The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Sociological Analysis and Discussion

This sociology essay examines the Syrian refugee crisis, which began in 2011 with the Syrian civil war. It explores the crisis's causes, including religious and political conflicts, and the role of groups like ISIS. The essay details the devastating impacts, such as infrastructure destruction, economic disruption, and the displacement of millions, highlighting the humanitarian crisis and the involvement of international powers like the United Nations, Russia, and the United States. It discusses the responses from various countries and organizations, the refugee camps, and the financial aid provided. The essay concludes by emphasizing the global implications and the need for solutions to address the crisis, referencing the loss of life and resources, and the role of extremist terrorism. The essay utilizes academic references to support its arguments.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIOLOGY
The refugee crisis in Syria has been largely increasing in the recent times and it has been
very problematic for some European nations to accommodate the civilians who had to leave their
country for reasons. This essay will explore the important issues, reasons and possible way outs
to deal with this problem in the next few years. This has become a global political crisis and first
world countries are trying their best to cope up with this situation.
The beginning of the civil war in Syria began in the year 2011 on 15th March. This
marked the Dark Age in the history of the Middle East (Ostrand, 2015). The footsteps of the
largest terrorist group in the world Islamic State was heard through the mass destruction they had
caused in the surrounding regions. The militant groups and Syrian Army began to engage in the
wars in order to capture the northeast and northwest regions of the country.
The contrasts had been seen in religious groups. These religious conflicts were the main
reasons for the utter destruction that was done (Coen, 2015). Though many international powers
had intervened in this conflict including United States and Russia, no proper solution has been
found as of now. More than 6 million people in Syria were termed as refugees. They lost their
shelters, sources of income, food and family members (Ostrand, 2015). The dead body of a little
Kurdish child in sea shore was a heart rending picture that startled the world.
The supreme reign of the Ba’ath Party in Syria had affected the human rights conditions
very badly. Many critics of international relations had warned the developed nations that this
kind of challenge was imminent and civil war was unavoidable. More than thousand refugees
went on to cross the borders to save their lives desperately. The intervention of United States and
Russia came in to provide the poor people with aid (Berti, 2015). Many national agencies and
NGOs came forward to help these people. Russia even ran military operations through air strikes

2SOCIOLOGY
to clear the buildings occupied by the militant groups. No family in the country of Syria was left
unharmed. These conflicts were caused because of political reasons mainly though religious
came to the forefront (Rettberg & Gajjala, 2016). Various militant groups in the name of Islamic
State imposed jihadist tortures on the common people in the name of Islam.
The impacts of this civil war were dangerous. The entire infrastructure of the country was
completely destroyed. Almost all the healthcare organizations, hospitals, schools, water and
sanitation facilities had been completely damaged during this time (Berti, 2015). Due to the war
conditions in the country, all the business ties of Syria with other countries of the Middle East
and Europe was cut off. Extreme poverty reigned supreme in these regions. More than 12 million
civilians of Syria were in desperate need of assistance from the humanitarian organizations. It is
regarded as the largest refugee crisis with displacements in the 21st century (Yazgan, Utku &
Sirkeci, 2015). A huge section of the affected people is children and they had been killed in the
most brutal manner.
United Nations had identified that around 13.5 million persons in the country were
largely affected. In order to cope up with this scenario, the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan
(3RP) had come to existence in the year 2015 (Heisbourg, 2015). European countries like Russia,
Germany, France, Belgium and others wanted to find out a remedy for this scenario. It was not at
all justified to let 12 million people die without food and shelter in the unknown countries.
United Nations was very serious to send aid to the affected people (Berti, 2015).
Almost $30 billion has been spent to provide food, shelter and medical facilities to all
these affected people. Many refugee camps had been set up in the countries like Lebanon,
Jordan, Turkey and Egypt. United Nations ordered other countries to coordinate with them so the

3SOCIOLOGY
situation could be brought under control (Heisbourg, 2015). At the same time, it also became
important for military aid from United States and Russia to displace the militants from the land
and assist the Syrian Army with ammunitions and other necessary resources.
In the concluding section, it should be stated that Syrian civil war is one of the despised
events in the world in 21st century. The amount of deaths and loss of resources was something to
be afraid of. The real face of extremist terrorism was seen by the activities of Islamic State.
Global organizations and several NGOs have been trying to sort out this situation properly for
the sake of humanity.

4SOCIOLOGY
References
Berti, B. (2015). The Syrian refugee crisis: Regional and human security implications. Strategic
Assessment, 17(4), 41-53.
Coen, A. (2015). R2P, global governance, and the Syrian refugee crisis. The International
Journal of Human Rights, 19(8), 1044-1058.
Heisbourg, F. (2015). The strategic implications of the Syrian refugee crisis. Survival, 57(6), 7-
20.
Ostrand, N. (2015). The Syrian refugee crisis: A comparison of responses by Germany, Sweden,
the United Kingdom, and the United States. Journal on Migration and Human
Security, 3(3), 255-279.
Rettberg, J. W., & Gajjala, R. (2016). Terrorists or cowards: negative portrayals of male Syrian
refugees in social media. Feminist Media Studies, 16(1), 178-181.
Yazgan, P., Utku, D. E., & Sirkeci, I. (2015). Syrian crisis and migration. Migration
Letters, 12(3), 181-192.