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Problem MemorandumTo: United Nations Security CouncilFrom: Nikolina Cubric KajicDate: February 17th, 2015Subject: Resettlement of Syrian Refugees_______________________________________________________________________EXECUTIVE SUMMARYClose to 10 million Syrian Refugees as a result of the Syrian civil war crisis in March 2011 is the biggest humanitarian crisis since World War II. There are 4 million internationally displaced refugees and close to 7 million refugees displaced internally. Neighboring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq have carried the biggest burden of absorbing refugees inside its borders. It has been financially draining for all parties involved and there is a need for a multilayered approach to solving the crisis. There are 4 steps to be immediately taken in order to address the burning issues of the Syrian Crisis: 1.There needs to be an immediate call for a cease-fire and diplomatic effort to political end of the conflict. 2. In the interim period the United Nation Peacekeeping Mission for the Middle East should re-establish a peacekeeping mission with the goal for establishing safe zones inside Syria’s borders. 3. UNHCR’s 3Rp Regional Refugee & Resilience plan should be a platform of securing funds to assist host countries in providing refugees with basic human needs. 4. The existing refugee Resettlement program should be expanded through the United Nations. Developing countries should expand the number of refugees based on their economic abilities. INTRODUCTION March of 2011 marked the beginning of the civil conflict in Syria. The conflict began with anti-government demonstrations that began as part of the Arab spring. Peaceful protests quickly escalated due to the violent government crackdown when rebels started fighting back Assad’s regime. The fighting led to the formation of a loosely organized Free Syrian Army. In the recent years there has been an introduction of Islamist fighters fighting under the flag of ISIL (Islamic state of Iraq and Levant) intended on forming a caliphate in the Middle East. Since 2011 the civil war has produced the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. The number of dead as a direct result of conflict is estimated close to 220,000 people, at least half of who are assumed to be civilians. Bombings of Syrian cities from various sides have resulted in complete destruction of parts of urban areas. More than half of Syrian population is in need of humanitarian assistance. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN’s refugee agency, is currently placing the number of internationally displaced refugees at 3.819.983 people of concern, with another 80,000 awaiting registration. The numbers are much higher when we take into consideration locally displaced Syrians. According to the European University Institute, since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria nearly 10 million Syrians have left their homes, and have, either fled across the border into neighboring countries, or refugee camps in other parts of the country. Close to 4 million people were absorbed by countries sharing Syria’s borders (Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq), and remaining 7.6 million are internally displaced inside Syria’s borders. In Lebanon 1 in every 5 people is a Syrian refugee, while 1 in every 13 people in Jordan is a Syrian refugee. This means that Lebanon and Jordan have the highest per capita ration of refugees worldwide. Turkey with 1.6 million refugees has become the country with highest number of internationally displaced refugees in the world. In Jordan, Zaatari refugee camps, with its 250 000 inhabitants, has grown into the 5th largest city in Jordan following Amman, Zarqua, Irbid and Russeifa. Although the refugees displaced to their countries fled from immediate warfare, the ones who are locally displaced still face an eminent threat by the spread of ISIS. In the September of 2014, numbers of refugees reached new records. In less then 4 days, over 130,000 people crossed the border into Turkey. Humanitarian workers are trying to keep up registering and documenting increasing numbers of refugees leading to believe that the numbers on the ground may be much higher. Out of 10 million internationally displaced refugees worldwide, merely 1 percent is eligible for the resettlement program with UNHCR. The United States is a leader in the resettlement program, followed by Australia, Canada and the Scandinavian countries. According to Anne Richard, Assistant Secretary at the US Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, the United States will once again lead the resettlement efforts in the Syrian crisis. However, the numbers are much more grim when viewed in the context of the overall crisis. United States, last year, resettled 70,000 refugees from 70 countries. That is less than the number of Syrian refugees that crossed into Turkey in 4 days, mid September last year. The staggering numbers, and the fact that no end of conflict is in site, calls for a larger scale strategy for absorbing the refugees. According to a report released by the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the International Rescue Committee in November 2014, due to financial strains, and the lack of resources, Syria’s neighboring countries have either lowered the number of refugees allowed in, or have closed off border crossings entirely. With no end of conflict in sights, host countries are spending large amounts of their own money to prevent a humanitarian disaster and help the refugees. With, nowhere to go, and the ISIS controlled territory quickly expanding, we could be seeing a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented size. Even more worrisome are the living conditions of refugees. UNHCR study “living in the Shadows” looked into Syrian refugee population in Jordan where two thirds of Syrians live below poverty level. Report states that: “half of the households researchers visited had no heating, a quarter had unreliable electricity, and 20 per cent had no functioning toilet”. Any decrease in funding would quickly deteriorate living situation, force children out of school, and push women into prostitution.Similar reports are coming from camps inside Syria where journalists are reporting that “Green water runs through ditches, a combination of detergent, urine, and who knows what else. Children play with diapers on the ground, dirt covering their faces like makeup.” This particular report comes from refugee camp Bab al-Salameh where international organizations are struggling with Assad attacks, ISIS attacks, sandstorms, lack of funding and car explosions. REGIONAL IMPACTThe Syrian refugee crisis is having major impact on the region. As mentioned before, 1 in ever 5 people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. Not only has this significantly changes the demographic map of Lebanon, but also it has created a major burden on an already weak job market. This has resulted in loss of foreign investments due to market instability. We are also beginning to see intensifying of conflict in southern Lebanon as Hezbollah is beginning to fight back Syrian rebels. Jordan has managed to keep an open border policy, but hosting all the refugees has put an enormous burden on the job market, that pre crisis was facing a 30 percent unemployment rate. Jordan is facing a challenging health crisis as hospitals are quickly running out of resources to assist refugees and Jordanian citizens. Iraq, although continuously receiving refugees, is facing its own civil war crisis fighting ISIL within their own borders. A country financially drained and unstable from its own war of 2003 is in no position to accept a further influx of refugees. Turkey has so far received the highest number of refugees. At 1.6 million, Turkey is baring the highest cost of refugee crisis. 4.5 billion dollar came out of Turkey’ s budget so far and the numbers continue to rise. POLICY OPTIONS:1. REFUGEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS The UNHCR devised the most comprehensible plan to immediately assist Syrian Refugees: 3RP Regional Refugee & Resilience plan. UNHCR estimates that to address the basic needs of Syrian refugee they require close to 4.5 billion dollars in funding. The following is a list of programs ensuring that Syrian refugees are provided with basic human rights:Protection: there are 4.2 million registered Syrian refugees. 895,000 girls and boys participate in a structured, sustained child protection or psychosocial support programs.Food: 2,337,000 individuals receiving food assistance (cash, voucher or in-kind).Education: 830,000 targeted boys and girls ages 5-7, enrolled in formal education. 423,000 targeted boys and girls ages 5-7, enrolled in a non-formal or informal education. There are 41,000 educational personnel trained and 482 educational facilities constructed, renovated or rehabilitated.Health: 439 health facilities supported, with 13,000 health care staff trained. Basic Needs: 252,000 households receiving core relief items and 284,000 households receiving unconditional, sector-specific or emergency cash assistance.Shelter: 106,000 households in camps receiving assistance for shelter and shelter upgrades, 175,000 households outside camps receiving assistance for shelter and shelter upgrades.Wash: 1,800 000 target beneficiaries with access to an adequate quantity of safe water, 3,000 000 beneficiaries who have experiences a hygiene promotion session.Livelihoods & Social Cohesion: 272,000 individuals accessing wage employment opportunities with 1,100 community support projects implemented. 3RP is a nationally led, regionally coherent strategy, which is built on the national response plan of the countries in the region. It brings together almost 200 humanitarian and development partners, including governments, United Nations agencies and national and international NGO’s. It is a unique and coordinated initiative aimed at bringing about a scaling-up of resilience and stabilization-based development and humanitarian assistance delivery. At the moment there are only 800 million dollars secured in funds. There has to be a major fundraising effort on behalf of UN member states to prevent worsening of the crisis. 2. RESETTLEMENT PROGRAMThere is an existing resettlement program that should bee drastically expanded to address the raising needs of refugees worldwide. Resettlement program is aimed at decreasing pressure on neighboring countries that absorb the highest number of refugees. The most important is involving other, wealthy gulf nations to get more involved. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other oil rich states are yet to take a dominant role in solving the refugee crisis. Resettling within Arab countries would significantly decrease the difficulty of adapting to a new environment. Remaining within Arabic, Muslim culture would help refugees faster adept, become independent and stop relying on foreign assistance. Only 1.4% of Syrian refugees are currently eligible for the resettlement program. By 2016 an achievable objective is resettling 10 percent of refugees. 3. REASTABLISHING UNITED NATIONS SUPERVISION MISSION IN SYRIAUnited Nations established a Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMS), established by resolution 2043. The mission ended operations due to continued use of heavy military that disabled the work. Role of the mission was a six-point plan to end armed conflict in Syria. Mission should be extended a mandate as a response to the growing humanitarian crisis in Syria. It should establish safe zones around all existing refugee camps in Syria. Protecting the safe areas would be entrusted to Western nations stationed in neighboring Turkey. Western allies in coordination with UNSMS would protect camps from airstrikes by Assad regime.Once the safe zones are established and under UNSMS control, the primary goal of the mission should be to demilitarize refugee camps from insurgency groups forming. Many campsites have become recruiting sites for militants and paramilitary groups. Removing weapons from campsites would create a safer environment for refugees. And prevent Assad regime from using rebels as a smoking mirror for air strikes around refugee sites. Any further attacks by Assad, or ISIS, should be further regarded as violations of humanitarian law. Securing refugee locations and maintaining clear access of humanitarian aid to sites is a precondition to all other means of resolving the crisis.Similar peace keeping missions already exist in the Middle East. United Nations Truce Supervision Organization with 142 military observers and 225 staff members on a budget of 74 million monitors peace in Israel. United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon with 15 000 troops supported by international and local staff, on a budget of 500 million dollars serves the mission of restoring peace. United Nations Disengagement Observer Force with 785 troops and 156 staff members monitors disengagement of Syrian and Israeli troops in Golan Heights on a budget of 64 million Dollars. Although a direct involvement in the Syrian Conflict would require a much bigger mission with more peacekeepers, it would be possible to create a mission with existing members and funding. 4.POLITICAL PEACE PROCESSThe United Nations, European Union, the Arab League understand that the only way to solve the refugee crisis is through a political peace solution. Primary goal in ensuring a political solution is a unified response to the threat of ISIL in the region. Preventing the advancement of ISIL should be a political agenda to anyone in the world who is interested in stabilizing the Middle East and preventing the further escalation of violence. It is essential that more effort be made through the Arab League to find a permanent solution to the Syrian civil war crisis. Only a rebuilt Syria will be able to absorb all its refugees back into its borders. ................
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