Essay on Syrian Refugee Crisis: Conditions, Risks, and Human Rights

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the Syrian refugee crisis, beginning with the historical context of the conflict and the resulting displacement of millions of Syrians. It delves into the current circumstances faced by refugees, highlighting the range of protection risks and human rights violations they endure, including limitations on movement, socio-economic challenges, and violence. The essay examines the impacts of the war and displacement on refugees' basic rights, access to healthcare, and social and economic conditions, as well as the strain on host countries. It explores the legal and policy frameworks designed to protect refugees, including the 1951 Refugee Convention, while also acknowledging the limitations in practice. The essay concludes with recommendations for addressing the crisis, emphasizing the need for a political settlement, safe repatriation, and the protection of refugees' rights. It also highlights the role of the international community in ensuring the safety and security of displaced Syrians.

Running Head: Education
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Author Note

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Introduction
A violent regime attack on public demonstrations in March 2011 in support of a group of
young people who were detained in southern town of Daraa for their anti-government graffiti is
the result of the Syria's refugee crisis. Households started to leave as violence expanded. Within
two months, Turkey opened its first refugee camps, with over 1 million refugees fleeing from
Syria in March 2013. Currently, twelve million Syrians have been displaced and more than one
million Syrians have already been born into exile (Human Rights Watch. 2020). Since 2011,
more than 6,7 million Syrians have compelled been to leave their country and 6,1 million more
have been pushed away but remain stuck inside their country. In neighbouring countries such as
Turkey, Jordan or Lebanon, the vast majority of Syrian refugees have sought protection.
However, are they really safe, are the Syrian refugees getting their required protection and
safety, these questions are still in debate.
The thesis statement of this essay aims to describe the current conditions of Syrian refugees
followed by a critical analysis of the conditions of the Syrian refugees to the current time. The
essay also targets to discuss the current circumstances as well as the range of the protection risks
together with the human rights of the Syrian refugees.
Current circumstances and range of protection risks and human rights violations
The greatest need of Syrians today is security, considering the two major outbreaks of
violence that have erupted in Syria in the last six months; a renewed war in north-western Syria
in October 2019, driving hundreds of thousands into Iraq, and the existing human crisis in Idlib,
in north-western Syria. Syrians need to take shelter in a safe spot (Ohchr.org. 2020). After this

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essential need is addressed can the world deal with Syria's children and families ' other urgent
needs, such as sanitation, food, health care, and psychosocial help, to resolve the horrors which
everyone has experienced (O'Rourke, J., 2014). Income-generating activities for refugee houses
are limited, with a large and growing income-expenditure gap for most of them. Sustainability of
livelihoods, cost of living including rent, along with food insecurity and growing debt, are
essential issues for both the refugees and their families.
Syrian refugees are seeking intermittent, irregular and, wherever they are capable, mostly
unskilled employment. Around 30 per cent of the working-age refugees are in some pay and
sporadic jobs in Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, however the wage level are lowering with high labor
competition. Most Syrian refugees may not recognise their legal rights and responsibilities. Such
irregular refugees become more and more oppressed and vulnerable. The most important security
of refugees is access to cross-border travel (Ohchr.org. 2020). New limits on the entry of
refugees on Lebanon's routine border closures in response to cross-border violence and attacks
has enabled in critical protection risks of the Syrian refugees.
Socio-economic conditions and the lack of legal recognition exacerbate the vulnerability
of refugees in camp and urban areas to a number of human rights abusses and disadvantages.
Domestic abuse, sexual and gender-based violence and violence against children have
significantly risen in comparison with the pre crisis era (Yigit and Tatch 2017). In urban
environments the potential for eviction carries significant threats of protection, especially as
local authorities have begun to battle refugees who work informally in some areas. The
persistence of the crisis also has increased host communities ' vulnerability and conflicts between
refugees and host communities are aggravating protective threats.
Historical and political roots

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Following a powerful assault of peaceful student demonstrations against the government
of Bashar al-Assad the Syria Civil War began when major conflicts broke out on 15 March 2011.
The fighting escalated and speeded up as government troops, armed insurgents and foreign
powers fought each other, seized land and raced to keep it up. For civilians , the effects are
tragic. Vast numbers of Syrians have been displaced from their homes and neighbourhoods by
the Syrian civil war (Tumen 2016). It was projected that about 6.45 million has moved to Syria
by August 2014, and the vast majority of exiles to the neighbouring countries were more than 2,9
million outside of Syria's borders. In addition, half the population of Syria is uprooted, poor and
stuck in' hard reach' areas.
A nonviolent uprising started during the Syrian civil war. Young people were in search of
policy changes in the southern city of Syria, Daraa, in March 2011 (Human Rights Watch. 2020).
The campaign was part of the Arab Spring packed with social media that passed through the
North and Middle East. When revolutions spread across Syria, heavy government repression and
escalated brutality by both government and protestors were counterbalanced. By the following
year, Syria became embroiled in a civil war with an increasing number of militant groups being
opposed by the Syrian military (Kirişci, K., 2014). The lives of hundreds of thousands of Syrian
families and children were torn up by violence as government forces and armed groups fights to
control and rule land, leading to the Syrian refugee crisis.
Impacts of the fight and displacement
Syria's civil war poses a health and humanitarian crisis that has impacted hundreds of
thousands of people throughout Syria and has contributed to the huge influx of refugees to flee
the prolonged and destructive war. Refugees lack legally guaranteed protection as refugees under
international law as refugees, with access variations according to their circumstances (Madziva

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and Thondhlana 2017). There is a disparity in accessibility to medical care and
services by Syrian refugees. Access to healthcare and insurance for Syrian refugees and
displaced people is deteriorating as conflicts continue. The impact of the displacement and the
fight in Syria are taking a toll over the basic rights of the refugees together with deteriorating
their social and economic conditions.
Across the Arab world, the rapid growth of the refugee population throughout host
countries has fostered latent existential concerns. In Lebanon and Jordan, governments have
already been left struggling with the mass inflow of Syrian refugees in these two front-line
countries, while the infrastructure and capacities have been depleted (Berti 2015). Considering
the lack of regional mechanisms for coping with this crisis and the fear of prolonged migration,
most of the countries in the region have reacted with a policy of non-integration that seeks to
push refugees back to their home country. This has contributed to policies limiting access to
services for refugees and weakening their international rights.
Current legal and policy protection
The Convention relating to refugee status, as adopted in 1951, is based on the basis of
Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Refugees of 1948, which is today the
centre of international protection of refugees (Human Rights Watch. 2020). The Convention
entered into force on 22 April 1954. It was replaced by the 1967 Protocol, which provided
universal coverage of the Convention. The international legislation on refugees confirms the
right to return as the preferred lasting solution for refugee situations through the emphasis placed
on voluntary repatriation (Dionigi 2016). The current legal and the policy for the protection of
the Syrian refugees thus revolves around the fundamental rights of these refugees. The current
policy protection for the Syrian refugees furthermore includes their right to freedom of

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movement. However, irrespective of the documentation of the legislative measures and the
covenant by the United Nations, the current scenario of Syrian refugees are devastating. Among
the vast population that has migrated, only 8 percent got accommodated in the refugee camps.
The Syrian refugees are majorly deprived of their basic rights to their fair hearing and their
claims of refugees (O'Rourke, J., 2014). Their freedom are threatened and according to the
reports data collected from the refugees, the majority of the migrants refugees of Syria do not
receive dignity and access towards their fundamental and basic human rights.
Recommendation and conclusion
To ensure a better future, efforts must focus on the origin of the conflict and its effects on
host-countries refugees in order to achieve a permanent political settlement. Most importantly,
efforts should allow refugees to come back safely and safely. The legal rights of the refugees
under the Syria framework should be advised, particularly with regard to the broad range of legal
disputes, including over accommodation, services, land, and property rights; a ceasefire is likely
to occur (Aras and Mencütek 2015). The international community should aim to safeguard the
right of refugees including displaced people to return home in Syria. The proliferation of
weapons by means of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes, and
restructuring of the national security agencies, including the army, would call for concerted
measures to demilitarize Syrian society, guarantee the security of all Syrians, including refugees.

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References
Aras, N.E.G. and Mencütek, Z.Ş., 2015. The international migration and foreign policy nexus:
the case of Syrian refugee crisis and Turkey. Migration letters, 12(3), pp.193-208.
Berti, B., 2015. The Syrian refugee crisis: Regional and human security implications. Strategic
Assessment, 17(4), pp.41-53.
Dionigi, F., 2016. The Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon: State fragility and social resilience.
Human Rights Watch. 2020. World Report 2019: Rights Trends In Syria. [online] Available at:
<https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/syria> [Accessed 28 March 2020].
Kirişci, K., 2014. Syrian refugees and Turkey's challenges: Going beyond hospitality (pp. 1-46).
Washington, DC: Brookings.
Madziva, R. and Thondhlana, J., 2017. Provision of quality education in the context of Syrian
refugee children in the UK: opportunities and challenges. Compare: A Journal of Comparative
and International Education, 47(6), pp.942-961.
Ohchr.org. 2020. OHCHR | Human Rights Council Discusses The Situation Of Human Rights In
Syria. [online] Available at:
<https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?
NewsID=24315&LangID=E> [Accessed 28 March 2020].
O'Rourke, J., 2014. Education for Syrian refugees: The failure of second-generation human
rights during extraordinary crisis. Alb. L. Rev., 78, p.711.
Tumen, S., 2016. The economic impact of Syrian refugees on host countries: Quasi-experimental
evidence from Turkey. American Economic Review, 106(5), pp.456-60.

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Yigit, I.H. and Tatch, A., 2017. Syrian refugees and Americans: Perceptions, attitudes and
insights. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 1(1), pp.13-31.