European Response to Refugee Crisis

This assignment delves into Europe's multifaceted response to the ongoing refugee crisis. It examines the complexities of migrant distribution across EU member states, particularly highlighting the burdens faced by Greece, Italy, and Hungary. The analysis also explores the varying stances of European nations on accepting refugees, exemplified by Britain's commitment to resettling Syrian refugees. Furthermore, it scrutinizes the asylum application process and its impact on vulnerable migrants, emphasizing the risks of exploitation and trafficking during prolonged transit.

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Research on Syria Refugee Crisis
Name:
Course
Professor’s name
University name
City, State
Date of submission

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Introduction
Syria with the capital city of Damascus is one of the countries located in the Middle East
region, Syria directly adjacent to Turkey, Iraq and Jordan. Syria is one of the countries that
experienced humanitarian disaster due to Civil war that occurred until this moment. The UN says
that Syria has become a terrible battleground. The Syrian war continues and heats up.
As reported by the CNN website, at least more than 20,000 Syrian refugees have crossed and
fled from Syria to Turkey via the Tal Abyad border in hopes of protecting security from the
endless Civil War between Kurdish fighters and the ISIS extremist militant group. The refugees
are leaving their war-torn country through the Turkish border post, Akcakale, overlooking Tal
Talat City in Syria now controlled by YPG(Gibney and Loescher, 2010).
The Syrians decided to get out of the Syrian country and flee to neighboring countries and even
Europe because the Syrian state where they live has become a terrible war arena, they see family
members killed by sadistic weapons fired or their homes that have been flattened to the ground
by the bomb.
The onset of this humanitarian crisis in Syria was an anti-government rally in March 2011. The
peaceful protests that took place were part of the Arab Spring wave that grew bigger and broke
out after the government troops responded to the violent protests. The rebels were consumed
emotionally and rose up against the regime. A number of soldiers defected and civilians took up
arms. Until now it has taken many victims due to the civil war of the conflict The split between

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secular and Islamist fighters, and between ethnic groups.It has been four years since the conflict
in Syria, but now it is estimated that more than 220,000 people were killed and most of those
killed were civilians. This increasingly heated war caused much of the infrastructure of cities in
Syria to be destroyed and many human rights violations to the point of horror. Ironically, basic
needs such as food and medical care for victims of the conflict are far from
adequate(International refugee crisis, 2014).
Literature Review
Since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, in 2011, Europe has witnessed a large increase in the
number of refugees, which European countries do not manage to control at the moment. Europe
has already exhausted its ability to receive and place forced migrants, but the number of them is
increasing day by day. According to Eurostat, during the period from April to June 2015, 213.2
thousand people expressed asylum, which is 85% more than in the period April-June 2014. In
September 2014, over 173,000 settlers reached Europe via the Mediterranean Sea, and in
October of the same year the number of visitors was more than 218,000, but the exact figures are
unknown, as some may have passed through the border unnoticed (Darke, 2011). 53% of all
refugees are Syrians, the second large group of forced migrants is Afghans, there are about 18%
of them, followed by refugees from countries such as Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, and others .
Thus, the situation in some countries of the Near and Middle East forces citizens of these
countries to leave their homeland in search of security for themselves and their families,
especially against the background of the unprecedentedly intimidating activities of the terrorist
group Islamic State.According to (Atlani-Duault, 2008) a significant problem is that many of
these refugees are not forced migrants but are economic migrants seeking stability in Europe.

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The Dublin agreements, according to which asylum-seekers, must remain in the territory of the
EU country where they were located first, are not being observed in the current migration crisis,
and it is this country that is fully responsible for granting asylum. If a migrant has left the EU
country to which he originally entered, another country has the full right to deport him. Due to
the fact that the flow of refugees was too great, the Dublin agreements were suspended, as
migrants needed to be distributed somehow (European solidarity with the victims of
humanitarian crises, 2002).
In September 2015, the EU countries established a special quota program for the distribution of
120,000 refugees to facilitate the reception of refugees in countries such as Italy, Hungary and
Greece. The issue of the distribution of refugees was complicated by a number of contradictions
between the European countries themselves, which were divided into two camps: those who are
ready to receive refugees and those who opposed the deployment of migrants in their territory.
Methodology
This research seeks to use a questionnaire to collect information on the humanitarian crisis facing
Syria and the problems facing Syrian refugees from a refugee’s perspective. The questionnaire
will be of use in collecting qualitative data for this research. Secondary data from newspaper and
other major news network that have extensively reported on the Syrian refugee situation shall be
used in this research.

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The conflict in Syria created one of the worst humanitarian calamities of the century. Even the
humanitarian agency Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam called the Syrian
crisis the greatest humanitarian crisis of human age on earth. More than 11 million innocent
civilians who are victims of this conflict are suffering greatly. They were forced to flee away
from the territory of conflict to save their lives.
Quoted from ACTNewsThe number of Syrians displaced in Jordan (629,245 inhabitants),
Lebanon (1,172,753 inhabitants), Egypt (132,375 inhabitants), Iraq (249,726 inhabitants), and
Turkey (1,938,999). Syrian refugees fleeing to northern Iraq have more than a million refugees
and sadly they are stuck with the conflict in Iraq.
Thousands of Syrian refugees only hope to find peace in other countries even as Europeans try to
make dangerous journeys, they travel for miles at night to avoid snipers or get caught by war
soldiers who force civilian youth to go to war. they crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Turkey
to Greece, hoping to find a better future in Europe.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the refugee status of 100,000 Syrians in
the first four months of the war took place. Then 800,000 Syrian civilians were registered as
refugees in April of 2013. Then less than four months, that number continues to grow to 1.6
million people(McHugo, 2015). There are now 4 million Syrians scattered across the region,
making them the largest refugees in the world under the UN mandate. The UN predicts there

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may be 4.27 million Syrian refugees by the end of 2015. A worst exodus since the Rwandan
genocide 20 years ago.
The official camp for the refugees they occupy is Jordan Za'atari, built in 2012. At that time
Jordan Za'atari became the main destination of about 81,500 Syrians living there. The barren
desert was packed with white tents, an emergency shop lined up on the main road and sports
facilities in the field and schools available for children(Phillips, n.d.).. A number of camps for
refugees were built by the United Nations joint government, such as in Turkey and Jordan. But
many refugees leave the camp or they build their own emergency camps that feel more
comfortable. But the facts mentioned because the camp facilities are far from adequate and also
already crowded by refugees the majority of refugees live outside the camp(Suffering and
despair, 2001). This is because the camp facilities, in addition to full of human, also camp
facilities are far from adequate, to be a torture itself if trying to survive.
According to our interviewee he personally witnessed the magnitude of this crisis and the many
challenges it brings to Europe. More than half of the refugees from Syria are children, most of
them younger than 12 years old. Several thousand of these children are not accompanied or
separated from their relatives, many of whom are not registered and are at risk of being stateless.
It is estimated that at least half of the more than 1 million refugee school children in neighboring
countries in Syria do not currently have the opportunity to exercise their right to education. And

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although many of them are eager for study, they do not have enough money to start school or
continue their schooling.
For refugees who do not get refugee tents, they have to find money to rent their residence
regardless of whether the leased buildings are nearly collapsed, the most important they can use
as a place to live. They work, albeit illegally, in Jordan and Lebanon, receiving inferior wages
that are often insufficient to buy their basic necessities of eating and drinking. Meanwhile, Syrian
refugees in northern Iraq are slightly better, where Kurdish residents may work, although it is
still limited due to the conflict that is also occurring there. Refugees in refugee camps are still
troubled by the lack of clean water and inadequate sanitation at emergency camps, this has led to
cholera and polio diseases lurking at any time(NAPIER, 2016).. Especially medical services are
also far from expectations. In some areas with the largest refugee population of the refugees only
get 30 liters per day, the water shortage has reached the level of emergency. As a result of this
Syrian conflict many children and adolescents who should be able to denounce education for
their better future even be destroyed, and the period an uncertain front, those who live in camps
who cannot attend school and have no money to transport to their schools. In the refugee camp
there has been an emergency school because so many of the IDPs learned some emergency
schemes to divide the learning activities into 2 shifts. According to the UN, more than half of the
Syrian refugees are under the age of 18. Most have been out of school for months, even years.
Children are undoubtedly in confusion, lack of security, even fear with the life they have to face.
In this age children are forced to find work, some even found in begging circumstances in
Turkish cities and take care of their families in a state of suffering(Suffering and despair, 2001).

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The number of unidentified deceased grows, either because they disappear, because their bodies
are in an advanced state of decomposition or because they did not carry identity documents. This
means that tens of thousands of families of lost immigrants live in limbo, without knowing the
fate of their loved ones the report describes.
A lot of information is missing: It is still difficult to establish figures on migrants who die while
migrating from Syria to the UK. The bodies lost, buried in common graves, abandoned in deserts
or under the waves make the task of counting them discouraging and always incomplete.
The UNICEF Report identified several threats that vulnerable youth face:
The arrivals include both people in need of international protection, as well as victims of
trafficking and immigrants in search of opportunities. Another worrying fact is the increase in
unaccompanied and separated children making this trip: more than 25,000 in 2016, representing
14% of arrivals, more than double the previous year (Heyse, 2016).
The trip to the UK is particularly dangerous, having recorded in 2016 the highest number of
deaths in the journey so far. Of the 5,096 refugees and immigrants who have been reported as
dead or missing at sea, 90% traveled by sea to Italy, which resulted in one death for every 40
people who crossed(Rathmell, 2014).
About 181,436 people arrived in Italy in 2016, of which 90% did so by boat from Libya. The
arrivals include both people in need of international protection, as well as victims of trafficking
and immigrants in search of opportunities. The two main nationalities were Syria (21%) and
Eritrean (11%). Another worrying fact is the increase in unaccompanied and separated children

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making this trip: more than 25,000 in 2016, representing 14% of arrivals, more than double the
previous year.
The results are based on an in-depth analysis of the nearly 9,000 responses of the survey carried
out in the last ten months along the eastern Mediterranean routes, at the arrival points in southern
Italy and Central. Migrants provide strong evidence of the predatory behavior of smugglers and
traffickers as well as environments in which trafficking and related forms of exploitation and
abuse thrive.
The survey includes six questions that are potential indicators of human trafficking or practical
exploitation, such as being forced to carry out work or activities against their will, the
performance of work or activities without obtaining the expected payment and that the migrant is
retained in against their will (by entities other than government authorities). For the central
Mediterranean route, 49% of respondents reported having been held in a place against their will
at some point during the trip in order to request a ransom. Libya, a country that experiences
prolonged instability, is the location in which the vast majority of cases of abuse are reported.
Refugee-related costs have increased since 2015 across Europe, the report reads: in UK in 2016
it was just under 22 billion euros
Responsible for the scientific part of the report is the Walter Eucken Institute, London, UK. "UK
was and is a country of immigration. He adds that to prove it, it is not necessary to go far back in
history, but simply to observe the flows of refugees and immigrants from the At the end of the

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Second World War, he stressed that "experiences show that decisive for people to be able to
successfully enter society is their labor integration (Suffering and despair, 2001).
Also in relation to the issue of "delinquency", which undoubtedly arouses emotions, Feld advises
to see the details, adding that, in general terms, delinquency today is much lower than 20 years
ago, according to official figures, the percentage of foreign suspects of having committed crimes
went from one third in 1993 to 40 percent in 2016. But, he notes, this statistic also includes
violations of the right of asylum and aliens: crimes that UKs cannot commit(Fighting Saddam in
Iraq and Isis in Syria, 2017).
In any case, he adds, it cannot be simply stated "that the influx of refugees has resulted in an
essential increase in the number of crimes in the last two years." However, he emphasizes, it is
possible to observe great differences by analyzing which countries come from The eleven
percent of the non-UK suspects come from the Maghreb countries, "even though they only
represent two percent of immigrants and refugees." Immigrants and refugees from Syria, Iraq
and Afghanistan, on the other hand, commit on average fewer crimes than people from other
countries(Suffering and despair, 2001).
The expert says he does not see the need to set a maximum limit for the reception of refugees.
"It's a fictitious debate." But he recognizes the right to debate politically about the need to set
limits. "How it is implemented is a political decision, not ours." The focus must be placed,
however, on integrating "in a really sensible way" the refugees in UK, emphasizes the

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expert.Most of the refugees came to Europe by sea, but some paved the land route through
Turkey and Albania.
Even the winter did not stop the flow of people. According to the UN refugee agency, since the
beginning of 2016, 82 636 people have arrived in Europe by sea.
Questionnaires on Syrian Migration
1. How dangerous is this trip?
The International Organization for Migration says that there are more than 3 700 dead, or 0.37%,
per million people who crossed the Mediterranean Sea safely and reached the European shores.
Most of them died in the summer months.
The most deadly month for migrants was April, when a boat with 800 migrants on board near the
coast of Libya overturned. One of the reasons for the misfortune was that the boat was crowded
with people.
2. Who takes the most requests for asylum?

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Following Hungary, the border was closed by Sweden, with 1667 petitions for 100 thousand
people.
For comparison: Germany has accepted 587, and Great Britain - 55 applications for every 100
thousand people. The average figure for Europe was 255 people per 100 thousand.
3. How is Europe going to respond?
Tension is also growing within the EU, it is connected with the disproportionate distribution of
migrants that the countries where refugees arrive are Greece, Italy and Hungary.
Britain refused to assume obligations on quotas, but, according to the British Interior Ministry, in
2015 more than 1,000 refugees from Syria were deployed in the country. David Cameron said
that in the next five years Great Britain will receive another 20,000 Syrians.
4. How many applications has been approved?
Despite the fact that a large number of applications were submitted, refugee status was granted to
a much smaller number of people. In 2014, European countries confirmed the status of 184,665
refugees. In the same year, more than 570,000 migrants applied for refugee status. It should be
borne in mind that the procedure can last quite a long time, and those who received the status this
year could apply in the past.
One conclusion is clear from the data: the more time a migrant spends in transit, the more
vulnerable they are to exploitation and / or trafficking. In fact, 79% of the surveyed migrants

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who had spent at least one year in a country other than the country of origin had experienced one
of the exploitation practices in the past.
The UK government has already submitted eleven reports on immigration. The last one was
published under the impression of the high number of refugees. member of the directory of the
Maltese, on the occasion of the presentation of the results of the investigation, why he made his
own report, given that there are already so many officers. "Because it is unique, its conclusions,
set out, are the result of independent scientific analysis on the immigration issue, on the one
hand, and on the other, of the long-standing experiences of the Maltese Aid Service in assisting
refugees.

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References
Atlani-Duault, L. (2008). Humanitarian aid in post-Soviet countries. London: Routledge.
Darke, D. (2011). Syria. Peterborough: Thomas Cook.
European solidarity with the victims of humanitarian crises. (2002). Luxembourg: Office for
Official Publications of the European Communities.
Eliot, G. (2016). The mill on the Floss. New York: Open Road Integrated Media.
Fighting Saddam in Iraq and Isis in Syria. (2017). Iuniverse Inc.
Gibney, M. and Loescher, G. (2010). Global refugee crisis. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.
Heyse, L. (2016). Choosing the lesser evil. London: Routledge.
International refugee crisis. (2014). [Place of publication not identified]: Palgrave Macmillan.
NAPIER, C. (2016). WAR IN SYRIA,. [S.l.]: FORGOTTEN BOOKS.
Rathmell, A. (2014). Secret war in the Middle East. London: I.B. Tauris.