The Syrian Refugee Crisis: Policy Brief and Proposed Solutions

This policy brief addresses the Syrian refugee crisis, highlighting the displacement of millions of Syrians and the challenges they face in host countries like Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. It examines the high rates of poverty among refugees and the limitations of current UNHCR strategies. The report proposes the establishment of a Syrian Revolving Fund managed by UNHCR, with contributions from UN member states, to provide financial assistance, education, and resettlement opportunities for refugees. The brief emphasizes the need to integrate existing plans into this fund, leveraging UN resolutions and Millennium Development Goals to combat poverty and improve the lives of Syrian refugees. The report concludes that the Revolving Fund will facilitate fundraising and provide necessary support for addressing the humanitarian needs of the refugees.

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THE SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS
Name of Student
Class Name
Name of Professor
School of Study
City and State
Date of Submission

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Executive Summary
The Syrian refugee crisis is considered as one of the largest humanitarian issues that is facing the
world. This is an aspect that UNHCR recognizes. The refugee crisis in Syria is very serious, and
there are more than 6 million Syrians who are displaced. Countries such as Turkey and Lebanon
are hosting quite a number of refugees, and they are living in very poor conditions, and their
rates of poverty are high. The recommended policy to solve the Syrian refugee crisis is for
UNHCR to come up with a fund that aims at catering for the needs of the Syrian refugees. The
fund under consideration should be used to meet the basic needs of the refugees, relocate some
of the refugees to countries that are safe, and to create an awareness of the problems facing these
refugees.

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Introduction
This is a policy brief under the topic humanitarian responses to forced migration. The policy to
be created is on how to solve the problems that the Syrian refugees are facing. There is a high
rate of poverty amongst the Syrian refugees, and this is against the 1992 UN Resolution, and the
Millennium Development Goals that aim at eradicating poverty in the world (Fargues 2014).
Despite the existence of these resolutions and goals, the Syrian refugees are unable to have an
access to the financial resources and other social resources that can enable them to live a
prosperous life.
In fact, few of them are living in camps supported by the governments of Turkey and Jordan.
However, those in Lebanon are unable to have an access to refugee camps; thus, their lives
becoming harder than the refugees living in Turkey and Jordan (Berti 2015). It is based on this
fact that I propose the development of the Syrian Revolving Fund, to be managed by the
UNHCR. All member states of UN should contribute to this fund, and the money should be used
to educate the Syrian refugees, resettle them, and provide for their basic needs.
Background
The Syrian civil war began on 15th of March 2011 and it has millions of the Syrian, forcing them
to cross borders. Turkey is hosting about 2.9 million Syrian refugees. Most of these refugees are
living in urban centers, and their lives are a daily struggle (Hoffman and Samuk, 2016). This is
basically because they do not have the financial resources that can enable them live a decent life
that is full of prosperity. Moreover, the Syrian refugees have an option in staying at the refugee
camps that are managed by the government. In fact, there are about 21 refugee camps in Turkey,
and they host approximately 260,000 people.
In Lebanon, life is not better. Approximately 70% of the Syrian refugees living in Lebanon are
living below the poverty line. Life is made more difficult because Lebanon does not have a
formal refugee camp, and this forces the immigrants to live in about 2,100 rural communities and
urban centers that exist in Lebanon (Murphy, 2016). Because of their higher rates of poverty, the
Syrian refugees are forced to live in poor housing conditions, and they are unable to have an
access to some basic amenities and resources such as quality education and healthcare services.

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Jordan has about 660,000 Syrian refugees. About 80% of these refugees are living outside
refugee camps that are set up by the government (Aras and Mencutek 2015). Moreover, there are
about 140,000 refugees who are living in sanctuary camps of Azraq and Za’atari. Approximately
93% of the Syrian refugees in Jordan are living below the poverty line, and most of them are
unable to afford some basic needs; thus, they are in need of help (Akgündüz, Van Den Berg and
Hassink 2015).
This level of poverty amongst the Syrian refugees is alarming. The United Nations is concerned
about the need of reducing poverty in the world. In fact, the 1992 United Nations resolution was
passed, and it identified the need of eradicating poverty and destitution in the world (Balsari et
al., 2015). Moreover, the Millennium Development Goals, that were passed by the United
Nations also focused on the eradication of extreme poverty, hunger, illiteracy and diseases.
These are the problems that the Syrian refugees are facing in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt,
Iraq, and other MENA countries they are seeking refuge.
The Deficiency of the Current Strategies
The UNHCR has come up with various policies aimed at providing humanitarian aid to the
Syrian refugees. This includes giving them money to buy basic foodstuffs such as food,
medicine, clothes, and fuel. In 2017, UNHCR partnered with other development and
humanitarian agencies of the UN to appeal for about $ 8 billion (Vaz et al., 2017). The aim of
seeking this money was to help Syrian refugees all over the world.
While seeking these funds, the UNHCR came up with the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan
that aimed at raising $ 4.63 billion, for purposes of supporting Syrian refugees in neighboring
countries. The second approach involved the creation of the Syrian Humanitarian Response Plan,
whose aim was to raise $3.2 billion, to support the Syrian refugees who are internally displaced.
Nonetheless, there are a number of weaknesses for these policy initiatives. One weakness is that
UNHCR aims at appealing for funds, this is as opposed to making states as stakeholders and
partners, who should play a role in the eradication of poverty amongst the Syrian refugees.

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The Proposed Reform
I would propose integrating these plans, into the Syrian Revolving Fund. This should be a body
within UNHCR, tasked with raising money that can be used for purposes of resettling the Syrian
refugees, and fighting poverty amongst them. However, while coming up with the Revolving
Fund, the UNHCR should lobby the UN GENERAL Assembly for all member states to be a
partner in the fund, and contribute money towards it. The UNHCR should invoke the Millennium
Development Goals and the 1992 UN Resolutions, while lobbying members’ states to be partners
to this fund. This will easily help to raise the much needed money, for fighting poverty amongst
the Syrian refugees.
Conclusion
Finally, the development of the Revolving Fund will help in reducing the rates of poverty
amongst the Syrian refugees. It will be easier for UNHCR to raise money, because it has
partnered with member states of the UN, and the organization can get the necessary support
needed to achieve its mandate of taking care of the needs of the refugees.

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Reference List
Akgündüz, Y., Van Den Berg, M. and Hassink, W.H., 2015. The impact of refugee crises on host
labor markets: the case of the Syrian refugee crisis in Turkey.
Aras, N.E.G. and Mencutek, Z.S., 2015. The international migration and foreign policy nexus:
the case of Syrian refugee crisis and Turkey. Migration Letters, 12(3), p.193.
Balsari, S., Abisaab, J., Hamill, K. and Leaning, J., 2015. Syrian refugee crisis: when aid is not
enough. Lancet (London, England), 385(9972), p.942.
Berti, B., 2015. The Syrian refugee crisis: Regional and human security implications. Strategic
Assessment, 17(4), pp.41-53.
Fargues, P., 2014. Europe must take on its share of the Syrian refugee burden, but how?.
Hoffman, S. and Samuk, S., 2016. Turkish Immigration Politics and the Syrian Refugee
Crisis (No. 01). SWP Working Paper, German Institute for International and Security
Affairs.
Vaz, E., Lee, K., Moonilal, V. and Pereira, K., 2017. Potential of Geographic Information
Systems for Refugee Crisis: Syrian Refugee Relocation in Urban Habitats. Habitat
International.
Murphy, A., Woodman, M., Roberts, B. and McKee, M., 2016. The neglected refugee
crisis. BMJ (Clinical research ed), 352, p.i484.