GeMUN 2016
Mediterranean Conference
Topic 2: Responding to the Syrian Refugee Crisis
Report Research
By Melania Bortolai
INDEX:
I.
Definition of Key Terms
II.
Introduction
III.
Background Information
IV.
Major Countries Involved
V.
UN Involvement
VI.
Useful Links
Definitions of key terms
Refugee: Article 1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as "A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.."
Asylum seeker: A person who has left their country of origin and formally applied for asylum in another country but whose application has not yet been concluded.
UNHCR: “The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December
14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide.”
Introduction
For centuries now, people have been fleeing from their home country for several reasons that vary from the search for a better economic situation to escaping a life-threatening situation.

Hundreds of refugees’ arrivals are registered every day in the Mediterranean countries; most of them reach safe lands by risking their lives through climbing over razor wire fences, taking to sea in leaking boats or stowing away in airless containers, in an attempt to find safety and a better life.
In the past few years, many factors have caused the increase in the scale of international migration, including globalization and growing disparities in living conditions, both within and between countries, and among the number of migrants, many of whom are fleeing persecution and conflicts in their countries.
In order to become a legal refugee, asylum seekers have to go through a long process to be evaluated as such. National asylum systems decide which asylum-seekers actually qualify for international protection.
Those judged through proper procedures not to be refugees are sent back to their home countries.
The efficiency of the asylum system is key. It needs to be fast and fair in order to make the procedure of evaluation beneficial for both the country and the applicants.
During mass movements of refugees (usually as a result of conflicts or generalized violence as opposed to individual persecution), it is not possible to conduct individual asylum interviews for everyone who crosses the border. It is though not necessary, since in such circumstances the reason they have fled is generally evident. In such cases the groups are declared "prima facie" refugees.
Background information
Syria’s civil war is the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Estimatedly, more than 11 million people have been killed or forced to flee their homes, resulting in the country losing more than half of its former population. More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war.
The first protests promoting democracy started in 2011 in the city of Deraa due to the arrest of some teenagers who had painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall. Several protesters died under the fire of the security forces, causing nationwide protests demanding president Assad’s resignation.
By 2012, violence had escalated into civil war, rebel brigades had been formed and reached the capital
Damascus.
By June 2013, the UN had estimated that 90,000 people had been killed in the conflict. However, by August
2014 that figure had grown to 191,000 - and kept raising to 250,000 by August 2015, according to activists and the UN.
The war has now drawn in neighbouring countries and world powers, apart from the rise of the jihadist groups, including Islamic State.

Hundreds of people were killed in August 2013 when rockets filled with the nerve agent sarin were fired at numerous agricultural districts outside Damascus. Western powers, shocked by the violence of the attack, claimed it could only have been carried out by Syria's government, although the regime blamed the rebels.
Facing the possibility of US military intervention, President Assad agreed to remove or destroy the whole of
Syria's chemical weapons arsenal as part of a mission led by the UN and the Organisation for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Despite the operation, the use of toxic chemicals has since been documented by the OPCW, carried out by the government in attacks on rebel-held villages in 2014 that resulted in the deaths of at least 13 people.???
Islamic State has also been accused of using chemical weapons against Kurdish forces and civilians in Syria.
More than four million people have fled Syria since the start of the conflict, most of them women and children. It is one of the largest refugee crises in recent history. Neighbouring countries have been critically

affected by the exodus of refugees with Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey struggling to accommodate the flood of new arrivals. The exodus accelerated dramatically in 2013 with the deterioration of conditions in Syria.
A further 7.6 million Syrians have been internally displaced within the country, bringing the total number forced to flee their homes to more than 11 million - half the country's pre-crisis population. Overall, an estimated 12.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria, including 5.6 million children, the UN says.
Major countries involved
The Syrian crisis and the mass migration caused by it have affected Syria’s neighbouring countries especially, although they are a global concern. 4 million people in need of shelter out of 16?
have found it in one of five countries: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
Lebanon currently hosts approximately 1.2 million refugees from Syria which amounts to around one in five people in the country.
Jordan hosts about 650,000 refugees from Syria, which amounts to about 10% of the population.
Turkey hosts 1.9 million refugees from Syria, more than any other country worldwide.
Iraq, where 3 million people have been internally displaced in the last 18 months, hosts 249,463 refugees from Syria.
Egypt hosts 132,375 refugees from Syria.
In the EU, Germany and Sweden are two of the countries which have received the majority of Syrian asylum applications, estimatedly at 47% for both countries together, between 2011 and 2015.

Germany has set a clear separation from the remaining 27 countries in the European Union by pledging
35,000 places for Syrian refugees through its humanitarian admission programme and individual sponsorship; about 75 % of the EU total.
Excluding Germany and Sweden, EU countries have pledged around 8,700 resettlement places for Syrian refugees.
Among non-welcoming countries we can find Gulf countries such as Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain, and other high income countries including Russia, Japan, Singapore and South
Korea. All of these countries have allegedly offered zero resettlement places for Syrian refugees.
UN involvement
In December 2014, the UN launched the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) for the Syria crisis. The
3RP is an innovative method for the UN in the terms of its response to crises. It is an inclusive model for delivering an effective and coordinated response which addresses, through national plans, immediate vulnerabilities, strengthens social cohesion, and builds the resilience of people, communities and national systems.

The plan consists of two components: the Refugee Component and the Resilience Component, both made up of three main points.
The Refugee Component includes:
● Refugee women, girls, boys, and men fleeing the Syrian conflict have access to effective protection.
● Refugees and most vulnerable among the impacted population are provided with life-saving and immediate assistance, including in camps and host communities.
● The most vulnerable impacted communities benefit from immediate support to strengthen communal services to support community-based protection.
While the Resilient Component:
● Most vulnerable impacted households benefit from interventions that enhance their capacities and resources to cope with and recover from the crisis.
● Refugees and members of impacted communities have opportunities to progressively build selfreliance.
● The capacities of sub-national and national delivery systems are strengthened to meet the protection, assistance and social services needs of refugees and members of impacted communities.
(UNDP, 3RP: Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan 2015 - 2016)
The UN also made an appeal for $8.4bn (£5.6bn) to provide help to around 18 million Syrians. A year later, the funds available were already less than half.
The consequences of funding shortages are that the most vulnerable Syrian refugees hosted in countries such as Lebanon are provided with just $13.50 per month or less than half a dollar a day for food assistance.
During November 2015, UNHCR released its winter plan aimed at keeping refugees safe from the unwelcoming weather conditions of the Middle East, distributing winter core relief items to around
345,939 Syrian refugees and 240,000 Syrian internally displaced people in the region. Cash assistance for winter months has reached 31 per cent of the total Syrian refugees and IDPs of those identified for winter support.
Despite everything, since the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan for the Syria crisis was first launched in
December 2014, the humanitarian and development situation continues to deteriorate or to be under threat both inside Syria and in neighbouring countries.
Useful links http://www.3rpsyriacrisis.org/ http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home http://syrianrefugees.eu/ http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php