crisis in context

8/20/2019 Crisis in Context

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Crisis in Context

The Global Refugee Problem

By John Norris and Annie Malknecht September 2015

WWW.AMERICANPROGRESS.O


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Crisis in Context

The Global Refugee Problem

By John Norris and Annie Malknecht September 2015


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1 Introduction and summary

3 The broad trend in numbers

5 Refugees are a symptom, not the illness

7 A deeply uneven response

13 Recent developments and recommendations

16 Conclusion

18 Endnotes

Contents


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1 Center for American Progress | Crisis in Context

Introduction and summary

Te scenes rom he daily news have been compelling and ofen horrific: a child

lying dead in he sur; massive camps in he deser as large as ciies; reugees

herded behind barbed wire and huddled in rain saions. Te saisics on

reugees have been equally alarming. Every day in 2014, he world averaged

42,500 new reugees and inernally displaced people, or IDPs1people who

were orced rom heir homes bu have no crossed an inernaional border. In

June 2014, he Unied Naions High Commissioner or Reugees, or UNHCR,

announced ha global orced displacemen, he combined oal o boh reugees

and IDPs, opped 50 million people or he firs ime since World War II.2 Tis

oal is now close o 60 million and sill rising.3 Hal o hese reugees are under 18

years o age.4

Tis repor atemps o place he curren global reugee problem wihin a clearer

conex o allow or beter inormed policy decisions by all involved. Tere should

be no misake: Te curren reugee crisis is inernaional and canno be viewed

as merely a European or Middle Easern problem. Tis repor places paricular

emphasis on Syrian reugees and IDPs, since hey are he larges orce shifing

he overall numbers in recen years. Ta said, i is imporan o sress ha resolv-

ing he concerns surrounding reugees and IDPs rom any counry demands a

nuanced view o he siuaion on he ground and an effecive undersanding o he

complexiies surrounding orced displacemen.

Close o 60 million people are displaced worldwide currenly, wih he major-

iy o hem inernally displaced, raher han reugees. In addiion, a relaively ew

number o counries produce a very high percenage o his global displacemen.

Te large number o people on he move reflecs a undamenal ailure o achieve

a durable peace or o address he eroding securiy siuaions orcing people ino

hazardous fligh rom heir homes.

Te inernaional response o he curren orced displacemen crisis has been deeply

uneven, and his repor proposes a series o recommendaions o help address i.


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Key Gul saesincluding Qaar, he Unied Arab Emiraes, and Saudi Arabia

should loosen work permi resricions or Syrian reugees, ramp up heir humani-

arian giving, and move o become signaories o he U.N. reugee convenion. Te

inernaional communiy should also develop a beter concered and more robus

posiion o end he horrific and widespread use o barrel bomb atacks in Syria,

which are a prime acor in driving people rom heir homes.

In order o make i easier or reugees o seek asylum, he European Union should

esablish an oupos in Izmir, urkey, o process reugees beore hey atemp he

hazardous journey o he Greek Islands and beyond. Also, he Dublin Regulaion

should be alered o beter reflec he proporions and urgency o he presen crisis

by allowing more flexibiliy or asylum seekers.

U.N. member saes should hold an emergency special session o address he dis-

placemen crisis. Te Unied Naions, in conjuncion wih privae secor parners,

should explore how bes o inegrae new reugee populaions wih an emphasison improved livelihoods or reugees and heir surrounding communiies.

Finally, he Unied Saes mus increase is effors o help wih his humaniarian

crisis, including sharing a greaer burden o acceping reugees. Tere are many

convenien excuses or inacion or doing oo litle, bu his is no ime o shirk he

responsibiliy o our common humaniy.


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The broad trend in numbers

Te spike in reugees, paricularly hose rying o find sae haven in Europe, has

garnered enormous press atenion, bu much o he ocus has obscured some

imporan rends. Firs and oremos, inernally displaced people coninue o be

a more serious problem han reugees. O he nearly 60 million people orcible

displaced around he globe, almos wo hirds o hem38.2 millionare iner-

nally displaced people, wih 7.6 million o hose IDPs in Syria alone.5 For all he

hear-wrenching scenes o reugees in Hungary and Greece, here is litle coverage

o he significanly more people in Syria who have fled heir homes bu are unableo escape heir own counry. Te condiions or hese people remain harrowing.

Te second major rend in reugee and IDP numbers is heir growing concenra-

ion in increasingly ewer counries. Roughly 60 percen o he worlds IDP popula-

ion comes rom jus five naions: Syria (19.9 percen); Colombia (15.83 percen);

Iraq (8.58 percen); Sudan (8.12 percen); and he Democraic Republic o Congo

(7.22 percen).6 Tis suggess ha he reugee and IDP problem can be effecively

addressed i he inernaional communiy can subsanially improve he condiions

in jus a handul o counriesalbei hese counries sand ou as some o he mos

serious challenges o peacebuilding o his generaion.

And or all o he handwringing in European parliamensand o a lesser exen,

in he U.S. Congressabou he number o reugees seeking asylum, i is useul

o remember ha developing counries sill bear, by ar, he larges brun o boh

he emerging and longsanding reugee crises. Te U.N. High Commissioner

or Reugees esimaes ha developing counries hos more han 85 percen

o reugees, wih he op hos counries including Pakisan (1.5 million),7 Iran

(982,000),8 Lebanon (1.1 million), Jordan (more han 600,000 regisered; an

esimaed 1.4 million oal),9

and urkey (1.9 million).10

Lebanon and Jordan bear he larges per capia burden o reugees, wih Lebanon

hosing a leas 232 reugees per 1,000 o is inhabians and Jordan hosing 87

reugees per 1,000 inhabians.11 Tis is a saggering burden, and lacking a more

effecive inernaional response in Lebanon, Jordan, and urkey, any one o hese


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hree saes could see heir undamenal sabiliy undermined. Such insabiliy in

any one o hese hree counries would see he Unied Saes risking he loss o a

key ally, and likely unleash even larger numbers o reugees and IDPs.

I is also imporan o noe ha reugees end o remain in exile or very significan

periods o ime. In 2003, UNHCR noed ha he average ime in exile beore reurn-ing home or a reugee was 17 years, meaning he challenge o dealing wih odays

reugees rom Syria and Iraq will coninue or a generaion o come. 12 Some 90 per-

cen o he counries and erriories ha he Norwegian Reugee Council moniored

in 2014 were home o IDPs who have been displaced or 10 or more years. 13


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Refugees are a symptom,

not the illness

Te reugees now moving across he Middle Eas and Europe are a direc resul o

he inernaional ailure o resolve conflics and oser susainable securiy in Syria,

Iraq, Aghanisan, Libya, and elsewhere. Te rise o he Islamic Sae has exacerbaed

he reugee and IDP problem, wih a leas 2.2 million people fleeing areas ha ell

under Islamic Sae conrol.14 Reugees are a sympom o hese crises across muliple

saes, and he wors reugee problem in a generaion will no be resolved unless

here is a ar more concered effor o achieve peace in conflic-orn socieies.

Te Unied Naions Securiy Council, he Unied Saes, European Union, key

Gul Saes, and ohers made a sraegic decision o largely ake a hands-off

approach wih regard o inervening in he Syrian conflic. Afer misadvenures o

varying degrees in boh Iraq and Aghanisan, coupled wih he difficul choices

on he ground, ha may sill be a deensible posiion. However, as he enormous

volume o Syrian reugees and IDPs make clear, here is also a very real cos or

inacion. Curren negoiaions o end he Syrian conflic neiher appear serious

nor likely o succeed. Russia has sared roubling provisions o direc miliary

suppor o he Assad regime.15 And we have seen litle o sugges ha Wesern

powers have a coheren vision o sem he conflic.

I he inernaional communiy is conen o wach as Syria smolders, i mus also

be prepared o vasly sep up is effors o share he burden o hosing reugee

populaions, while coninuing o help underwrie he large sums o humaniarian

assisance needed o assis reugee and IDPs ha remain in he region. Te human

caasrophe driving desperae men, women, and children o seek reuge in Europe

is a global problem ha requires global acion, and i demands an approach ha

begins o address he roo causes ha are driving people rom heir homes.


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First agreed upon in 1951 and later amended in 1967, 145 countries

have signed the U.N. Convention on Refugees.16 The convention

includes the following key elements that have been important lode-

stars in the international approach to dealing with refugees.

• A refugee is defined as “someone who is unable or unwilling to re-

turn to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being

persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of

a particular social group, or political opinion.”

• With specific exceptions, refugees should not be penalized for their

illegal entry or stay.

• The convention establishes the principle of non-refoulment, which

provides that no one shall expel or return—refouler —a refugee

against his/her will, in any manner whatsoever, to a territory

he/she fears threats to life or freedom.

• It establishes minimum standards of treatment of refugees, in

ing access to courts, to primary education, to work, and to pr

of documentation—including travel documentation in passp

form, commonly known as the “Nansen passport.”

• The convention does not apply to the following groups: indiv

suspected of war crimes or crimes against humanity, serious

political crimes, or crimes that counter the principles of the U

Nations; refugees who benefit from the protection/assistance

of a U.N. agency other than UNHCR; refugees who have a stat

equivalent to nationals in the country of asylum, meaning int

displaced people.

The U.N. Convention on Refugees


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A deeply uneven response

Nowhere has he unevenness o he inernaional response o reugees been more

apparen han in he relaive willingness, and unwillingness, o counries o accep

reugees. In addiion, he European Union, he Unied Saes, and a number o key

Gul saes appeared o be caugh enirely unprepared by a reugee problem ha

should no have come as a shock.

Te response o he idea o hosing reugee populaions, even in small numbers,

has a imes riggered an ugly undercurren o xenophobia and ears o errorismha ar ouweigh he acual risk imposed by aking in reugees.17 Indeed, here is

considerable evidence ha hosing reugees ulimaely pays off in erms o consid-

erable economic benefis o hos counries.18

Looking a where reugees rom Syria have been acceped o dae provides impor-

an insigh ino he sharp dispariy o approaches by hos counries.

The frontline states

Lebanon has 1.1 million regisered Syrian reugees, alhough he governmen

esimaes ha he oal, including unregisered reugees, is closer o 1.5 million.19

In Jordan, UNHCR currenly allies 629,266 regisered reugees; however, he

governmen has said ha i is hosing 1.4 million Syrians.20 urkey currenly hoss

1.9 million Syrians, wih one-hird o hem living in governmen-run camps.21

Tese are enormous numbers wih he poenial o undamenally aler he polii-

cal and sraegic rajecory or all hree counries. For leaders o hese counries o

hear rom EU member saes or he Unied Saes ha is oo difficul o accep ens

o housands o reugees in a single year is surely galling.


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The Gulf states

Qaar, he Unied Arab Emiraes, or UAE, and Saudi Arabia have no officially

acceped reugees rom Syria, bu boh Saudi Arabia and he UAE repor having

admited 100,000 Syrians each since he beginning o he conflic. In addiion, Saudi

Arabia repors o have some 500,000 Syrians living wihin is borders, and he UAErepors 242,000.22 However, here is considerable conusion surrounding hese

numbers. For example, Saudi officials have also claimed in differen repors o have

“received” 2.5 million Syrian reugees since he conflic began, a number so large ha

i likely includes he oal number o all ransis hrough he counry by Syrians.23

Some reugees have claimed hey would eel much more welcome in Europe han

he Gul saes.24 None o he hree saesand indeed none o he six Gul saes

are signaories o he U.N. reugee convenion, have no reay obligaions o accep

reugees, and hus do no gran any o he reugees in heir counries reugee saus.

According o he annual allies o he Unied Naions Office or he Coordinaiono Humaniarian Affairs, or UNOCHA, Financial racking Service, since he

conflic began, humaniarian assisance o he Syrian crisis have oaled: $403 mil-

lion rom he UAE; $594 million rom Saudi Arabia; $933 million rom Kuwai;

$233 million rom Qaar; $23 million rom Oman; and $3 million rom Bahrain.25

While i is no clear why, Gul spending on he humaniarian crisis according o

UNOCHA official esimaes seems o be lagging badly his year, wih he UAE

donaing close o $30 million o dae in 2015, Saudi Arabia donaing $18.3 mil-

lion, and Qaar $9.2 million.26 Te combined oal rom hese counries his year

is less han he Neherlands or Swizerland has donaed o he Syrian reugee crisis

on is own. Overall spending by Gul saes has been significan, bu i also useul

o pu hese numbers in some broader perspecive: Qaar alone is expeced o

spend $200 billion o hos he 2022 World Cup.27

Israel

Israel has no acceped reugees rom Syria earing ha hey would pose a hrea

o he sae by alering he counry’s demographic balancealhough Israel

has provided medical reamen o 1,000 people who have been injured in hefighing in Syria.28 When Israeli opposiion leader Isaac Herzog argued ha

Israel, by din o is own difficul hisory, had an obligaion o give sheler o a

leas a oken number o reugees, Israeli Prime Miniser Benjamin Neanyahu


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responded by saying ha Israeli was no in a posiion o accep reugees because

o concerns ha prominenly included errorism.29 While Israeli securiy con-

cerns are legiimae, i should explore avenues or helping is neighbors manage

he reugee challenge and increase regional sabiliy.

The uneasy bridges

Greece, Ialy, and Hungary have been he hree mos vial ransi poins or reugees

rom he Middle Eas coming ino he European Union. As such, hey have been he

counries ha mos acuely have el he brun o conusion, indecision, and inac-

ion by he European Union as a whole. Greece, already under considerable duress

because o he financial crisis, has been used primarily as a land bridge ino Europe;

158,000 reugees have passed hrough Greece in 2015 alone.30 Ialy currenly hoss

110,000 reugees who arrived in 2015. More han 170,000 reugees have arrived in

Hungary his year alone.31 Unorunaely, his influx has mean ha Hungary, led bya hard-righ governmen, has become he ace o ani-immigran, ani-reugee hosil-

iy in Europe. Reugees have been abused by police and oher auhoriies in rain

saions and in he srees, and he counry is rushing o complee a 175-kilomeer

ence along is border wih Serbia in an effor o keep ou reugees.32

Hungary’s reamen o reugees has been so consisenly poor ha i has been crii-

cized by UNHCR and by European Commission Presiden Jean-Claude Juncker.33

While many concerns have been raised abou Ialy and Greece’s handling o reu-

gees, paricularly hose reugees rying o make he voyage by sea rom Norh Arica,

Hungary’s response o he reugee crisiswhich has ofen appeared o conravene

he counry’s commimen under he U.N. Convenion on Reugeeshas been so

mishandled as o largely remove Greece and Ialy rom he headlines oher han in

he immediae afermah o ragic mariime disasers claiming reugee lives.

The stalwarts

o dae, Germany and Sweden have been salwars in dealing wih he influx o

reugees. Boh counries deserve significan praise or he reacion o heir poliicalleadership and general public o accommodae reugees. Germany has received

500,000 oal asylum applicaions since 2011, bu 100,000 people arrived in

Germany in Augus 2015 alone seeking reugee proecion.34 German Chancellor

Angela Merkel has pledged $6.7 billion o address he crisis. German Vice-

Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel old Te Guardian , “I believe we [Germany] could


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surely deal wih somehing in he order o hal a million [reugees] or several

years … I have no doub abou ha, maybe more.”35 Sweden has acceped 80,000

reugees in 2015, one-hird o whom are Syrian. France, afer iniial relucance,

announced on Sepember 8, 2015, ha i would accep 24,000 reugees over wo

years under he EU quoa sysem.36

Money, not people

Boh he Unied Kingdom and he Unied Saes have responded o he curren

reugee crisis wih exraordinarily generous humaniarian assisance and exraor-

dinarily resricive policies on acceping reugees rom he Middle Eas. Te

Unied Saes has delivered more han $1 billion o assis Syrian reugees and IDPs

in 2015, and he Unied Kingdom delivered close o hal a billion dollars, making

hem he firs and second larges donors in he world in ha regard.37 Te Unied

Saes has delivered more han $4 billion in aid since he Syrian crisis began.

However, when i comes o people, he sory has been quie differen in boh

counries. Briish Prime Miniser David Cameron iniially commited he Unied

Kingdom o accep 20,000 Syrian reugees by 2020 and suggesed ha child

reugees would be depored when hey urned 18. Afer sharp opposiion pary

criicism ha he 4,000 reugee a year figure paled in comparison o a number o

oher European counries, Cameron appeared o back pedal somewha, indicaing

ha children would no be depored when hey urned 18 and suggesing ha he

20,000 number could be achieved beore 2020alhough sill no indicaing ha

his oal number o reugees would be raised.38

Te Unied Saes has been equally relucan on Syrian reugee admissionsdespie

he ac ha much o he populaion movemen in Syria and Iraq can be raced

direcly back o he chain o evens ha began o unold wih he U.S.-led invasion o

Iraq and he subsequen mishandling o reconsrucion. In Augus 2015, he Unied

Saes resetled only 251 Syrian reugees, and he oal or he fiscal year ending

Sepember 30 will likely end up in he range o 1,500 o 1,700 Syrians, approxi-

maely 0.03 percen o all Syrian reugees. Beween Ocober 1, 2014, and Sepember

30, 2015, he Unied Saes had se a arge o resetling 70,000 reugees rom aroundhe globe, wih Syrians making up a very small porion o his oal. Separae rom

he U.S. Reugee Admissions Program, oreign naionals who are in he counry can

say by applying or asylum. Alhough here is no numerical cap on he number o

people who may be graned asylum in a given year, he number o Syrians who have


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applied or asylum in recen years is relaively low: slighly more han 4,000 beween

Ocober 1, 2010, and March 31, 2015.39 And because he process only is available o

people who have already arrived in he Unied Saes, i is off limis o he vas major-

iy o Syrian reugees living in dire srais abroad.

Wih ongoing discussions beween he execuive and legislaive branches regardinghe arge reugee number or he upcoming fiscal year, he Obama adminisraion

announced on Sepember 10 ha i would ake in “a leas” 10,000 Syrian reugees in

he coming fiscal year.40 While an improvemen, his remains very low.

Congress has had a mixed reacion o he idea o acceping more Syrian reugees.

In May 2015, 14 Democraic U.S. senaors wroe o he presiden calling or a

significan increase in acceping Syrian reugees.41 Tey noed ha as o May

2015, he U.S. had only acceped approximaely 700 reugees and ha UNHCR

had presened 12,000 cases o Syrian reugees o he Unied Saes or resetle-

men. Te signaories called on he presiden o accep a leas 50 percen o heSyrian reugees UNHCR wans o resetle, “consisen wih our naions radiional

pracice under boh Republican and Democraic Presidens.” In Sepember 2015,

Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC) and John McCain (AZ) also called or

acceping increased numbers o Syrian reugees.42

Ohers in Congress have raised concerns ha Syrian reugees in he Unied

Saes would pose a erroris hrea. Commonly cied incidens relaed o his

argumen include: he Boson Marahon bombers; he more han 20 Somali

Americans who have lef he Unied Saes o join he Al Shabaab in he Horn o

Arica; he 1993 bombing o he World rade Cener by Ramzi Youse; and wo

Iraqis rom Bowling Green, Kenucky, who were charged wih conspiracy o kill

U.S. naionals abroad. As Rep. Peer King (R-NY) argued, “I agree ha he vas

majoriy o Syrian reugees do no have ies o error groups. However, we have

been reviewing he curren securiy veting procedures or a number o monhs,

and I have a number o concerns, no he leas o which is he lack o on-he-

ground inelligence necessary o ideniy error links.”43 Some in he House o

Represenaives have gone so ar as o propose ha he resetlemen process be

suspended in is enirey, a remarkably draconian reacion.44

By any measure, he U.S. veting process or Syrian reugees is laborious and

remarkably slow. Te average veting process or a Syrian reugee coming ino he

Unied Saes akes 18 o 24 monhshe same amoun o ime i akes o ge an

associae degree rom a universiy.45 Te relaive lack o on-he-ground inelligence

rom Syria conribues o delays in processing Syrian reugees in he Unied Saes.


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U.S. securiy agencies remain deeply concerned abou he influx o oreign fighers

ino Syria, he emphasis by he Islamic Sae o Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, on lone

wol atacks, and he ear ha a reugee influx could allow a erroris o slip ino

he counry a a ime when here is zero olerance or risk. Bu as Seh Jones o he

Rand Corporaion noes:

Almos none o he major erroris plos since 9/11 have involved reugees. Even

in hose cases where reugees were arresed on errorism-relaed charges, years and

even decades ofen ranspired beween heir enry ino he Unied Saes and heir

involvemen in errorism. In mos insances, a would-be erroriss reugee saus

had litle or nohing o do wih heir radicalizaion and shif o errorism.46


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Recent developments

and recommendations

On Sepember 9, 2015, European Commission Presiden Jean-Claude Juncker

called on he European Union o accep binding a quoa o resetle 160,000 reu-

gees. He also asked ha asylum seekers be allowed o work as par o “roo-and-

branch” reorms o EU immigraion policy.47 Junkers remarks seemed o mark

an imporan momen in he debae wihin Europe. Juncker called on European

saes no o differeniae reugees by religion given ha some have preerred o

accep Chrisians raher han Muslims. He also sressed he need or reugees o

work and secure livelihoods, saying “I am srongly in avor o allowing asylumseekers o work and earn heir own money whils heir applicaions are being

processed. Labor, work, being in a job is a mater o digniy ... so we should do

everyhing o change our naional legislaion in order o allow reugees, migrans,

o work since day one o heir arrival in Europe.”48

Juncker also called or major revisions o he Dublin Regulaion.49 Curren

provisions o ha reay direc ha asylum seekers should be processed only

in he firs poin o enry o he European Union, placing an undue burden on

saes ha are on he ronlines o his crisis, such as Ialy and Greece. Te reay

also ensures ha asylum applicans do no apply o more han one EU member

counry, wih he EU member sae o choice eiher acceping or rejecing he

applicaion and he applican unable o resar he process in anoher jurisdic-

ion. Te reay is requenly criicized as violaing reugees righs. Te applica-

ion process under he Dublin reay can cause significan delays in examinaion

and in some cases, applicaions are never given a hearing. Tere are also accusa-

ions ha he sysem can lead o excessive use o deenion o enorce ransers,

leads o he separaion o amilies, prevens reugees rom appealing denied

applicaions, and impedes he inegraion o reugees while ofen orcing hem

o remain in saes where hey have ew or no connecions. Te reay also con-siders he sandards and reamen o reugees as equal across all EU member

saes, which has very obviously no been he case in recen hisory.50


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Juncker called or he European Union o adop procedures ha will make i easier

or reugees o seek asylum, including by expanding access o visas or hose rom

conflic-affeced counries. Asylum-seekers would be able o apply rom heir

home regions raher han waiing o apply unil hey have risked heir lives and he

lives o heir children by rekking across housands o miles o land and sea, ofen

a he mercy o criminal human smuggling gangs. He also called or he EuropeanUnion o improve he provision o humaniarian assisance, public saey, and

basic social services or reugees. Te Dublin reay would be alered o beter

reflec he proporions and urgency o he presen crisis. He called or an open and

ransparen process o selec he incoming chie o U.N. High Commissioner or

Reugees o ensure ha his individual possesses he requisie compeence o deal

wih he enormiy o he curren reugee crisis.

Reacions o Junckers speech were mixed, alhough many saw i as a posiive sep

orward. A Briish governmen spokesperson rejeced he idea ha he Unied

Kingdom would no be bound by he EU plan o ake 160,000 reugees across hemember saes, saying “In erms o any relocaion, we have already been clear ha

we are no bound by i and we are going o ocus our effors on resetlemen.”51

And i he Unied Kingdom hough he new EU plan was oo generous, urkish

officials called he offer “ridiculously” meager, and urkish Prime Miniser Ahme

Davuoğlu complained, “Te concep o burden-sharing has become a meaning-

less cachphrase.”52 German Chancellor Merkel also expressed concern ha he

quoa o 160,000 quoa migh be insufficien.53

Tis repor recommends a number o addiional seps beyond Juncker’s proposals

ha would be useul moving orward:

• Te Unied Saes mus recognize some responsibiliy or he pligh o innocen

amilies pushed ou o heir homes by ongoing conflic in he region; i mus

increase is effors o help wih his humaniarian crisis, including sharing a greaer

burden o acceping reugees. Admiting 10,000 Syrian reugees over he nex year

remains a very low figure, and i deserves biparisan suppor o be revised upward,

reflecing our counrys long and proud biparisan radiion o assising he mos

desperae in heir hour o need. Te Unied Saes should ollow he call rom

humaniarian groups o accep a leas 65,000 Syrian reugees in he nex year,54

wih he undersanding ha he Unied Saes could accep even more i needed.


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• A a bare minimum, Qaar, he UAE, and Saudi Arabia should loosen heir

work permi resricions o allow more Syrians o find employmen in all hree

counries, combine o a leas mach he combined oal o U.S. and U.K.

conribuions o humaniarian assisance, and become signaories o he U.N.

reugee convenion.

• Te European Union should consider esablishing a oreign affairs oupos in

Izmir, urkey, o regiser reugees, allowing reugees o avoid he dangerous

journey o he Greek Islands and hen rom Greece up hrough Macedonia ino

Serbia, which will be even more unwelcoming wih he compleion o he ence

a he Hungary-Serbia border.

• U.N. member saes should hold an emergency special session o address

hese conflics and he curren global reugee emergency when hey mee his

Sepember in New York.

• Te UNHCR, in conjuncion wih global business and philanhropic leaders,

should hold an immediae session o explore how bes o inegrae new reugee

populaions ino Europe and oher naions in he Middle Eas and o ensure ha

hese individuals and heir surrounding communiies receive sufficien liveli-

hood suppor o avoid isolaion and ghetoizaion.

• Member saes and concerned individuals should close UNHCRs considerable

unding gap. Only 37 percen o he $4.5 billion ha he Unied Naions needs

o provide or reugees in 2015 has been conribued by donors. Te G20 and

G7 should pu hese issues prominenly on heir agenda or upcoming meeings.

• Finally, seps mus be aken a he source. Te inernaional communiy mus

speak wih a much clearer and orceul posiion o end he widespread use o barrel

bombs in Syria. Barrel bomb atackslarge meal barrels filled wih high explo-

sives, shrapnel oil, and/or chemicals and hen dropped rom airplanes or helicop-

ers¬have become a requen, and wildly indiscriminae, miliary acic used by

he Assad regime, and hese atacks are driving large numbers o people o flee.55

As Ken Roh, he head o Human Righs Wach observed, “Mr. Assad’s indiscrimi-

nae use o barrel bombs deep in opposiion-held erriory means ha or manyhere is no sae place o hide. Ta ugly realiy has played a major par in persuading

our million people o flee he counry.”56 While he U.N. Securiy Council passed

Resoluion 2139 on February 22, 2014, ordering all paries in Syria o hal he use

o barrel bombs in he counry, here has been no cos imposed on he Syrian gov-

ernmen or is blaan disregard or innocen civilian lie.57 Sopping hese atacks

would be he single greaes measure o saunch he flow o new IDPs and reugees.


19/23


Conclusion

Te reugee and IDP siuaion, and he global response o i, coninues o evolve

rapidly. However, several hings are ulimaely clear. Te inernaional response

coninues o be inadequae on a number o levels. Te collecive effor o orge

effecive diplomaic approaches in places such as Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Aghanisan

remain badly lacking. oo many Gul saes remain eager o avoid shouldering heir

share o he burden o reugees, eiher financially or in erms o graning hem sae

haven. Te European Union, while having made imporan seps orward, remains

burdened by ineffecive bureaucraic procedures concerning reugees, and a numbero is member saes, paricularly Hungary, coninue o be badly wrong-headed in

heir undamenal approach o he crisis. Te Unied Saes and he Unied Kingdom

remain generous wih money bu woeully inadequae in heir willingness o accep

reugees. Te nearly 60 million reugees and IDPs around he globe oday sand as a

undamenal es o he world’s moral and sraegic resolve. Hisory will no judge us

kindly i we coninue o find inacion so much easier han acion.


20/23


About the authors

John Norris is he Execuive Direcor o he Susainable Securiy and

Peacebuilding Iniiaive a American Progress. He has served in a number o

senior roles in governmen, inernaional insiuions, and nonprofis. In 2014,

John was appoined by Presiden Barack Obama o he Presiden’s GlobalDevelopmen Council, a body charged wih advising he adminisraion on effec-

ive developmen pracices. John previously served as he Execuive Direcor o

he Enough Projec a American Progress and was he chie o poliical affairs or

he U.N. Mission in Nepal. Previously, John served as he Washingon chie o saff

or he Inernaional Crisis Group and as he direcor o communicaions or U.S.

Depuy Secreary o Sae Srobe albot. He also worked as a speechwrier and

field disaser exper a he U.S. Agency or Inernaional Developmen. John is he

auhor o several books, including Mary McGrory: Te Firs Queen o Journalism

and he Disaser Gypsies , a memoir o his work in he field o emergency relie.

John has published commenary in scores o oules including, Te Washingon Pos, Los Angeles imes, Wall Sree Journal , and elsewhere. He has a graduae

degree in public adminisraion.

Annie Malknecht is a Research Associae wih he Susainable Securiy and

Peacebuilding Iniiaive a he Cener or American Progress. She holds a bach-

elor’s degree rom he George Washingon Universiy in inernaional affairs,

where she ocused on inernaional developmen and economics. Prior o joining

he Susainable Securiy eam, Annie worked on he execuive eam a he Cener

or Global Developmen, and she compleed inernships wih he Cener or

American Progress and Women Trive Worldwide as an undergraduae. She is a

naive o Minneapolis, Minnesoa.


21/23


Endnotes

1 U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, “UNHCR Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2014” (2014).

2 U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, “World RefugeeDay: Global forced displacement tops 50 million for firsttime in post-World War II era,” June 20, 2014, available

at http://www.unhcr.org/53a155bc6.html.

3 UNHCR, “Facts and Figures about Refugees,” availableat http://www.unhcr.org.uk/about-us/key-facts-and-figures.html (last accessed September 2015).

4 Ibid.

5 Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, “Syria IDPFigures Analysis,” available at http://www.internal-displacement.org/middle-east-and-north-africa/syria/figures-analysis (last accessed September 2015).

6 Norwegian Refugee Council and Internal DisplacementMonitoring Centre, “Global Overview 2015: Peopleinternally displaced by conflict and violence” (2015).

7 UNHCR Pakistan , “Statistics: Know Your Numbers,”available at http://unhcrpk.org/contacts/ (last accessed

September 2015).

8 UNHCR, “2015 UNHCR country operations profile –Islamic Republic of Iran,” available at http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e486f96.html (last accessed September2015).

9 UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee Response, “Jordan,”available at http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=107 (last accessed September 2015);

The Associated Press “Rights Groups Say Syrian Refu-gees Stranded at Jordan Border,” The New York Times,June 3, 2015, available at http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/06/03/world/middleeast/ap-ml-jordan-syrian-refugees.html.

10 Counting refugees is not an exact science, and thereare frequent, and sometimes broad, discrepanciesbetween official UNHCR registration numbers and

government estimates of refugee populations. Thisoccurs in part because many refugees also seek refugeoutside of official camp settings. UNHCR Syria RegionalRefugee Response, “Turkey,” available at http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=224(lastaccessed September 2015).

11 U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, “Global Report2014: Hosting the World’s Refugees” (2014).

12 This number is a crude estimate and has often beenmisinterpreted to mean that refuges spend an averageof 17 years in refugee camps, which is not the case.For an interesting discussion of the 17 year numberand its origins, see Singular Things, “17 years in arefugee camp: on the trail of a dodgy statistic,” July 4,2015, available at https://singularthings.wordpress.com/2015/07/04/17-years-in-a-refugee-camp-on-the-trail-of-a-dodgy-statistic/.

13 Norwegian Refugee Council and Internal DisplacementMonitoring Centre, “Global Overview 2015: Peopleinternally displaced by conflict and violence.”

14 Ibid.

15 Neil MacFarquhar, “Russia Answers U.S. CriticismOver Military Aid to Syria,” The New York Times,September 7, 2015, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/world/europe/russia-answers-us-criticism-over-military-aid-to-syria.html.

16 U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, “The 1951Refugee Convention,” available at http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49da0e466.html (last accessed September 2015).

17 Annett Meiritz and Amanda Taub, “’Heil Hitler’:Germany’s frightening neo-Nazi riots, explained,”

Vox, August 25, 2015, available at http://www.vox.com/2015/8/25/9200721/neo-nazi-riots-germany;Bloomberg View, “Hungary’s Xenophobia, Europe’sCrisis,” September 2, 2015, available at http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-02/hungary-s-xenophobia-europe-s-crisis.

18 Alexander Betts, Louise Bloom, Josiah Kaplan, andNaohiko Omata, “Refugee Economies: Rethinking Popu-lar Assumptions” (University of Oxford, Refugee StudiesCentre, and Humanitarian Innovation Project, 2014),available at http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/files/publications/other/refugee-economies-2014.pdf .

19 UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee R esponse, “Lebanon,”available at http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=122 (last accessed September 2015);Batsheva Sobelman, “Which Countries are taking in Syr-ian Refugees?”Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2015,

available at http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-migrants-scorecard-20150908-story.html.

20 UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee Response, “Jordan”; So-belman, “Which Countries are taking in Syrian Refugees?”

21 UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee Response, “Turkey”; So-belman, “Which Countries are taking in Syrian Refugees?”

22 The National, “100,000 Syrians move to UAE since2011,” September 9, 2015, available at http://www.the-national.ae/uae/government/100000-syrians-move-to-uae-since-2011; Agence France-Presse, “Saudi says haswelcomed 100,000 Syrians,” The Inquirer, September 12,2015, available at http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/721416/saudi-says-has-welcomed-100000-syrians; Leonid Ber-shidsky, “Why Don’t Gulf States Accept More Refugees?”Bloomberg View, September 4, 2015, available at http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-04/why-

don-t-gulf-states-accept-more-refugees-.

23 David Pugliese, “Jason Kenney claims Persian Gulfnations not accepting many Syrian refugees, Saudis saythey have 2.5 million, UAE – 250,000,” Ottawa Citizen,September 13, 2015, available at http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/jason-kenney-claims-persian-gulf-nations-not-accepting-many-syrian-refugees-saudis-say-they-have-2-5-million-uae-250000.

24 Donna Abu-Nasr Vivian Nereim Deema Almashabi,“Syria’s Refugees Feel More Welcome in Europe Than inthe Gulf,” Bloomberg, September 4, 2015, available athttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-04/syria-s-refugees-feel-more-welcome-in-europe-than-in-the-gulf.

25 Financial Tracking Services, “Funding to 2015 response

plans,” available at https://fts.unocha.org/ (last accessedSeptember 2015). These totals were arrived at byadding the annual total from each country through theOCHA FTS portal.

26 Financial Tracking Services, “Table B: Total funding perdonor (appeal plus other) as of 11-September-2015,”available at https://fts.unocha.org/reports/daily/ocha_R24_E16520___1509111217.pdf (last accessedSeptember 2015).

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27 Simeon Kerr and Courtney Weaver, “Fifa turmoil drawsin Russia and Qatar,” Financial Times, May 29, 2015,available at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/45d01548-0541-11e5-9627-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3lRcc0d9e.

28 Batsheva Sobelman, “One country that won’t be takingSyrian refuges: Israel,” Lost Angeles Times, September6, 2015, available at http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-syrian-refugees-israel-20150906-story.html.

29 Bershidsky, Why Don’t Gulf States Accept More Refu-

gees?”

30 UNHCR, “Briefing note: Number of refugee arrivals toGreece increase dramatically,” August 18, 2015, avail-able at http://www.unhcr.org/55d3098d6.html

31 Peter Walker and agencies, “Refugees forced toscramble for food by police in Hung ary,” The Guardian,September 11, 2015, available at http://www.theguard-ian.com/world/2015/sep/11/refugees-roszke-hungary-police-food-camp.

32 Reuters, “Hungary could finish Serbian border fence byearly October: government,” September 10, 2015, avail-able at http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/10/us-europe-migrants-hungary-fence-idUSKC-N0RA1KY20150910.

33 U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, “UNHCR calls

on Hungary to protect, not persecute, refugees,” Pressrelease, May 8, 2015, available at http://www.unhcr.org/554cc16e9.html; Alastair M acdonald, “Juncker ap-peals to Europe on refugees, as more move on,” Reuters,September 10, 2015, available at http://w ww.reuters.com/article/2015/09/10/us-europe-migrants-juncker-idUSKCN0R90JF20150910.

34 U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, “Population Sta-tistics: Asylum Seekers, Germany, 2011 -2014,” availableat http://popstats.unhcr.org/en/time_series/xeHvD0 (last accessed September 2015); “Migrant crisis: Whatnext for Germany’s asylum seekers?” BBC, September14, 2015, available at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34175795.

35 Helena Smith and Mark Tran, “Germany says it couldtake 500,000 refugees a year,” The Guardian, September8, 2015, available at http://www.theguardian.com/

world/2015/sep/08/germany-500000-refugees-a-year-clashes-lesbos.

36 Sobelman, “Which countries are taking in Syrian refu-gees?”

37 Financial Tracking Services, “Table B: Total funding perdonor.”

38 Matt Dathan, “Britain could take 20,000 refugees thisyear and children will not be deported at 18 – DavidCameron insists,” The Independent , September 9, 2015,available at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/britain-could-take-20000-refugees-this-year-and-children-will-not-be-deported-at-18-david-camer-on-insists-10493033.html.

39 John Yahya Vanderberg, “Syrian Asylum Statistics – WhoKnew? And What Now?” Immigration Law Monitor, June

1, 2015, available at https://immigrationlawmonitor.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/syrian-asylum-statistics-who-knew-and-what-now/; Immigration Law Mon itor,“Asylum Applications Filed by Nationals of Syria,” avail-able at https://immigrationlawmonitor.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/syrian-asylum-statistics-as-of-may2015.pdf (last accessed September 2015).

40 Gardiner Harris, David E. Sanger, and David M. Herszen-horn, “Obama Increases Number of Syrian Refugeesfor U.S. Resettlement to 10,000,” The New York Times,September 10, 2015, available at http://w ww.nytimes.com/2015/09/11/world/middleeast/obama-directs-administration-to-accept-10000-syrian-refugees.html.

41 Letter from 14 senators to President Barack Obama,May 21, 2015, available at http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2015/5/senators-urge-president-to-allow-more-syrian-refugees-to-resettle-in-u-s.

42 Mary Troyan, “Lindsey Graham calls on U.S. to acceptrefugees,” USA Today , September 8, 2015, available athttp://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elec-tions/2015/09/08/lindsey-graham-calls-us-accept-ref-ugees/71895498/; Niels Lesniewski, “With Kerry on theHill, McCain Blasts Inaction on Syrian Refugees ( Video),”Roll Call, September 9, 2015, available at http://blogs.

rollcall.com/wgdb/kerry-mccain-syrian-refugees/?dcz=.

43 Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, Admitting Syrian Refugees: The Intelligence Voice and theEscalating Homeland Security Threat , 114th Cong. 1stsession, June 24, 2015.

44 U.S. House of Representatives, “Babin Files Bill to Sus-pend and Examine U.S. Foreign Refugee Program,” Pressrelease, July 30, 2015, available at http://babin.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=356.

45 Carol E. Lee and Felicia Schwartz, “Obama SeeksAdmission for 10,000 More Syrian R efugees,” The WallStreet Journal , September 10, 2015, available at http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-seeks-admission-for-10-000-more-syrian-refugees-1441907967.

46 Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence,

Admitting Syrian Refugees.

47 Matthew Weaver, “Refugee crisis: Juncker unveils EUquota plan – as it happened,” The Guardian, September9, 2015, available at http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/sep/09/refugee-crisis-junker-unveils-eu-quota-plan-live-updates.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid.

50 European Council on Refugees and Exiles, “What isthe Dublin System?” available at http://www.ecre.org/topics/areas-of-work/protection-in-europe/10-dublin-regulation.html (last accessed September 2015).

51 The Portsmouth News, “Cameron rejects UK role in ECmigrant redistribution plan,” September 9, 2015, avail-

able at http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/national/cameron-rejects-uk-role-in-ec-migrant-redistribution-plan-1-6947435.

52 Ahmet Davutoğlu, “Turkey cannot deal with therefugee crisis alone. EU nations need to help,” TheGuardian September 9, 2015, available at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/09/turkey-refugee-crisis-christian-fortress-europe.

53 Weaver, “Refug ee Crisis.”

54 Associate Press, “Aid Group Urges US to Resettle 65,000Syrians by End of 2 016,” April 9, 2015, available athttp://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/04/09/world/middleeast/ap-ml-syria-refugees.html.

55 House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Assad’s AbhorrentChemical Weapons Attacks, 114th Cong, 1st sess., 2015.

56 Kenneth Roth, “Barrel Bombs, Not ISIS, Are the Greatest Threat to Syrians,” Human Rights Watch, August 5, 2015,available at https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/08/05/barrel-bombs-not-isis-are-greatest-threat-syrians.

57 United Nations, “Security Council Unanimously AdoptsResolution 2139 (2014) to Ease Aid Delivery to Syrians,Provide Relief from ‘Chilling Darkness,’” available athttp://www.un.org/press/en/2014/sc11292.doc.htm(last accessed September 2015).

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