Many refugees are living in communities that are among the poorest in the country. In some places, refugees now outnumber local residents.
With Syrians and Lebanese becoming partners in the deprivation, the economic impact of this situation is relevant:
Economically, Lebanon has suffered a loss of trade, tourism and investment. Its public services and infrastructure -- fragile even before the crisis -- are now under severe strain as a result of the refugee influx.
GDP growth decreased from 8% in 2010 to an average of less than 2% over the last four years: for 2016 its level of growth it is estimates at 1.2%.
As reported by the “Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2015-2016”, “the crisis has negatively affected key growth drivers such as construction, tourism and the service sector. The overall volume of exports has been impacted by the deterioration of Lebanon’s only land export route which crosses Syria. Transportation and insurance costs have increased while alternative options by air or sea remain much more expensive. The country’s fiscal balance has deteriorated significantly in the last three years, with debt swelling from 130 percent to about 143 percent of GDP, and expected to increase again in 2015 by about US$4 billion. Small and medium enterprises, although critical job creators, are still largely unsupported, with local economies heavily dependent on remittances (19.5 percent of GDP or US$8.89 billion in 2014)”.
Since 2011, overall poverty of Lebanese has increased from 28% to 32%; Youth unemployment has increased by 50% in since 2011; Water network coverage reduced from 80% pre-crisis to 48% in 2015 due to power shortages and non-revenue water; Water demand has increased by 28% in since 2011; Wastewater generation and pollution have increased between 8 and 14% since 2011, challenging a system that treats only 8 percent of its sewage; Municipal spending on waste disposal increased by 40% between 2012 and 2013; US$18 million of due bills for the hospitalization of displaced Syrians are uncovered (from the unsubsidized 25% of hospitalization bills); Additional cost of electricity usage by displaced persons from Syria between 2012 and 2014 is estimated at US$500-580 million.
Long-standing economic inequalities are becoming deeper and more widespread, affecting social relationships and wellbeing, and ultimately threatening the country’s stability.
From the point of view of security it has to be considered that 16% of Syrian Refugees live in 2000 informal Settlements and 40% of them live in unfinished buildings, empty stores and parking lots. The number of small crimes have increased by more than 60% since 2011 and the Lebanese prisons have become over-crowded with a 26% of their population made by Syrians.
Beside this, during last an increase in Human Trafficking of Syrians and Palestinians from Syria has been registered. Following suicide bombs attack on the border with Syria, in some areas a curfew on Syrian refugees has been imposed.
The refugees linked economic and political pressures in Lebanon have increased social tensions both between the refugee population and the local residents and between different politico-sectarian sectors of society that support opposite sides in the Syrian civil war, resulting in a general deterioration of social cohesion.
Most of the socio-economic and security problems depicted above are concentrated in some areas of the country and particularly in the Bekaa.
In the South, Unifil has had a big part in maintain the balance in cooperation with the Lebanese Forces.
After the first wave of refugees’ arrival the number of Syrians coming in the South has stabilized and the local population has been able to support and absorb the new comers.
During latest years only one major incident has been registered on the border with Israel and the situation can be described as “sensible” but stable.
Unifil mission is very well accepted and appreciated by the population.
EU and Italian support for Syrian Refugees
On February 2016 the “Supporting Syria” London Conference of donors pledged about 10 billion dollars to help the country and to support the resilience of the main regional actors, mainly Lebanon and Jordan, that host most of the refugees. It is important to support the Syrian neighboring countries to create a better investment environment, to facilitate their trade in western countries and to create jobs for local communities and for refugees. At the conference Italy has pledged US$ 400 million for the next three years and EU pledged to give the project €2.6bn for 2016 and 2017.
On December 2014 Italy was the first State to sign, together with the European Commission, the constitutive agreement to launch the first ever EU Regional Trust Fund as a new strategic financing tool to mobilize more aid in response to the Syrian Crisis. The fund is called MADAD broadly meaning providing aid and help jointly with others. The start-up funding provided amounts to 20 million from the EU budget and 3 million from Italy as the first founding donor. Additional funding is foreseen for 2015. The EU Trust Fund will initially focus on support to refugees and host communities in Syria's neighboring countries.
The TRUST FUND has been increased to about 1 bn $. The funding procedures of the Madad funds are very quick, and the fund is flexible enough to quickly react to new crises and displacements.
In partnership with the host governments, all these actions will be fully aligned and implemented in accordance with the refugee crisis response plans of the affected countries, in particular the Jordan Response Plan 2016- 2018, the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, and the national plans in Turkey and Iraq, as part of the regional UN refugee and resilience response framework in this regard.
An Italian Best Practice to support refugees
Some Italian organizations have launched a program of humanitarian corridor: since February three groups of Syrian refugees from Lebanon have arrived in Rome by plane through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation - General Directorate for Italians Abroad and Migration Policies; Ministry of Interior - Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration; Community of Sant'Egidio; Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy; Tavola Valdese.
The arrivals are part of a pilot project that allows people escaping from war or who are in a "vulnerable condition" (victims of persecution, torture, and violence; families with children; single women; elderly; sick; disabled) to entry on Italian territory with humanitarian visa, with the possibility to apply for asylum without risking their lives on the Mediterranean.
The humanitarian corridors envisage the arrival in Italy, over two years, of a thousand refugees from Lebanon (mostly Syrians who fled the war – about 600 refugees), Morocco (where land most of those coming from sub-Saharan countries affected by civil wars and widespread violence - 150 refugees) and Ethiopia (Eritreans, Somalis and Sudanese – 250 refugees). The initiative is totally self-funded by organizations that have promoted it through eight per a thousand of the Waldensian Church and other fundraising. It does not therefore weighs in any way on the State
The refugees, once in Italy are not only welcomed, but they are offered integration in the Italian social and cultural fabric, through the learning of the Italian language, schooling of minors and other initiatives. In this perspective they are given a copy of the Italian Constitution translated into their language.
For all these reasons the humanitarian corridors are proposed as a replicable model by Member the Schengen area, and not only by associations or individuals.
After the evaluation of the results by a monitoring commission, the organizations will consider the possibility of continuing.
Conclusions
The regional refugee crisis has already produced political social economic and security effects on the hosting countries whose stability and resilience is endangered: the host communities human security is directly hit , the host countries economy performance is deteriorated and social tension increases.
It is paramount to tackle the refugees crisis on regional level because it is a potential source of further domestic and regional instability. In this sense, funding the refugees crisis is an important part of the general plan to stabilize the region.
In order to fight Daesh the hard power of weapons cannot be avoid, but it is necessary a coordinated action with the “soft power” of the effective humanitarian relief. In this sense, the effective disbursement of the funds pledged by the donors, increased resettlement of refugees to ease the burden on Syria neighboring countries, the increase of productive investments in the region in order to creates jobs for local vulnerable population and refugees, and granting more favorable trade conditions are all measures with the same dignity of the hard power ones.
[1] This amount is based on data for 37 European countries which provide monthly information to UNHCR. To the extent possible, the figures reflect first time asylum applications, but some of the statistics are likely to include repeated applications (same or different country).
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