tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/syrian-refugees-12615/articlesSyrian refugees – The Conversation2023-03-08T13:40:07Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2002212023-03-08T13:40:07Z2023-03-08T13:40:07ZSyria’s earthquake survivors struggle in a disaster made far worse by civil war, bombed-out hospitals and currency collapse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513474/original/file-20230304-14-t2k1qb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=917%2C1040%2C4546%2C2596&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Temporary shelters have been set up near neighborhoods in the Idlib province demolished by the Syria-Turkey earthquake.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/magnitude-quake-struck-early-on-february-6-as-people-slept-news-photo/1247017652?phrase=syria%20earthquake%20Idlib%20province&adppopup=true">Omar Haj Kadour/ AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After a pair of devastating earthquakes struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria, the number of confirmed deaths continues to rise, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/earthquake-death-toll-surpasses-50000-turkey-syria-2023-02-24/">surpassing 50,000</a> as of Feb. 24. </p>
<p>The United Nations estimates that millions of people on both sides of the border have been affected, including <a href="https://www.unocha.org/story/nearly-9-million-people-syria-affected-t%C3%BCrkiye-earthquake-un-launches-400-million-funding">9 million</a> in Syria alone. Many across northwest Syria are enduring winter conditions without adequate shelter or access to food, drinking water, electricity or heating fuel. </p>
<p>Indian economist Amartya Sen famously argued that famines must be understood as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/01/arts/does-democracy-avert-famine.html">problems with human origins</a> rather than merely as natural disasters. The consequences of this disaster must likewise be understood in the larger context of the region’s politics. </p>
<p>Just as the scope of the devastation in Turkey can be partly blamed <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/turkey-rages-at-shoddy-construction-after-earthquake-proof-homes-topple-/6968593.html">on shoddy construction</a> and the political apparatus that enabled it, the consequences of the earthquake in Syria can be explained in part by the country’s devastating civil war.</p>
<p>Since it began in 2011, the war there has cost more than <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-58664859">600,000 lives</a> and displaced more than half of Syria’s population. This includes <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/syria-emergency.html">more than 6 million Syrians</a> who fled abroad as refugees and 7 million more who were displaced within Syria. </p>
<p>Among these internally displaced Syrians, 3 million are now living in the last piece of Syria still controlled by opposition forces, the region surrounding the city of Idlib in Syria’s northwest. </p>
<p>This area was both badly affected by the earthquake and arguably the region of Syria least prepared to withstand it.</p>
<h2>Unable to meet basic needs</h2>
<p>Idlib’s buildings, already badly damaged by years of bombardment by regime and allied Russian forces, had little chance of withstanding the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred on Feb. 6, 2023. </p>
<p>In the immediate aftermath, rescue operations were hampered by the lack of access to search and rescue equipment. Members of the Syrian civil defense organization known as <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/white-helmets-group-ordinary-syrians-extraordinary/story?id=96971864">the White Helmets</a> were able to rescue some of those under the rubble, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/11/1156305956/earthquake-survivors-in-northern-syria-already-ravaged-by-war-are-unable-to-rece">but Syrians interviewed</a> in the media have lamented that some of those who died could have been saved <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/13/middleeast/syria-idlib-earthquake-scenes-intl/index.html">with better equipment</a> and a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/world/middleeast/syria-earthquake-aid.html">faster international response</a>. </p>
<p>Worse, for the past several years, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/world/middleeast/russia-bombing-syrian-hospitals.html">Russian</a> and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/21/syria-several-killed-in-govt-attack-on-hospital-in-idlib">Syrian government forces</a> have repeatedly bombed <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/hospitals-deliberately-targeted-in-syrias-idlib-province-11796872">the region’s medical facilities</a>, leaving them <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2019/03/syria-unlawful-attacks-by-government-forces-hit-civilians-and-medical-facilities-in-idlib/">stretched beyond capacity</a> even before the earthquake. </p>
<p>Now those facilities have been <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/13/middleeast/syria-idlib-earthquake-scenes-intl/index.html">overwhelmed by the sheer numbers</a> of injured requiring medical attention.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C37%2C4985%2C3285&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Women walk through rubble near a demolished building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C37%2C4985%2C3285&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women walk among airstrike-ruined buildings in Idlib, Syria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Syria-Idlib-on-the-Brink/aef79c4ef57e4369a529d3870f3e1dd2/53/0">AP Photo/Felipe Dana</a></span>
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<h2>The impact of war on delivering aid</h2>
<p>Further worsening the situation, the ongoing hostilities and political wrangling have hampered the distribution of aid to the survivors.</p>
<p>Syria today is divided among several <a href="https://theconversation.com/2-reasons-and-1-disease-that-make-peace-in-syria-so-difficult-133330">warring parties</a>, including President Bashar Assad’s regime, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, and the collection of armed groups that make up the opposition to Assad’s regime.</p>
<p>In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the Syrian government – which has a history of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/oct/21/assad-regime-siphons-millions-in-aid-by-manipulating-syrias-currency">diverting international aid</a> and <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2017/11/syria-surrender-or-starve-strategy-displacing-thousands-amounts-to-crimes-against-humanity/">using starvation</a> as a weapon of war –
insisted that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/world/europe/turkey-syria-quake-un-aid.html">all international earthquake aid</a> must come through government-held territory. </p>
<p>This position is rejected by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-quake-aid-held-up-by-hts-approval-issues-says-un-spokesperson-2023-02-12/">Hayat Tahrir al-Sham,</a> the authoritarian opposition faction that controls most of Idlib province, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/13/world/middleeast/earthquake-idlib-syria-aid.html">which has refused</a> to <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/15/northwest-syria-aid-delays-deadly-quake-survivors">allow aid to enter the region</a> that’s sent from government-controlled areas.</p>
<p>After a week of international pressure, the Syrian government <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/15/northwest-syria-aid-delays-deadly-quake-survivors">authorized the opening</a> of two additional border crossings from Turkey into the affected areas for the distribution of aid by the United Nations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dozens of tents are scattered across red sand, with mountains in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Displacement camps in Syria’s Idlib province pack people closely together, with no running water.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/drone-image-taken-on-march-17-shows-a-displaced-camp-in-the-news-photo/1207507564">Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/15/northwest-syria-aid-delays-deadly-quake-survivors">has reported that</a> aid being sent to earthquake-stricken territory held by the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/18/politics/us-helicopter-raid-isis-syria/index.html">Syrian Democratic Forces</a> has been blocked by both regime forces and the Turkish-backed armed group known as the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/syrian-national-army">Syrian National Army</a>.</p>
<p>The Syrian regime’s forces reportedly insisted that aid could go through only if half of it were handed over to them.</p>
<p>Such obstacles are not present in government-held areas, where <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/syria/2023/02/09/turkey-earthquake-uae-aid-flights-land-in-syrias-damascus-to-help-survivors/">international aid </a>has been able to arrive directly. The United States and European Union have also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/05/world/middleeast/us-syria-assad-sanctions.html">adjusted their sanctions</a> against the Syrian government for the next six months to ensure the speedy delivery of humanitarian aid. </p>
<p>But the long-standing economic consequences of the war, including the <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/war-hunger-scares-me-more-war-cannons-inflation-soars-syrias-economy-spirals-downward">collapse of Syria’s currency</a>, mean that all areas of Syria face a difficult recovery. </p>
<p>Syrians who have fled the country have been affected as well. Turkey hosts more than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/15/world/middleeast/turkey-syria-refugees-earthquake.html">3.5 million Syrian refugees</a>, many of whom settled in the area hit by the earthquake.</p>
<p>Like the Turkish population of the region, they too have lost family and friends, homes and livelihoods. Now, some <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/12/world/middleeast/syria-turkey-earthquake-refugees.html">also face hostility</a> from those who oppose the provision of government aid to the refugees. </p>
<h2>The task of rebuilding Syria</h2>
<p>In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, it is understandable that the first impulse of the international community has been to dispatch search and rescue teams, food and medicine and other types of aid.</p>
<p>But in the longer term, the factors that made this earthquake so terribly devastating remain unresolved and stand to complicate any humanitarian response.
An effective response would need to take into account the human origins of the political, economic, and humanitarian conditions that resulted in civil war – not just the impact of a natural disaster. </p>
<p>One good first step would be to make permanent the two additional border crossings into the opposition-held areas, which at present have been authorized only temporarily by the Syrian government, although the regime will be reluctant to do so. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man dressed in dark clothes is surrounded by other men wearing helmets as they walk near a demolished building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513475/original/file-20230304-1853-vx3tix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513475/original/file-20230304-1853-vx3tix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513475/original/file-20230304-1853-vx3tix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513475/original/file-20230304-1853-vx3tix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513475/original/file-20230304-1853-vx3tix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513475/original/file-20230304-1853-vx3tix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513475/original/file-20230304-1853-vx3tix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Syrian President Bashar Assad, center, on Feb. 10, 2023, visits neighborhoods hit by an earthquake in Aleppo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/syrian-president-bashar-al-assad-visits-neighbourhoods-news-photo/1246979089?phrase=syria%20earthquake%20Bashar%20al-Assad&adppopup=true">AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>It will be especially important to rebuild medical facilities in Idlib, where Syrians are providing supplies as best they can. </p>
<p>Both Syria and Turkey are facing a painful reconstruction process. But for Syria, the process will be further complicated by a war that is not over and whose consequences will be with Syria for years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ora Szekely does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The earthquake that struck Turkey and neighboring Syria on Feb. 6, 2023, was a natural disaster, but its consequences have been shaped by the human tragedy of the Syrian civil war.Ora Szekely, Associate Professor of Political Science, Clark UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1991652023-02-07T20:22:25Z2023-02-07T20:22:25ZThe EU shows its weaknesses again amid another looming migration crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508657/original/file-20230207-15-gufqvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4888%2C2749&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Syrian migrants walk along a road after crossing the border between Austria and Germany in October 2015. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2015/12/56ec1ebde/2015-year-europes-refugee-crisis.html">2015 European migration crisis</a> still impacts the European Union today. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2016/08/02/number-of-refugees-to-europe-surges-to-record-1-3-million-in-2015/">More than 1.3 million displaced people sought asylum in the EU</a>, the most since the Second World War. </p>
<p>The EU’s institutions and its antiquated laws for migration, specifically <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/protection/operations/4a9d13d59/dublin-regulation.html">the Dublin Regulation</a>, proved inadequate for the task. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the EU did not learn the lessons from 2015, and is <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1726556/eu-news-migration-crisis-france-germany-mediterranean-crossings-manfred-weber">once again sleepwalking</a> towards another crisis as migrants increasingly cross its borders. This will likely become a <a href="http://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/46630/earthquakes-in-turkey-and-syria-also-affect-millions-of-displaced-people">worsening situation in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.</a></p>
<p>The EU’s weak response to the 2015 migration crisis stemmed from the inadequacy of the organization to meet large-scale problems.</p>
<p>The EU, rather than being a unified entity, is a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/29/europe/european-union-rule-of-law-analysis-intl-cmd/index.html">confederation of states</a>. Each of these states has its own agenda and perspective. As a result, when a problem of the magnitude of the European migration crisis of 2015 arises, each responds in accordance with their <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/schengen-states-extend-border-checks-ignoring-eu-court/ar-AA14cFG8">own interests</a>.</p>
<p>Hungary <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/17/world/europe/hungary-croatia-refugees-migrants.html?_r=0">erected a fence</a> along its borders in 2015 to keep migrants out of the country.</p>
<p>Greece, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/07/23/the-greek-financial-crisis-is-making-its-migration-crisis-worse-the-e-u-must-help/">lacking resources</a> due to the financial crisis plaguing the country, found it difficult to meet its Dublin agreement obligations. </p>
<p>Germany was <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/2015/09/18/angela-merkel-europe-refugee-crisis-conscience-369053.html">initially lauded</a> for establishing an open door policy. However, the policy exacerbated the situation over the <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-broke-the-eu-migration-crisis-refugees/">long-term</a> by encouraging states to take unilateral action.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A long chain-link fence runs beside a snowy field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508646/original/file-20230207-17-q1exvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508646/original/file-20230207-17-q1exvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508646/original/file-20230207-17-q1exvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508646/original/file-20230207-17-q1exvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508646/original/file-20230207-17-q1exvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508646/original/file-20230207-17-q1exvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508646/original/file-20230207-17-q1exvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hungary’s border fence with Serbia is seen outside the village of Gyala, Serbia, in January 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)</span></span>
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<h2>EU-Turkey deal</h2>
<p>Only a united response ultimately stemmed migration flows to the continent. In the <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18/eu-turkey-statement/">2016 EU-Turkey deal</a>, the EU agreed to certain political and economic concessions in exchange for Turkish assistance in limiting migration to the EU. The agreement demonstrated the efficacy of EU countries working in concert. </p>
<p>But even though the deal stemmed the flow of migrants, it was never a permanent solution. Tensions between the EU and Turkey predated the agreement. <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/turkey-how-the-coup-failed/">The failed 2016 coup attempt in Turkey</a>, and the resulting suppression in the country, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36861154">exacerbated tensions</a> in EU-Turkish relations.</p>
<p>Rather than using the breathing space created by the 2016 EU-Turkey agreement to establish an effective response, the EU has further fragmented on the issue. Concerns over migration, in fact, played a <a href="https://lordashcroftpolls.com/2016/06/how-the-united-kingdom-voted-and-why/">key role</a> in Brexit, the U.K.’s exit from the EU. </p>
<p>Other EU countries refused to accede to any plan that would require them to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/21/eastern-european-leaders-defy-eu-effort-to-set-refugee-quotas">accept migrants</a>. Only on the issue of Ukrainian refugees has the EU acted in concert, although accusations of a <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/europe/hrw-urges-states-to-replicate-ukraine-response-avoid-double-standards-64411">double standard</a> — or worse — persist.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-the-welcome-to-ukrainian-refugees-unusually-generous-or-overtly-racist-178819">Is the welcome to Ukrainian refugees unusually generous — or overtly racist?</a>
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<h2>Economics, tech, climate</h2>
<p>This fragmentation among EU states is particularly problematic given current global trends. </p>
<p>In the case of the 2015 European migration crisis, journalists and outside observers placed disproportionate emphasis on the role of the Syrian Civil War and conflicts <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/06/afghanistan-refugees-forty-years/">in Afghanistan</a> <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/news/iraq-refugee-crisis-explained/">and Iraq</a>.</p>
<p>While these conflicts created large numbers of refugees, analysts overlooked two crucial factors: economics and climate change. The reason for this neglect is twofold. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/environmental-disasters-are-fuelling-migration-heres-why-international-law-must-recognize-climate-refugees-173714">Environmental disasters are fuelling migration — here's why international law must recognize climate refugees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>First, conflicts typically <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600701471682">capture the media’s attention</a>. Long-term causes like environmental and economic factors are more difficult to examine in the 24-hour news cycle. </p>
<p>Second, only people fleeing <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/what-is-a-refugee.html">conflict or persecution</a> qualify as refugees under international law.</p>
<p>Economic divides between states will remain a major factor in mass migration. Scholars commonly refer to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z3p4b82/revision/1">push-and-pull factors</a> when examining migration. Push factors, such as conflict, are reasons why people leave a country. The potential for a better life for one’s immediate family is the ultimate pull factor.</p>
<p>Technological developments are further incentivizing economic migration. </p>
<p>The proliferation <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/blog/techland/new-record-62-million-tvs-sold-last-quarter-globally-170386">of television</a> and <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/1145/internet-usage-worldwide/#topicOverview">the internet</a> is making global disparities between countries more apparent. People seeking better lives are now confronted with the disparity and potential opportunities in real time.</p>
<p>Observers frequently underestimate climate change in their examinations of refugees. Estimates at the higher end of the spectrum, however, place the number of potential climate refugees at <a href="https://www.zurich.com/en/media/magazine/2022/there-could-be-1-2-billion-climate-refugees-by-2050-here-s-what-you-need-to-know">1.2 billion</a> people by 2050.</p>
<p>Climate change is also a source of potential conflict and can create traditional refugees. An argument can be made, in fact, that climate change was a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-13-00059.1">direct cause</a> of the Syrian Civil War given severe drought and water shortages.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bare-chested man raises his hands in triumph at the front of a dinghy filled with people wearing life jackets." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508640/original/file-20230207-27-vzxujy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C432%2C3755%2C2063&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508640/original/file-20230207-27-vzxujy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508640/original/file-20230207-27-vzxujy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508640/original/file-20230207-27-vzxujy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508640/original/file-20230207-27-vzxujy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508640/original/file-20230207-27-vzxujy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508640/original/file-20230207-27-vzxujy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Greek lifeguards help refugees and migrants approach the coast on a dinghy after their trip from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos in December 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Santi Palacios)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Repeating the same mistakes</h2>
<p>The causes for economic and environmental migration are rising. Wealth disparity is set <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1055681">to increase</a> among states. The impacts of climate change are also <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/artificial-intelligence-predicts-climate-change-coming-faster-than-we-recently-thought-new-study-says/ar-AA16UONB">poised to accelerate</a> in the near future, with several of the most vulnerable countries already accounting for a significant number of migrants to the EU.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1622773148897738752"}"></div></p>
<p>The EU demonstrated an ability to act in a <a href="https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/888941.html">unified manner</a> when it involved Ukrainian refugees. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for other mass migrations in the past. </p>
<p>EU leaders are wrongly believing <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/greeces-migration-minister-number-migrants-arriving-country-dropped-dramatically">their individual policies</a>, not COVID-19, accounted for the decline in migrants.</p>
<p>This stance is not only inaccurate, but sets the EU up for failure in the future. Mass migration, and the challenges it poses, are beyond the capabilities of any one EU state. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, EU politicians are ignoring the lessons of the immediate past, and instead repeating the problems of 2015.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199165/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Horncastle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The European Union is a confederation of states, each with its own agenda and perspective. As a result, the EU’s responses to migration crises are critically flawed.James Horncastle, Assistant Professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1882032022-09-08T19:56:54Z2022-09-08T19:56:54Z4 strategies for hiring refugees successfully<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478372/original/file-20220809-16-jg881p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C4866%2C3246&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Although well-intended, sometimes employers can unintentionally undermine the agency of refugee employees by victimizing them.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60555472">Over five million Ukrainians have fled their country</a>, and more than <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/ukraine-measures/key-figures.html">68,000 have made it to Canada</a>. If they haven’t already, most will begin seeking employment in their new countries soon. In the face of this, it’s important that employers are ready to hire refugees in a way that benefits everyone. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2022.100912">Our research</a> sheds light on the experiences of newly hired refugees and offers best practices for employers. Based on the experiences of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran from 28 German companies, we discovered the best ways employers can integrate refugee employees into the workplace. </p>
<p>Our findings reveal that some refugee employees are unintentionally marginalized when their employers offer too much support. This happens because the employers see themselves as humanitarians and their refugee employees as victims — not as fully autonomous human beings. </p>
<p>One Syrian refugee employee told us how he felt about his boss: “She wants to control everything in my life. I can’t stand it any longer. If I had known that before, I would have never started the job.”</p>
<p>Although well-intended, sometimes employers can unintentionally undermine the agency of refugee employees. Because refugees already experience <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI4Q2NNvL4c">many challenges while seeking employment</a>, managers should avoid adding more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12222">barriers while possible</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A line of people wait to board a plane" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478367/original/file-20220809-26-5rxabv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478367/original/file-20220809-26-5rxabv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478367/original/file-20220809-26-5rxabv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478367/original/file-20220809-26-5rxabv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478367/original/file-20220809-26-5rxabv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478367/original/file-20220809-26-5rxabv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478367/original/file-20220809-26-5rxabv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ukrainian refugees board a plane before flying to Canada, from Frederic Chopin Airport in Warsaw, Poland in July 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Michal Dyjuk)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Humanitarian managers</h2>
<p>We found that refugees’ experience in the workplace depended on how managers viewed and understood them, producing three distinct types of employers: humanitarian, lecturer and pragmatist managers. </p>
<p>Humanitarian managers portrayed refugees as helpless victims and <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/library-document/challenges-labour-market-integration-asylum-seekers-and-refugees_en">focused on their vulnerabilities</a>. Employers adopting this lens focused too much on preventing refugees from failing, including inappropriately intervening in their private family or financial issues instead of building their relevant capabilities. </p>
<p>For example, one employer admitted he had hired refugees based on his Christian principles, but later realized at least one didn’t have the right skills for his job. “I can only deploy him for unskilled labour.” </p>
<p>While the humanitarian approach can be helpful for recognizing refugee employees’ specific needs compared to non-refugee employees, it is problematic because it downplays the ability of refugee employees to control their own lives.</p>
<h2>Lecturer managers</h2>
<p>The second category of manager was lecturer managers. The primary goal of these managers was to reduce the risk of refugees becoming a societal burden. </p>
<p>Lecturer managers would police refugees’ behaviours to ensure they were compliant with local cultural norms. One executive described how he would force his refugee and domestic employees to spend time together during breaks because he thought it was best for all of them. </p>
<p>The overreaching support offered by both humanitarians and lecturers often made refugee employees feel patronized and undervalued by undermining their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2022.100912">self-reliance and autonomy</a>. </p>
<p>Some refugee employees ended up wanting to leave their jobs because of lecturer managers. One employee described his experience: “The organization is everywhere in my life. I feel like I am caught in a box.”</p>
<p>Further, many humanitarian and lecturer managers felt let down when their extraordinary efforts weren’t adequately recognized by those they were trying to help.</p>
<h2>Pragmatist managers</h2>
<p>The third category of manager — pragmatist managers — struck a balance between viewing refugee employees as victims and valuing their strong work motivation and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12787">skills and knowledge</a> they developed in their home countries. This approach was most likely to result in positive outcomes for both the refugees and their workplaces. </p>
<p>Managers in this category helped refugee employees develop their careers by offering <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12418">targeted support for work-relevant issues</a>, such as reducing language barriers, educational and knowledge gaps. </p>
<p>The refugee employees we interviewed strongly preferred working with pragmatists. For instance, one Syrian refugee in Germany stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I am so grateful. I was worried about my future here in Germany. I lost the belief in my abilities. She [supervisor] achieved that my belief in my abilities is back. She was always saying to me: ‘You can achieve it! You need to try. Believe in your abilities!’”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A barista preparing a coffee behind the counter of a coffee shop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478368/original/file-20220809-16-e3j83c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478368/original/file-20220809-16-e3j83c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478368/original/file-20220809-16-e3j83c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478368/original/file-20220809-16-e3j83c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478368/original/file-20220809-16-e3j83c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478368/original/file-20220809-16-e3j83c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478368/original/file-20220809-16-e3j83c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Ukrainian refugee prepares a coffee at a shop where she works in Prague, Czech Republic, in July 2022. Many refugees are still struggling to find jobs in their host countries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Strategies for successful hiring</h2>
<p>We recommend four actions employers can take to support refugee employees without victimizing them and allowing them to control their own lives.</p>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>Avoid seeing refugees only as victims.</strong> Employers should value refugees’ talents while also recognizing when to show empathy and compassion. For example, pragmatist employers were generous when offering <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/content/dam/corporate/documents/business-school/research/international-business/employers-guide-to-refugee-employment.pdf">tools or training</a> to build refugee employees’ capacity at work. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Be sensitive to refugees’ individual needs.</strong> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12349">Not all refugees have the same needs</a>, and they are not defined entirely by their status as refugees. One employee may benefit from language training, while another may be ready for leadership training. A one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to be successful. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>Recognize refugees’ agency over their own life decisions.</strong> People who are forced to seek asylum lose <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845319832670">control over their lives, and most try to regain it as soon as they can</a>. Employers’ efforts should be directed towards career development initiatives, rather than trying to solve all problems on behalf of their refugee employees. Employers are free to offer support to their employees, but they must allow them to decline any support they don’t want. Employers must trust refugees to know what is best for themselves.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Be selective while hiring.</strong> Employers should fill open positions with refugees who have the skills and expertise required for the job, or the potential to develop them. Our study found that some employers, motivated by altruism, offered refugees jobs despite being unqualified, resulting in bad outcomes for everyone. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Ultimately, no matter how educated or skilled refugees are, they face <a href="https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2018.0150">unique challenges in their workplace integration</a>. When done right, managers can play a key role in helping refugee employees thrive in their new workplaces, instead of robbing them of their autonomy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188203/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Pesch receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ebru Ipek receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stacey Fitzsimmons receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p>Managers can play a key role in helping refugee employees thrive in their new workplaces, instead of robbing them of their autonomy.Robin Pesch, Senior Lecturer, International Management, Newcastle UniversityEbru Ipek, Assistant Professor of Management, San Francisco State UniversityStacey Fitzsimmons, Associate Professor of International Business, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1869872022-08-15T15:51:45Z2022-08-15T15:51:45ZHow displaced Syrians effectively navigated ‘border frictions’ in Lebanon and Turkey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478384/original/file-20220809-20-bmbvqp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C25%2C5760%2C3802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Syrian refugee boy jumps from a swing as he plays under cloudy skies at the public beach of Ramlet al Bayda in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2015. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/4/14/syrias-war-explained-from-the-beginning">The Syrian conflict began in early March 2011 on the heels of the Arab Spring</a> as pro-democracy uprisings in Syria demanded regime change and political reform.</p>
<p>The conflict transformed into a war. More than <a href="https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/syrian-refugee-crisis-facts">13 million people</a> have either escaped the country or are displaced within its borders.</p>
<p>Displaced Syrians who have made the journey to the borderlands of Lebanon and Turkey encountered and had to respond to problems at the borders, forcing them to engage intermediaries — or smugglers — to assist them, and to use transnational networks during their perilous treks.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743817000642">our ethnographic</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654420943593">qualitative research</a> into their journeys, we interviewed displaced Syrians who travelled from Syria to Lebanon and Turkey from 2012 to 2017 during the Syrian war. Some now reside in Canada.</p>
<h2>‘Border frictions’</h2>
<p>Over the past several decades, there has been an increase in the proliferation of border controls, forcing displaced people to respond.</p>
<p>These controls are called “border frictions,” and they include internal border and military checks, sieges, walls, deportations, immigration policies and other initiatives aimed at controlling population movements. </p>
<p>Their effects can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2018.02.002">generate fear and violence</a>, contain and detain people on the move and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2020.1762485">differentiate based on race, class</a>, economic need and other social distinctions. </p>
<p>But some displaced Syrians responded to these border frictions by passing through permeable borders and borderlands, using alternative routes and relying upon the use of smugglers and social networks during their treks. </p>
<p>These types of strategies, known as migrant politics, were at play in the borderlands of Lebanon and Turkey. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two boys play soccer with a black and yellow soccer ball with tents and brown hills in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478380/original/file-20220809-15346-l14g5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8640%2C5755&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478380/original/file-20220809-15346-l14g5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478380/original/file-20220809-15346-l14g5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478380/original/file-20220809-15346-l14g5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478380/original/file-20220809-15346-l14g5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478380/original/file-20220809-15346-l14g5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478380/original/file-20220809-15346-l14g5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Syrian children play soccer near their tented homes at a refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias in Lebanon in July 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Borderland of Lebanon</h2>
<p>For decades, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-lebanon-syria-visas-20150105-story.html">Syrians didn’t require visas to enter Lebanon</a>, permitting many to establish transnational social, cultural and economic networks.</p>
<p>During the Syrian war, many Syrian participants travelled to Lebanon in search of safety and protection. They told us about their irregular crossings into Lebanon, the bribes they paid to border officials at checkpoints and their reliance on smugglers during their journeys.</p>
<p>For example, through the assistance of an intermediary, one displaced Syrian man, Hassan, was able to hide from border snipers along the Syrian-Lebanese border, wait in mountainous areas, circumvent border security personnel and travel safely to Beirut. </p>
<p>Intermediaries often provide crucial services that are demand-driven, fuelled by restrictive border controls and the war. Many other Syrians who travelled to Lebanon were reunited with family members and received assistance from their social and economic networks to find work and housing, while some others decided to hide from security forces to avoid detection and legal repercussions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People toting their belongings walk through grassy hills." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478383/original/file-20220809-14-n8c4vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478383/original/file-20220809-14-n8c4vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478383/original/file-20220809-14-n8c4vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478383/original/file-20220809-14-n8c4vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478383/original/file-20220809-14-n8c4vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478383/original/file-20220809-14-n8c4vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478383/original/file-20220809-14-n8c4vc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this May 2011 photo, Syrians cross the border into Lebanon as they flee the violence in the Syrian village of Talkalakh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This engagement in migrant politics was necessitated in part by a new visa requirement introduced in 2013 that meant Syrians had to provide documentation and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/20581831.2016.1226533">limit their stay in Lebanon</a> to a maximum of one month.</p>
<p>The Lebanese government also closed its territorial border with Syria in 2015 and instructed the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2020.1762485">United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to stop refugee registration</a>.</p>
<h2>Borderland of Turkey</h2>
<p>Drawing on the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/babylon-beyond/story/2009-09-17/turkey-syria-nations-sign-historic-accord-end-visa-requirements">2009 cancellation of entry visa requirements between Syria and Turkey</a>, the Turkish open-border policy enabled Syrians to enter the country legally in the early days of the Syrian war.</p>
<p>Many families arrived in multiple stages and self-settled in border areas with the expectation of returning to Syria. The cross-border movements of displaced Syrians were multi-directional until <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/11/23/turkey-syrians-pushed-back-border">Turkey closed its southern borders in 2015</a>. </p>
<p>For example, a displaced Syrian woman, Laila, initially entered Turkey in 2012 by air via Beirut, returned to Syria after some months to check on her family and business, relocated to Turkey’s border province Hatay in 2013 and then travelled once again to Syria in 2015 to arrange for her newborn daughter’s passport. </p>
<p>Many others came and left illegally even during the days of open-border policy, either because they fled without a passport or were travelling from areas controlled by groups not officially recognized by Syria or Turkey.</p>
<p>Once resettled along the Turkish border, Syrians mobilized their pre-conflict networks of kinship, trade and religion with Turkish citizens to navigate unpredictable legal procedures and access limited resources in their everyday lives. How, when and for whom the borders remained porous varied, nonetheless. </p>
<p>As an open-border policy that yielded to a temporary protection regime, <a href="https://www.swp-berlin.org/10.18449/2020C01/">arbitrary deportations</a> and Turkey’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14683849.2020.1841642">construction of a wall</a> along its southern border, Syrians found alternate ways to engage in migrant politics, including migrant smuggling and other clandestine movements.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two women in head scarves smile. One holds a baby while another flashes a V for victory sign." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478381/original/file-20220809-15894-ilv3ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478381/original/file-20220809-15894-ilv3ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478381/original/file-20220809-15894-ilv3ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478381/original/file-20220809-15894-ilv3ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478381/original/file-20220809-15894-ilv3ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478381/original/file-20220809-15894-ilv3ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478381/original/file-20220809-15894-ilv3ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Syrian refugee women react as they wait with their children outside a makeshift hospital in a refugee camp in the Turkish town of Yayladagi in June 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Porous borders</h2>
<p>Our research on Syrian migrant journeys shows how border regimes restrict human rights and discriminate against displaced people.</p>
<p>They encourage rather than eliminate irregular border crossings. And, ultimately, they fail. </p>
<p>Despite all the walls and exceptional measures that are placed before them, many Syrians have found ways around borders and established new lives in the borderlands.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186987/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suzan Ilcan receives funding from SSHRC.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Secil Dagtas receives funding from SSHRC</span></em></p>Many displaced Syrians responded to harsh border controls by passing through permeable borders, using alternative routes and relying upon the use of smugglers and social networks.SUZAN ILCAN, Professor & University Research Chair, Sociology and Legal Studies, University of WaterlooSeçil Daǧtaș, Associate Professor, Political Anthropology, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1853482022-07-03T13:24:32Z2022-07-03T13:24:32ZCanadians support accepting more newcomers but we need a more equitable, rights-based approach<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469855/original/file-20220620-7827-7higtj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C2986%2C2052&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People wait for Ukrainian nationals fleeing the ongoing war to arrive at Trudeau Airport in Montréal on May 29, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canadians-support-accepting-more-newcomers-but-we-need-a-more-equitable--rights-based-approach" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Global Trends Report recently announced that as of the end of 2021, <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/62a9d1494/global-trends-report-2021">89.3 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced</a>. While Ukraine’s neighbouring countries originally opened their arms to people fleeing the war, they’ve since begun <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2022/06/10/en-europe-centrale-la-generosite-envers-les-refugies-ukrainiens-s-etiole_6129676_3210.html">decreasing benefits for Ukrainians</a> as their cities become overwhelmed. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Canada is continuing its efforts to build an “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-unprecedented-ukraine-to-canada-air-bridge-could-mean-a-brighter-future-for-all-refugees-181369">air bridge</a>” for an “unlimited number” of Ukrainians, supporting them through a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ukrainians-in-canada-3000-payment-1.6475193">one-time $3,000 payment</a>. This is seen by some as a beacon of hope, and by others as unsustainable. </p>
<p>Despite Ukrainians having the need to travel to find safety, and being called refugees elsewhere, in Canada they do not arrive as resettled refugees. Instead, the federal government created a program — <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2022/03/canada-ukraine-authorization-for-emergency-travel.html">Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel (CUAET)</a> — that fast tracks temporary immigration for Ukrainians.</p>
<p>Recent public polling data from the Angus Reid Institute shows that Canadians’ support Ukrainian newcomers, in addition to supporting newcomers from Syria and Afghanistan. As migration scholars, we argue that this continued support is evidence that Canadian refugee policy, and newly developed programs like the CUAET — which leads with the head and the heart — work. </p>
<h2>Human rights, economic growth and humanitarian impulse</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">UN Refugee Convention</a> and Canada’s <a href="https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-2.5/">Immigration and Refugee Protection Act</a> frame a rights-based approach to refugee protection. Leading with its head, Canada has a legal obligation to promote and protect the right to asylum, and the principle of non-discrimination. </p>
<p>No matter their country of origin or immigration status, a person on Canadian territory has that rights are protected by the <a href="https://ccrweb.ca/en/refugee-rights-day">Canadian Charter</a>.</p>
<p>Canada’s immigration policy aspires to be evidence-based. Research shows immigrants and refugees drive <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/infographics/immigration-economic-growth.html">economic growth</a> and contribute to the Canadian economy in a <a href="https://www.innovatingcanada.ca/diversity/refugees-are-good-for-canada/">myriad of ways</a>. There are good legal and economic reasons for protection.</p>
<p>And leading with its heart, Canada’s refugee policy and newcomer programs are framed by a humanitarian impulse. Canadian officials regularly refer to a “<a href="https://twitter.com/seanfrasermp/status/1509325456687968260">welcome</a>” and “<a href="https://twitter.com/seanfrasermp/status/1499416023526776833">safe harbour</a>” for the “<a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/SeanFraserMP/status/1529188427140419584">most vulnerable</a>” and “<a href="https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1511872243898490890">those in need</a>.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1511872241251889162"}"></div></p>
<h2>Humans helping humans</h2>
<p>Images of human suffering — from <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/brief-but-spectacular/phan-th%E1%BB%8B-kim-ph%C3%BAc-on-pain-and-forgiveness-1.5417755">Phan Thị Kim Phúc also known as “the napalm girl”</a> to <a href="https://time.com/4162306/alan-kurdi-syria-drowned-boy-refugee-crisis/">Alan Kurdi</a> — have galvanized public support for refugees. </p>
<p>A key component in Canada’s resettlement response has been the <a href="https://www.rstp.ca/en/refugee-sponsorship/the-private-sponsorship-of-refugees-program/">Private Sponsorship of Refugees</a> program. Private Sponsorship of Refugees connects human beings with human beings, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/ces.2018.0014">fostering empathy</a> and generating long <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/immigration-refugees-canada-1.6258067">waiting lists</a> as Canadians step in to help.</p>
<p>But public support for refugees isn’t limited to sponsors. </p>
<p>An Angus Reid Institute survey conducted on May 18, 2022, asked about Canadians’ acceptance of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2022/03/canada-marks-10000-arrivals-of-afghan-refugees.html">newcomers from Afghanistan</a>, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/welcome-syrian-refugees/key-figures.html">Syria</a> <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/ukraine-measures.html">and Ukraine</a>, as those have been the latest arrivals of newcomers in Canada. (This survey is not publicly available.)</p>
<p>The survey found that 35 per cent and 31 per cent of Canadians support accepting more refugees from Afghanistan and Syria, respectively. And 56 per cent of Canadians think Canada should accept more Ukrainians — only 14 per cent think we should accept less. </p>
<p>Mirroring public opinion, there is strong cross-party support for Ukrainian newcomers. In an unusual display of unity, <a href="https://www.hilltimes.com/2022/03/01/mps-press-feds-to-cut-red-tape-and-permit-visa-free-travel-for-ukrainians-fleeing-conflict/347681">most opposition members of Parliament</a> pushed for Canada to waive visa requirements for Ukrainians in March.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man is wrapped in a Ukrainian flag behind a luggage cart as a woman hugs another woman behind him" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469852/original/file-20220620-14209-e8g8xf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ukrainian students arrive in St. John’s, N.L., on June 14, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The emotional and political reaction to different global situations has resulted in differential treatment for people fleeing violence. While Canada reduced red tape to welcome an “unlimited number” of Ukrainians, including through direct airlifts, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/parliamentary-committee-report-slams-government-s-handling-of-afghan-refugee-crisis-1.5942745">Afghans face uncertainty, long delays and a 40,000-person cap</a>.</p>
<p>To ensure a more equitable, rights-based approach, the Canadian government should draw on <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/may-2016/lessons-learned-from-the-indochinese-and-syrian-refugee-movements/">lessons learned</a> from decades of refugee policy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2021.625358">practice</a> and programs.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Canada should leverage and scale up existing mechanisms for resettlement, including private sponsorship. The government should process existing applications quickly and open up new spaces, respecting the principle of additionality — the idea that new spaces should not displace people who are already waiting to be processed.</p></li>
<li><p>Some visa requirements, including the <a href="https://www.cicnews.com/2022/03/ircc-eases-overseas-biometrics-requirement-for-some-ukrainians-0323975.html#gs.478afq">need for biometrics</a>, should be waived in emergency situations for <em>all</em> nationalities.</p></li>
<li><p>Echoing the recent recommendations by the <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/AFGH/report-1/">House of Commons Special Committee on Afghanistan</a>, Canada should establish an emergency mechanism to act in a timely and equitable way to all situations of displacement, not only those that garner media and political attention.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Canada has a history of being a welcoming country to newcomers. Canadians are upholding that legacy by supporting the acceptance of more. Despite this, we need a more equitable, rights-based approach so we can continue to lead with the head and the heart.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185348/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canadian refugee and immigration policy often leads with the head and the heart — and that works.Yvonne Su, Assistant Professor in the Department of Equity Studies, York University, CanadaChristina Clark-Kazak, Associate Professor, Public and International Affairs, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1826582022-06-01T13:23:12Z2022-06-01T13:23:12ZWill the exodus of Ukrainians surpass the Second World War’s refugee flows?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465767/original/file-20220527-25-9vxw92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5440%2C3583&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman walks past beds at a camp in Bucharest, Romania, ready for an influx of refugees fleeing the war in neighbouring Ukraine in April 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a recent news release, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) counted more than <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2022/5/628a389e4/unhcr-ukraine-other-conflicts-push-forcibly-displaced-total-100-million.html">100 million people</a> globally who have been displaced and forced to flee conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution. </p>
<p>The staggering number of refugees has been driven by wars in Ukraine and <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/">Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia</a>. In Ukraine, there’s been a massive exodus of people since Russia invaded the country in February.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children and two adults stand in a semi-circle holding hands. One girl wears a Minnie Mouse head scarf." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465765/original/file-20220527-25-jw172j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465765/original/file-20220527-25-jw172j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465765/original/file-20220527-25-jw172j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465765/original/file-20220527-25-jw172j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465765/original/file-20220527-25-jw172j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465765/original/file-20220527-25-jw172j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465765/original/file-20220527-25-jw172j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Syrian children hold hands as they wait for a delivery of food and toys in an orphanage camp for displaced people run by the Turkish Red Crescent in November 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/ukraine-emergency.html">6.6 million Ukrainians</a> have fled, with the number continuing to grow. Men aged 18 to 64 have been required to remain in the country to aid in its defence, so most of the refugees are women and children. </p>
<p>The situation represents Europe’s <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-more-than-a-million-ukrainians-flee-country-as-russia-accused-of-war/">biggest and most rapid exodus of people since the Second World War</a>, when an estimated 11 million people were displaced from their home countries by 1945. </p>
<p>Post-war European history is also littered with refugee movements generated by conflict between the Soviet Union and the West. </p>
<h2>Cold War refugee flows</h2>
<p>Although it’s harder to identify the total number of refugees produced in these conflicts owing to the scale of movement, the difficulty of defining and counting refugees and shifting terminology (for example, the use of the term “refugees” instead of “displaced persons”), we know <a href="https://www.americanforeignrelations.com/O-W/Refugee-Policies-Refugees-and-the-cold-war.html">the Cold War generated millions of refugees out of Communist Europe</a> in the years immediately following the Second World War. </p>
<p>This included an estimated <a href="https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-building-of-the-berlin-wall/#:%7E:text=Before%20the%20Wall's%20erection%2C%203.5,and%20other%20Western%20European%20countries.">3.5 million who fled East Germany</a> before the Berlin Wall was built.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Hungarian-Revolution-1956">1956 Hungarian Revolution</a> was estimated to have produced 200,000 refugees. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Prague-Spring">1968 Prague Spring</a> — an attempt by the people of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia) to institute political liberalization through mass protests — was crushed by the Soviet Union, producing approximately 80,000 refugees. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An elderly woman in a blue shirt sits next to two elderly men." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465768/original/file-20220527-19-rnazzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465768/original/file-20220527-19-rnazzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465768/original/file-20220527-19-rnazzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465768/original/file-20220527-19-rnazzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465768/original/file-20220527-19-rnazzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465768/original/file-20220527-19-rnazzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465768/original/file-20220527-19-rnazzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Surviving members of a group known as the Magnificent Eight wait to receive an award in Prague, Czech Republic, for their 1968 protest in Russia against the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From 1991 to 2001, an estimated 2.4 million refugees resulted from series of inter-related wars connected to <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3bcd4fcc4.pdf">the former Yugoslavia</a> breaking into the independent countries of Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Kosovo and Bosnia.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60555472">The majority of Ukrainian refugees have fled to Poland, but Hungary, Romania and Slovakia</a>, and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/05/05/moldova-ukraine-refugees-conflict-russia-eu/#:%7E:text=Between%20late%20February%20and%20mid,traveled%20on%20to%20other%20countries.">Moldova have also received refugees</a>. Some Ukrainians have also been able to relocate to third-country destinations, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-needs-to-be-as-welcoming-to-afghan-refugees-as-it-is-to-ukrainians-182363">Canada needs to be as welcoming to Afghan refugees as it is to Ukrainians</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Ukrainians displaced or trapped</h2>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/ukraine-emergency.html">UNHCR estimates that more than seven million Ukrainians are displaced within the country</a>, in particular those who have fled the intense fighting in eastern Ukraine for the western city of Lviv, and those who fled Kyiv while the country’s capital was under siege. </p>
<p>Counting both refugees and internally displaced individuals, more than a quarter of Ukraine’s population is now displaced. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A grey haired woman gazes sadly out a bus window." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465764/original/file-20220527-17-263hgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465764/original/file-20220527-17-263hgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465764/original/file-20220527-17-263hgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465764/original/file-20220527-17-263hgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465764/original/file-20220527-17-263hgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465764/original/file-20220527-17-263hgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465764/original/file-20220527-17-263hgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An internally displaced elderly woman from Mariupol looks out of a bus window as she arrives at a refugee centre after fleeing Russian attacks in April 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Leo Correa)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Still others are trapped and unable to leave their devastated homes and communities, essentially meaning that they have been displaced without being able to leave.</p>
<p>Though there are recent reports of people <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60555472">returning to parts of Ukraine</a> as Russian forces have moved out, the war is showing no signs of letting up, making it more than likely that both refugee flows and internal displacement will continue to grow.</p>
<p>It has taken less than 11 weeks for the Russia-Ukraine conflict to become the greatest trigger for human displacement in Europe since the entire six years of the Second World War. </p>
<p>Given <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/ukraine-population">Ukraine’s population is 44 million</a>, it’s quite possible the ongoing conflict may result in refugee flows that surpass the Second World War’s.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182658/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Newbold does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It has taken less than 11 weeks for the Russia-Ukraine conflict to become the greatest trigger for human displacement in Europe since the entire six years of the Second World War.Bruce Newbold, Professor of Geography, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1833272022-05-27T12:29:35Z2022-05-27T12:29:35ZYes, Muslims are portrayed negatively in American media — 2 political scientists reviewed over 250,000 articles to find conclusive evidence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464506/original/file-20220520-23-1akrty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C30%2C5022%2C3517&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students with the Muslim Consultative Network's summer youth program gather on the steps of New York's City Hall on Aug. 14, 2013, to speak out against Islamophobia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IslamophobiaProtest/377cff5c542648e2a1ba59e3f404cd2a/photo?Query=%20islamophobia%20united%20states&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=44&currentItemNo=4">AP Photo/Richard Drew</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The warm welcome <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/us/ukrainian-refugees-biden.html">Americans</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/23/ukraine-refugees-welcome-europe/">Europeans</a> have given Ukrainians in 2022 contrasts sharply with the uneven — and frequently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/17/world/europe/europe-countries-refugees-embrace-ukrainians.html">hostile — policies toward Syrian refugees in the mid-2010s</a>.</p>
<p>Political scientist <a href="https://politicalscience.stanford.edu/people/david-d-laitin">David Laitin</a> has highlighted the role that religious identities play in this dynamic. As he pointed out in a recent <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2022/03/24/ukrainian-refugees-face-accommodating-europe-says-stanford-scholar/">interview</a>, Syrian refugees were “mostly Muslim and faced higher degrees of discrimination than will the Ukrainians, who are largely of Christian heritage.”</p>
<p>The media provide information that shapes such attitudes toward Muslims. A <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2007/09/26/public-expresses-mixed-views-of-islam-mormonism/">2007 Pew Research Center survey</a> of Americans found that people’s negative opinions on Muslims were mostly influenced by what they heard and read in the media. Communications scholar <a href="https://www.comm.ucsb.edu/people/muniba-saleem">Muniba Saleem</a> and colleagues have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12234">demonstrated</a> the link between media information and “stereotypic beliefs, negative emotions and support for harmful policies” toward Muslim Americans. </p>
<p>To better grasp the evolution of media portrayals of Muslims and Islam, our 2022 <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/covering-muslims-9780197611722?cc=fr&lang=en&">book</a>, “Covering Muslims: American Newspapers in Comparative Perspective,” tracked the tone of hundreds of thousands of articles over decades. </p>
<p>We found overwhelmingly negative coverage, not only in the United States but also in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. </p>
<h2>Negative coverage of Muslims</h2>
<p>Previous research has identified widespread negative media representations of Muslims. An <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048516656305">overview</a> of studies undertaken from 2000 to 2015 by communications scholars <a href="https://saifahmed.net/">Saifuddin Ahmed</a> and <a href="https://advertisingresearch.univie.ac.at/team/joerg-matthes/">Jörg Matthes</a> concluded that Muslims were negatively framed in the media and that Islam was frequently cast as a violent religion.</p>
<p>But the studies they reviewed leave open two pressing questions that we address through our research. </p>
<p>First, do articles touching on Muslims and Islam include more negative representations than the average newspaper article? Second, are media portrayals of Muslims more negative than articles touching on other minority religions? </p>
<p>If stories about minority religious groups made it to the news only when they were involved in conflict in one way or another, then they may be negative for reasons that are not specific to Muslims. </p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>To answer these questions, we used media databases such as LexisNexis, Nexis Uni, ProQuest and Factiva to download 256,963 articles mentioning Muslims or Islam – for which we use the shorthand “Muslim articles” – from 17 national, regional and tabloid newspapers in the United States over the 21-year period from Jan. 1, 1996, to Dec. 31, 2016. </p>
<p>We developed a reliable method for measuring the positivity or negativity of stories by comparing them to the tone of a random sample of 48,283 articles about topics drawn from a wide range of newspapers. A negative value on this scale means that a story is negative relative to the average newspaper article. </p>
<p>Crucially, this approach also provided a baseline for additional comparisons. We collected sets of articles from U.S. newspapers relating not only to Muslims, but also separately to Catholics, Jews and Hindus, three minority religious groups of varying size and status in the United States. We then assembled stories linked to Muslims from a broad array of newspapers in the U.K., Canada and Australia. </p>
<p>Our central finding is that the average article mentioning Muslims or Islam in the United States is more negative than 84% of articles in our random sample. This means that one would likely have to read six articles in U.S. newspapers to find even one that was as negative as the average article touching on Muslims. </p>
<p>To give a concrete sense of how negative typical Muslim articles are, consider the following sentence that has the tone of the average Muslim article: “The Russian was made to believe by undercover agents that the radioactive material was to be delivered to a Muslim organization.” This contains two highly negative words (“undercover” and “radioactive”) and implies that the “Muslim organization” has nefarious goals. </p>
<p>Articles that mentioned Muslims were also much more likely to be negative than stories touching on any other group we examined. For Catholics, Jews and Hindus, the proportion of positive and negative articles was close to 50-50. By contrast, 80% of all articles related to Muslims were negative. </p>
<p><iframe id="aEZH8" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/aEZH8/8/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The divergence is striking. Our work shows that the media are not prone to publishing negative stories when they write about other minority religions, but they are very likely to do so when they write about Muslims. </p>
<p>Beyond comparing coverage across groups, we were also interested in coverage across countries. Perhaps the United States is unique in its intensely negative coverage of Muslims. To find out, we collected 528,444 articles mentioning Muslims or Islam from the same time period from a range of newspapers in the U.K., Canada and Australia. We found that the proportion of negative to positive articles in these countries was almost exactly the same as that in the United States.</p>
<p><iframe id="pOx38" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/pOx38/9/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Implications of negative coverage</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108782814">Multiple</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048321000328">scholars</a> have shown that negative stories generate less favorable attitudes toward Muslims. Other studies that looked at the impact of negative information about Muslims also found an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12234">increase in support</a> for policies that harm Muslims, such as secret surveillance of Muslim Americans or the use of drone attacks in Muslim countries. </p>
<p>In addition, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqz001">surveys</a> of young American Muslims have found that negative media coverage resulted in weaker identification as American and in lower trust in the U.S. government. </p>
<p>We believe acknowledging and addressing the systemic negativity in media coverage of Muslims and Islam is vital for countering widespread stigmatization. This may, in turn, create opportunities for more humane policies that are fair to everyone regardless of their faith.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183327/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In examining media coverage of Muslims over a 21-year period, in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, scholars found that articles mentioning Muslims were far more negative than other faith groups.Erik Bleich, Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science, MiddleburyA. Maurits van der Veen, Associate Professor of Government, William & MaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1826542022-05-24T12:28:53Z2022-05-24T12:28:53ZThe big exodus of Ukrainian refugees isn’t an accident – it’s part of Putin’s plan to destabilize Europe<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464400/original/file-20220520-19-2h6lvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ukrainians fleeing the war walk toward a train in Krakow to bring them to Berlin on March 15, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/people-who-fled-the-war-in-ukraine-walk-towards-a-humanitarian-train-picture-id1385521272?s=2048x2048">Omar Marques/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">6.3 million Ukrainians</a> have fled their country since Russia first invaded in late February 2022. </p>
<p>The European Union has welcomed Ukrainian refugees, allowing them to enter its 27 member countries <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/stronger-europe-world/eu-solidarity-ukraine/eu-assistance-ukraine/information-people-fleeing-war-ukraine_en">without visas</a> and live and work there <a href="https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/05/18/where-is-europe-finding-the-money-to-host-millions-of-ukrainian-refugees">for up to three years</a>. </p>
<p>Everyday <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2022/03/02/airbnb-european-hosts-ukraine/?sh=7d567555706e">Europeans have also</a> opened their doors – and pockets – to host Ukrainians and help them find day care, for example, and other services. </p>
<p>But there is still an uncomfortable reality: Ukrainian refugees are also Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political pawns, intended to politically destabilize the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. </p>
<p>Many Poles, for example, initially offered to help Ukrainians. But now, more than two months after the war began, <a href="https://vimeo.com/706555046">there are signs</a> that public compassion is fading.</p>
<p>Warsaw’s population has increased 15% since the start of the war, pushing the city’s mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/20/1100477111/warsaw-mayor-pleads-for-a-strategic-plan-as-city-continues-to-welcome-refugees">to propose a strategy</a> to handle rising costs.</p>
<p>“Most of the burden is on us,” Trzaskowski said.</p>
<p>Hosting Ukrainian refugees could cost countries more than $30 billion in the first year alone, according to analysis by the nonprofit think tank <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/article/new-analysis-hosting-ukrainian-refugees-could-cost-nations-around-world-estimated-30-billion">Center for Global Development</a>. This could pose <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/business/economy/ukraine-refugee-crisis-europe-economy.html">new challenges</a> for the European economy, which is already under stress with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/29/business/europe-economy-gdp.html">high inflation</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://works.bepress.com/mark-grey/">scholar of mass migration</a>, I think it is important to understand that there is often a connection between <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/hs/pubhealth/modules/forcedMigration/definitions.html">forced migration</a> – meaning, the migration of people who are often fleeing conflict or environmental disasters – <a href="https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/more-refugees/">and national or regional security</a> concerns.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464378/original/file-20220519-25-ghhfbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young woman and man sit on a bed and hold three young children in their laps, looking directly at the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464378/original/file-20220519-25-ghhfbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464378/original/file-20220519-25-ghhfbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464378/original/file-20220519-25-ghhfbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464378/original/file-20220519-25-ghhfbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464378/original/file-20220519-25-ghhfbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464378/original/file-20220519-25-ghhfbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464378/original/file-20220519-25-ghhfbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Ukrainian refugee family from Odesa pictured at the Egros refugee transit center in Iasi, Romania, on May 12, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/ukrainian-refugees-elena-sidoroua-her-husband-vladimir-sidoroua-and-picture-id1240633775?s=2048x2048">Kirsty O'Connor/PA Images via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The link between migration and security</h2>
<p>In recent years, national security experts <a href="https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/more-refugees/">have increasingly</a> considered human migration as a key factor that can influence political stability. </p>
<p>This comes as the number of people forced by mainly violence or climate change to migrate worldwide has nearly doubled from 2010 through 2020 – rising from 41 million to 78.5 million over this time, <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/flagship-reports/globaltrends/globaltrends2019/">according to the United Nations</a>.</p>
<p>In some cases, such as during the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-ie/3ebf9bb60.pdf">Rwandan civil war</a> in the 1990s, political and military leaders forced or encouraged people to migrate to other countries. </p>
<p>A mass migration can work as a political tool in two main ways. First, the sudden arrival of many newcomers can overwhelm housing, health care and other resources and test the patience of receiving populations. </p>
<p>This can place broader pressures on political coalitions like the European Union, which relies on member countries – some of them reluctant – to share the costs of hosting migrants. </p>
<h2>Not the first time</h2>
<p>This is not Putin’s <a href="https://unherd.com/2022/03/vladimir-putins-secret-weapon/">first attempt</a> to use mass migration to advance his political ambitions in Europe. </p>
<p>This kind of tactic dates back to a Soviet-era practice of “<a href="https://euromaidanpress.com/2014/08/09/an-ethnoconflictologist-on-putins-ethnic-engineering/">ethnic engineering</a>,” which means trying to exacerbate political tensions based on people’s different religious, ethnic or linguistic backgrounds. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/02/putin-weaponizing-migrant-crisis-to-hurt-europe.html">According to Western officials</a> and experts, Putin helped create the European 2015 and 2016 migration crisis from the Middle East. An estimated <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2016/08/02/number-of-refugees-to-europe-surges-to-record-1-3-million-in-2015/">1.3 million people seeking</a> asylum – a form of legal protection for people in unsafe situations – and other migrants arrived in Europe around this time. </p>
<p>The majority of migrants were from Syria, as a result of the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/syrias-civil-war">deadly civil war</a>. Putin and Syrian President Bashar Assad used bombs and other weapons to terrorize civilians and force them to leave their homes for Turkey and European Union countries.</p>
<p>In 2016, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, who served as a military commander of NATO at the time, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2016/03/02/putin-weaponizing-migrant-crisis-to-hurt-europe.html">warned that</a> Putin and Assad were “deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve.”</p>
<p>In response to the wave of new arrivals, the <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/eu-turkey-deal-five-years-on">European Union agreed</a> to take in Syrian refugees who were in Turkey. But Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic refused to accept <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/05/migration-crisis-europe-leaders-blame-brussels-hungary-germany">the refugees</a>. </p>
<p>This resulted in political tension among EU countries – and a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53925209">rise in anti-migrant</a> and nationalist political parties in places like Italy and Germany, which did accept large numbers of Syrians. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/immigration-worries-drove-the-brexit-vote-then-attitudes-changed/2018/11/16/c216b6a2-bcdb-11e8-8243-f3ae9c99658a_story.html">Public concern about immigration </a> also drove British citizens to vote in 2016 for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464397/original/file-20220520-27-mt7my.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Syrian men and boys line up closely in a long row outside white tents." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464397/original/file-20220520-27-mt7my.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464397/original/file-20220520-27-mt7my.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464397/original/file-20220520-27-mt7my.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464397/original/file-20220520-27-mt7my.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464397/original/file-20220520-27-mt7my.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464397/original/file-20220520-27-mt7my.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464397/original/file-20220520-27-mt7my.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Syrians who fled bombing in Aleppo, Syria, are seen at a tent city near the Turkish-Syrian border in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/syrians-who-fled-bombing-in-aleppo-are-seen-at-a-tent-city-and-close-picture-id509387876?s=2048x2048">Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New forced migrations</h2>
<p>A few months before the Ukraine war, Putin’s migration-as-weapon <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillgoldenziel/2021/11/10/belarus-is-weaponizing-migrants-using-putins-playbook-europe-must-legally-fight-back/?sh=5ca44bb31e2a">playbook inspired</a> political ally Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. </p>
<p>Lukashenko publicly <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/belarus/acaps-briefing-note-belaruspoland-migration-crisis-belarus-poland-border-2-december">promised people</a> from Iraq and other countries <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/belarus-poland-border-crisis-iraqi-refugees-deaths-repatriation-flights/">that if they came</a> to Belarus, he would help them cross into the European Union. Lukashenko provided migrants with free transportation to Belarus <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59206685?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bbbc.news.twitter%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D&at_medium=custom7&at_custom2=twitter&at_custom1=%5Bpost+type%5D&at_custom4=A8DED3CA-409C-11EC-B8B2-788A4744363C&at_campaign=64&at_custom3=%40BBCWorld">and the Polish border</a>.</p>
<p>But Polish border guards <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/17/1056397123/violence-erupts-at-the-belarus-poland-border-between-guards-and-migrants">violently blocked</a> these migrants from entering their country.</p>
<p>In December 2021, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/13/1062794948/authoritarians-migrants-weapons-white-house-worries">called Lukashenko’s</a> tactic a “hybrid attack.” </p>
<p>“This is not a migration crisis,” von der Leyen said. “This is an attempt by an authoritarian regime to try to destabilize its democratic neighbors. This will not succeed.” </p>
<p>Poland, Hungary and Slovakia are now among the counties <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">taking in</a> the largest numbers of Ukrainian refugees. While Poland has welcomed 3.1 million Ukrainians, Hungary has taken in 550,000 and Slovakia has admitted 391,000.</p>
<p>Keeping in line with Russia’s previous tactics during the Syrian war, the Russian military is again targeting and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-has-switched-tactics-targeting-civilians-ukraine-adviser-says-2022-03-10/">attacking civilians</a> in Ukraine – pushing millions to flee their homes and country. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464398/original/file-20220520-15-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man dressed in black with a white beard does a magic trick in front of a gym full of children, seated and watching." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464398/original/file-20220520-15-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464398/original/file-20220520-15-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464398/original/file-20220520-15-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464398/original/file-20220520-15-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464398/original/file-20220520-15-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464398/original/file-20220520-15-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464398/original/file-20220520-15-ca8w6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An American performer with Magicians Without Borders entertains Ukrainian refugee children in Krakow, Poland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/an-american-magician-of-magician-without-borders-tom-verner-refugee-picture-id1240522176?s=2048x2048">Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Welcome wearing out</h2>
<p>While some European communities have called Ukrainians <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/06/ukraine-refugees-warsaw-polish-border/629630/">“guests”</a> and not “refugees,” other local communities are reportedly overwhelmed.</p>
<p>In Warsaw, for example, <a href="https://vimeo.com/706555046">75 new schools</a> will need to be built to educate Ukraine refugee children. </p>
<p>“It’s like sitting on a ticking bomb,” <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/06/ukraine-refugees-warsaw-polish-border/629630/">said</a> Agnieszka Kosowicz, president of the Warsaw-based nonprofit Polish Migration Forum. “Poles simply don’t have the resources to sustain their initial levels of generosity,” she explained. </p>
<p>So far, European politicians have not called the wave of Ukrainian refugees a crisis. Some experts say this is <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/europes-unified-ukrainian-refugees-exposes-double-standard-nonwhite/story?id=83251970">because</a> Ukrainians are predominantly white and Christian.</p>
<p>Other migration situations show that cultural and ethnic similarities do not always prevent political instability. </p>
<p>In Turkey, for example, most Turkish residents and Syrian refugees are both predominantly Muslim. But public polls <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/tr/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2022/03/SB-2020-Ingilizce-son.pdf">show a steady decline</a> in tolerance for Syrians over the past 10 years. </p>
<p>Putin knows <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2022/04/is-hungary-ukraines-biggest-problem-in-the-european-union/">economic anxieties</a> feed anti-migration rhetoric in Hungary, France and other countries. This can create new threats to EU solidarity, and, by extension, European security.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182654/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark A. Grey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Putin has a history of forcing civilians to migrate during a conflict, part of a broader strategy to overwhelm other countries with new refugees and destabilize their economies.Mark A. Grey, Professor of Anthropology, University of Northern IowaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1817002022-04-28T12:21:09Z2022-04-28T12:21:09ZHow race and religion have always played a role in who gets refuge in the US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460113/original/file-20220427-24-2rper9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=108%2C30%2C3825%2C2626&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ukrainian refugees wait near the U.S. border in Tijuana, Mexico.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXUkraineRefugeesUnitedStates/807624ae5e484861b78de8d838d6d54f/photo?Query=refugees%20U.S.%20border&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1004&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Gregory Bull</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, <a href="https://www.iom.int/news/71-million-people-displaced-war-ukraine-iom-survey">millions</a> of Ukrainians have fled the country as refugees. Hundreds of those refugees have now <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/more-russians-ukrainians-seek-asylum-us-mexico-border-2022-03-04/">arrived</a> at the southern border of the United States seeking asylum, after flying to Mexico on tourist visas.</p>
<p>At the border, Ukrainians, alongside thousands of other asylum seekers, must navigate two policies meant to keep people out. The first is the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/lag.2021.0010">Migrant Protection Protocols</a>,” a U.S. government action initiated by the Trump administration in December 2018 and known informally as “Remain in Mexico.” The second is <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/guide-title-42-expulsions-border">Title 42</a>, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directive crafted in 2020, ostensibly to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The directive expels all irregular immigrants (those without permanent residency or a visa in hand) and asylum seekers who try to enter the U.S. by land.</p>
<p>On March 11, 2022, however, the Biden administration provided <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1glEe8MnsNWR15BsfQtiaSR75yKBrCuqe/view">guidance</a> allowing Customs and Border Protection officers to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-asylum-us-mexico-border/">exempt Ukrainians</a> from Title 42 on a case-by-case basis, which has allowed many families to enter. However, this exception has not been granted to other asylum seekers, no matter what danger they are in. It is possible that the administration may lift Title 42 at the end of May 2022, but that plan has encountered <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/politics/title-42-explainer-cec/index.html">fierce debates</a>.</p>
<p>The different treatment of Ukrainian versus Central American, African, Haitian and other asylum seekers has <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/29/us/ukrainians-us-mexico-border-cec/index.html">prompted</a> <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/african-immigrant-advocates-point-double-standard-ukrainians-receive-u-rcna23092">criticism</a> that the administration is enforcing immigration policies in racist ways, favoring white, European, mostly Christian refugees over other groups.</p>
<p>This issue is not new. As scholars of <a href="https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/religion/about-us/directory/laura-alexander.php">religion</a>, <a href="https://sis.tcu.edu/cres/faculty_staff/luis-romero/">race</a>, <a href="https://www.umary.edu/about/directory/karen-hooge-michalka-phd">immigration</a>, and <a href="https://www.oxy.edu/academics/faculty/jane-hong">racial and religious politics</a> in the United States, we study both historical and current immigration policy. We argue that U.S. refugee and asylum policy has long been racially and religiously discriminatory in practice.</p>
<h2>Chinese asylum seekers</h2>
<p>Race played a major role in who counted as a refugee during the early years of the Cold War. The displacement of millions fleeing communist regimes in <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40068321">Eastern Europe</a> and <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/4499816">East Asia</a> created humanitarian crises in both places.</p>
<p>Under significant international pressure, Congress passed the 1953 Refugee Relief Act. According to historian <a href="https://www.albany.edu/history/faculty/carl-bon-tempo">Carl Bon Tempo</a>, in the minds of President Dwight Eisenhower and most lawmakers, “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691123325/americans-at-the-gate">refugee” meant “anticommunist European</a>.” The text and implementation of the act reflected this. Of the 214,000 visas set aside for refugees, the law designated a quota of only <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691176215/the-good-immigrants">5,000 spots for Asians</a> (2,000 for Chinese and 3,000 for “Far Eastern” refugees). Ultimately, approximately 9,000 Chinese (including 6,862 Chinese wives of U.S. citizens who came as nonquota migrants) were admitted under the 1953 refugee law, compared with nearly 200,000 southern and eastern Europeans, over the next three years. </p>
<p>Racial prejudice impacted the international response to refugees as well. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1995.tb01712.x">United Nations officials</a> had declared the displaced population in Europe a humanitarian crisis and appealed to the international community to relieve these pressures by accepting refugees. Over the next decade, Western nations including the U.S., France and Great Britain received millions of displaced Europeans as part of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2020.1756781">larger Cold War public relations strategy</a> to contain the Soviet Union and demonstrate the <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40068321">superiority of Western capitalist societies</a> to life behind the Iron Curtain. </p>
<p>Millions of ethnic Chinese displaced by the 1949 Communist Revolution <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501700149/the-diplomacy-of-migration/">were not greeted so kindly</a>. In the early 1950s, Hong Kong’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X14000365">population tripled</a> due to mainland Chinese fleeing civil war and communist rule, triggering a crisis. Most Western countries, however, <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393634167">continued to exclude Chinese and other Asians from immigrating</a> and made few exceptions for refugees. </p>
<p>In the United States, exclusionary provisions that barred Asians from immigrating as “aliens ineligible to citizenship” would not be removed from immigration law until the <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469653365/opening-the-gates-to-asia/">1965 Immigration Act</a>.</p>
<h2>Haitian asylum seekers</h2>
<p>The first Haitian asylum seekers, who are overwhelmingly Black, attempted to reach the U.S. in boats <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Immigration-Incorporation-and-Transnationalism/Barkan/p/book/9780765803863">in 1963</a> during the dictatorship of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417519000306">Francois Duvalier</a>. It was a period of great <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055421000289">economic inequality</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417519000306">severe violent repression</a> of political opposition in Haiti.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Haitian men walking in a line wearing T-shirts and shorts, next to a ship, while a woman looks on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Haitian refugees who were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard returning to Port-au-Prince after being repatriated in 1992.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/HaitiRefugeesReturnHome1991/76ffd475da184cc6bb199d94e492741e/photo?Query=haitian%20refugees%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=645&currentItemNo=319">AP Photo/Daniel Morel</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Immigration-Incorporation-and-Transnationalism/Barkan/p/book/9780765803863">Between 1973 and 1991</a>, more than 80,000 Haitians tried to seek asylum in the U.S. The U.S., however, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716294534001006">consistently attempted</a> to intercept and turn back boats carrying Haitian asylum seekers to avoid having to hear their cases.</p>
<p>In the 1980s and 1990s, nearly every single Haitian who tried to request asylum was either <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1229010">denied or turned away</a>. Some disparities between asylum rates could be explained by political factors, particularly the U.S. government’s interest in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24344212">prioritizing</a> refugees from communist countries.</p>
<p>However, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/503/442/1467096/">both</a> <a href="https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914c3a8add7b049347c81bd">found</a>, in Haitian Refugee Center v. Civiletti and Jean v. Nelson respectively, that racial discrimination could be the only reason for such strikingly different outcomes for Haitians. In Jean v. Nelson, the 11th Circuit <a href="https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914c3a8add7b049347c81bd">heard evidence from plaintiffs</a> that there was a less than two-in-1 billion chance that Haitians would be denied parole so consistently if immigration policies were applied in racially neutral ways. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229010">Both courts also noted</a> the differences in outcomes of asylum claims between Cuban refugees, who were predominantly white, and Haitian refugees.</p>
<p>In the same time period, even while Black Haitian asylum seekers were being turned away, European immigrants, who were primarily white, received preference in the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-104/pdf/STATUTE-104-Pg4978.pdf">Diversity Visa system</a> created by the Immigration Act of 1990. Northern Ireland, for example, was <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-104/pdf/STATUTE-104-Pg4978.pdf">designated</a> as a separate country from the United Kingdom, and 40% of “diversity transition” visas allocated during 1992 to 1994 were earmarked for Irish immigrants. </p>
<p>Similar <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/09/21/us-treatment-haitian-migrants-discriminatory">accusations</a> of racism and discriminatory treatment have surfaced over the last several months as Haitian asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border have been <a href="https://www.wola.org/analysis/a-tragic-milestone-20000th-migrant-deported-to-haiti-since-biden-inauguration/">forced onto flights</a> to Haiti and have faced <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/21/1039230310/u-s-border-agents-haiti-migrants-horses-photographer-del-rio">degrading treatment</a>.</p>
<h2>Syrian refugees and the Muslim ban</h2>
<p>Beginning in January 2017, President Donald Trump issued <a href="https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4616&context=wlulr">a series</a> of executive orders described by many refugee advocates as the “Muslim Ban.” The ban <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/us/politics/trump-syrian-refugees.html">suspended the entry of people from majority-Muslim countries</a>, including Syrians, and limited the number of refugee admissions of several majority-Muslim countries.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large group of Syrian refugees waiting at Jordan's border." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Few Syrian refugees were allowed into the U.S. In this photo, Syrian refugees wait to be approved to get into Jordan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CongressSyrianRefugees/f792f02ff60c45b8b605d01255eb5fc7/photo?Query=syrian%20refugees%20US%20border&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=366&currentItemNo=140">AP Photo/Raad Adayleh, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Syrian refugees, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/the-us-has-slashed-its-refugee-intake-syrians-fleeing-war-are-most-affected/2019/05/07/f764e57c-678f-11e9-a1b6-b29b90efa879_story.html">most of whom</a> fled the Syrian civil war that began in 2011 and violence by the Islamic State, were specifically targeted in the Muslim Ban. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/02/01/2017-02281/protecting-the-nation-from-foreign-terrorist-entry-into-the-united-states">A February 2017 version</a> of the Muslim Ban claimed that Syrian refugees were “detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend[ed]” from admission, with few exceptions. This contributed to a <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/742553/syrian-refugee-arrivals-us/#:%7E:text=In%20the%20fiscal%20year%20of,Syrian%20refugees%20admitted%2C%20at%2012%2C587">significant decrease in the number of Syrian refugees</a> – from 12,587 to 76 between financial year 2016 to 2018.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920513516022">Research shows</a> that <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479838073/islamophobia-and-racism-in-america/">religion, particularly Islam</a>, is used to create <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240807300103">symbolic boundaries</a> of racial distinction in order to promote <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1349919">immigration enforcement goals</a>. Specifically, the government attempted to justify an exclusionary refugee policy based on race and religion by implicating Muslims and refugees in terrorism, as Trump did in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/07/donald-trump-ban-all-muslims-entering-us-san-bernardino-shooting">speeches</a>, even calling Syrians the “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/16/politics/donald-trump-syrian-refugees/index.html">trojan horse</a>” for terrorism. </p>
<p>International agreements for refugees and asylum seekers <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/3b66c2aa10">clearly state</a> that admissions should be based on need. In principle, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158">U.S. law</a> says this as well. But these key moments in United States history show how race, religion and other factors play a role in determining who is in, and who is out. </p>
<p>While refugees from the war in Ukraine deserve support from the United States and other countries, the contrast between the treatment of different groups of refugees shows that the process of gaining refuge in the United States is still far from equitable.</p>
<p>[<em>Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-explore">Sign up for This Week in Religion.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura E. Alexander receives funding from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) as a Public Fellow.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Hong receives funding from Public Religion Research Institute as a public fellow and from the Louisville Institute as the recipient of a sabbatical grant.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Hooge Michalka receives funding from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) as a Public Fellow and is a board member with Bismarck Global Neighbors.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luis A. Romero receives funding from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) as a Public Fellow. </span></em></p>Four scholars of race, religion and immigration explain how US refugee and asylum policy has long been racially and religiously discriminatory in practice.Laura E. Alexander, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights, University of Nebraska OmahaJane Hong, Associate Professor of History, Occidental CollegeKaren Hooge Michalka, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of MaryLuis A. Romero, Assistant Professor, Texas Christian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1802942022-04-05T19:41:33Z2022-04-05T19:41:33ZUkrainian refugees might not return home, even long after the war eventually ends<p>Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused more than <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">4.2 million people</a> to flee to the <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">neighboring countries</a> of Poland, Romania, Moldova and elsewhere. </p>
<p>Russia’s violence against civilians and attacks on cities caused an additional <a href="https://data.humdata.org/dataset/ukraine-key-figures-2022">6.5 million or more people</a> to become internally displaced. They left their homes but moved within Ukraine to other areas where they hope to be safer. </p>
<p>Russia and Ukraine have been holding <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/world/europe/peace-talks-russia-ukraine.html">sporadic peace talks</a>. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on April 4, 2022, that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60987350">talks will continue</a> despite Russian soldiers’ committing mass murders of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine. </p>
<p>But there is no guarantee that the millions of displaced Ukrainians will want to go back to their homes even once the war eventually ends. </p>
<p>Lessons learned from the experiences of people displaced in other conflicts, like Bosnia and Afghanistan, provide insight into what might happen with Ukrainians at the end of the fighting. A wave of new social science research, <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/12333154/peace_preference_and_property">including my own</a> as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_ZTigjcAAAAJ&hl=en">political scientist</a> studying post-conflict settings, shows that once violence ends, people do not always choose to return home. </p>
<h2>Time matters</h2>
<p>Several factors affect people’s choice to return to the place they fled, or to resettle elsewhere. Time is perhaps the most important. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/12333154/peace_preference_and_property">Research shows</a> that generations raised in places of refuge may no longer want to return to the place that was once home.</p>
<p>The faster the Ukrainian conflict is resolved, the more likely it will be that refugees will repatriate or return home. </p>
<p>Over time, displaced people adapt to their changed circumstances. In the best case, they form new social networks and get work opportunities in their places of refuge. </p>
<p>But if governments legally stop refugees from seeking formal employment, their prospects for financial self-sufficiency are grim. </p>
<p>This is the situation in some countries with large refugee populations such as <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/04/bangladesh-new-restrictions-rohingya-camps#">Bangladesh</a>, where Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are forced to live in camps and are prohibited from working. </p>
<p>This would not be the reality for most Ukrainian refugees, however. Most of them are resettling in the European Union, where they can get a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/21/business/refugees-ukraine-jobs.html">special temporary protected status</a> that enables them to work, attend school and receive medical care for at least one and up to three years. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456236/original/file-20220404-22605-qhjube.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Children surround an adult in a classroom, all seated, with a rainbow flag hanging on a wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456236/original/file-20220404-22605-qhjube.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456236/original/file-20220404-22605-qhjube.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456236/original/file-20220404-22605-qhjube.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456236/original/file-20220404-22605-qhjube.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456236/original/file-20220404-22605-qhjube.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456236/original/file-20220404-22605-qhjube.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456236/original/file-20220404-22605-qhjube.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ukrainian children are seen during their first day at school in Ederveen, Netherlands, on April 4, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/ukrainian-children-are-seen-during-their-first-day-at-school-in-on-picture-id1239739197?s=2048x2048">Robin Van Lonkhuijsen/ANP/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A larger refugee crisis</h2>
<p>Ukrainians add to the growing numbers of people who are forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/20/climate-disasters-caused-more-internal-displacement-than-war-in-2020">conflict or climate disasters</a>. </p>
<p>In 2020, the last year with reported global statistics, there were <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/flagship-reports/globaltrends/">82.4 million forcibly displaced people</a> worldwide, the highest figure in the past 20 years. Refugees, people who cross an international border seeking safety, make up 32% of that number. Internally displaced people are 58% of this total figure. The remainder are asylum seekers and Venezuelans displaced without legal recognition abroad. </p>
<p>There are three reasons for the increase in forcibly displaced people.</p>
<p>First, there are unresolved, persistent conflicts in both Afghanistan and Somalia that continue to force people to move. </p>
<p>The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021 caused the latest mass <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/afghanistan.html">movement of refugees</a>.</p>
<p>A second cause of rising displacement is the recent start of conflicts in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ethiopia-tigray-conflict-explained.html">Ethiopia</a>, <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/myanmar-history-coup-military-rule-ethnic-conflict-rohingya">Myanmar</a>, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/south-sudan">South Sudan</a> and elsewhere. </p>
<p>Third, fewer people caught up in war are returning home once the violence ends. The average length of time refugees stay away from their homes is <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/dev4peace/2019-update-how-long-do-refugees-stay-exile-find-out-beware-averages">five years</a>, but averages can be misleading. </p>
<p>For those 5 million to 7 million people in situations of protracted displacement – more than five years – the average duration of exile is <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/26622897">21.2 years</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456390/original/file-20220405-27-d26z7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman and man sit in front of two young children in a tent, next to a large heater." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456390/original/file-20220405-27-d26z7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456390/original/file-20220405-27-d26z7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456390/original/file-20220405-27-d26z7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456390/original/file-20220405-27-d26z7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456390/original/file-20220405-27-d26z7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456390/original/file-20220405-27-d26z7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456390/original/file-20220405-27-d26z7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A family of Syrian refugees tries to keep warm in a tent in the Beqqa Valley, Lebanon, in January 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/january-2022-lebanon-beqaa-valley-a-syrian-refugee-family-gather-near-picture-id1237855942?s=2048x2048">Marwan Naamani/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Deciding to go home – or not</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdv004">A recent study</a> of Sri Lankan refugee children raised in India because of the Sri Lankan Civil War from 1983 to 2009 found that some prefer staying in India, even though they are not citizens. <a href="https://www.fmreview.org/sites/fmr/files/FMRdownloads/en/return/valcarcelsilvela.pdf">These youths</a> feel they could better integrate in India if they were not labeled as refugees.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/52401bea4.pdf">Some studies</a> have shown that experiences of violence in people’s home countries diminishes their desire to return home. Other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055421000344">recent surveys</a> of Syrian refugees in Lebanon show the opposite. These studies found that those who were exposed to violence in Syria – and had a sense of attachment to home – were more likely to want to return. </p>
<p>Age and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12382">attachment to home</a> that often comes with it also influence people’s desire to return to their home country, making it more likely that older people will return. </p>
<p>Interestingly, this is also the case in some natural disasters. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11111-009-0092-2">After Hurricane Katrina</a> forced people to leave New Orleans in 2005, only half of adult residents under 40 later returned to the city. That’s compared with two-thirds of those over 40 who chose to go home.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456386/original/file-20220405-14-e9z19m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An older Black man sits in a seat drinking from a mug, in a dilapidated looking room with exposed wooden beams and walls." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456386/original/file-20220405-14-e9z19m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456386/original/file-20220405-14-e9z19m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456386/original/file-20220405-14-e9z19m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456386/original/file-20220405-14-e9z19m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456386/original/file-20220405-14-e9z19m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456386/original/file-20220405-14-e9z19m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456386/original/file-20220405-14-e9z19m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Willi Lee, 79, returned to New Orleans and tried to rebuild his home following Hurricane Katrina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/willi-lee-sits-inside-his-home-which-he-wants-to-rebuild-that-was-by-picture-id71054000?s=2048x2048">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rebuilding</h2>
<p>Rebuilding houses, returning property that has been occupied by others and providing compensation for property losses during war are vital to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Land-and-Post-Conflict-Peacebuilding/Unruh-Williams/p/book/9781849712316">encouraging people to return home</a> after displacement. </p>
<p>This work is typically funded by the post-conflict government or international organizations like the World Bank and United Nations. People need places to live and are more likely to remain in places of refuge if they have no home to which they can return. </p>
<p>There are exceptions to this rule. Following ethnic conflicts, refugees and internally displaced people were unwilling to return to homes in ethnically mixed neighborhoods when peace returned in both <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730360.001.0001/acprof-9780199730360">Bosnia</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12500">Lebanon</a>. They preferred to live in new communities, where they could be surrounded by people of their own ethnicity. </p>
<h2>Not just about peace</h2>
<p>Finally, it is not just peace, but political control that matters to people considering a return. </p>
<p>Nearly <a href="https://www.unicef.org/appeals/syrian-refugees">5.7 million Syrian refugees</a> remain in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and other countries after more than 11 years of war in their country. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad <a href="https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/insights/28041/the-syria-civil-war-might-be-ending-but-the-crisis-will-live-on">has retained political power</a>, and some parts of Syria have not seen active conflict since 2018. But it is still not safe for these refugees to return to live in Syria. </p>
<p>[<em>Understand key political developments, each week.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s politics newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>The economic situation in the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/syria/overview#1">country is dire</a>. Assad’s government and related militias still conduct <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/10/20/our-lives-are-death/syrian-refugee-returns-lebanon-and-jordan">kidnappings, torture and extrajudicial killings</a>.</p>
<p>Even if Russia retreats and pulls its forces entirely out of Ukraine, some ethnic Russians who were living in Ukraine before the conflict are less likely to return there. Returns are <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/no-return-no-refuge/9780231153362">most likely</a> when the government and returnees are happy with the outcome and people are going back to their own country. </p>
<p>Russian violence in Ukraine has changed the fuzzy division between ethnic Russians and ethnic Ukrainians into a bright line. The comfortable coexistence of the two groups within Ukraine is unlikely to resume.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180294/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra Joireman receives funding from the University of Richmond, the Fulbright program and the Earhart Foundation. </span></em></p>Even once the war in Ukraine ends, the millions of people who fled from their homes might not be quick to return. The faster the war ends, the more likely it is they will go back.Sandra Joireman, Weinstein Chair of International Studies, Professor of Political Science, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1788162022-03-23T17:20:57Z2022-03-23T17:20:57ZHow Russia is trying to stoke anti-Ukrainian sentiment in eastern EU countries<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452638/original/file-20220316-8340-1uojls4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8507%2C5654&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People who fled the war in Ukraine rest inside an indoor gymnasium being used as a refugee centre in the village of Medyka, a border crossing between Poland and Ukraine, on March 15, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>War in Ukraine is evolving into a humanitarian disaster right at the European Union’s doorstep. In contrast to wars elsewhere in world, European Union member states are the first safe countries that can be reached by people fleeing direct warfare.</p>
<p>After a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-vladimir-putin-is-botching-his-ukrainian-invasion-178817">failed blitzkrieg</a>, the Russian army has adopted attacks against civilians, resulting in ever-growing refugee flows from Ukraine to neighbouring countries — <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">3.5 million</a> people have fled so far, mainly women and children. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-russian-attacks-on-innocent-ukrainian-citizens-will-probably-intensify-178621">Why Russian attacks on innocent Ukrainian citizens will probably intensify</a>
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<p><a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32022D0382&from=EN">The influx is expected to grow</a>, putting the stability of the European Union at risk and creating an opportunity for Vladimir Putin, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0227-8">master of information wars against open societies</a>, to create dangerous divisions in the EU.</p>
<h2>Humanitarian crisis as a cyber-weapon</h2>
<p>Massive migration flows have frequently caused security concerns in post-1989 Europe. The influx of nearly a million asylum-seekers to Germany from the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia resulted in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1468-5965.00263">restrictive asylum policies and border controls</a>. </p>
<p>But it was the Syrian crisis, skilfully used by both by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/17506352211027084">Russian media</a> and <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/syriasource/russia-s-disinformation-campaign-has-changed-how-we-see-syria/">Russian troll farms on social media,</a> that transformed the <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EXPO_IDA(2021)653641">humanitarian crisis into a cyberweapon</a>. </p>
<p>That weapon had quick success on three fronts: the unprecedented rise of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2017.1389721">right-wing, populist anti-Muslim and anti-immigration</a> movements across the EU; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2017.1417200">Brexit;</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.5539/res.v12n3p32">a rise in anti-immigration sentiment in eastern Europe</a>.</p>
<h2>Eastern Europe’s immigration ambivalence</h2>
<p>The EU does not have a common immigration policy, with a few exceptions: <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R0399&from=EN">border control</a>, visa policy, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/migration-and-asylum/common-european-asylum-system_en#:%7E:text=The%20European%20Union%20is%20an,on%20the%20protection%20of%20refugees.">asylum policy</a> and legal migration policy for a few specific categories <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016L0801&from=FR">like students</a> and <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/migration-and-asylum/legal-migration-and-integration/long-term-residents_en">long-term permanent residents</a>.</p>
<p>Access to the EU is defined by a dense network of agreements, from visa waivers to trade agreements, with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42204-2_4">citizenship the key to determining someone’s right of entry</a>.</p>
<p>Adoption of the first three sets of policies — on borders, visas and asylum — is a requirement for EU membership. In the early 1990s, some former communist countries started adopting EU rules in a process called “Europeanization” to meet the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.00149">criteria for EU membership</a>. </p>
<p>They adopted the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/schengen-borders-and-visa/schengen-area_en">Schengen rules</a> governing the EU’s borders to the east. They also adopted <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/protect/PROTECTION/3b73b0d63.pdf">the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees</a> to create a protective barrier between the EU’s western European core and eastern Europe due to the turmoil caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. </p>
<p>The focus on policies aimed at stopping people from entering was a conceptually new undertaking for these countries, which had just spent 40 years <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F019791839803200411">trying to prevent emigration</a>, not block immigration. </p>
<p>This shift in policy focus also impacted how politicians spoke about immigration. My research in Poland found they began using <a href="https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/handle/item/66052">language adopted</a> from their western European colleagues at the time, full of “bogus asylum-seekers” and “illegal immigrants.” That undermined any political effort to invest in real immigration and integration policies. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="children mimic a ballet dancer" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453698/original/file-20220322-20-ww5wr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453698/original/file-20220322-20-ww5wr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453698/original/file-20220322-20-ww5wr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453698/original/file-20220322-20-ww5wr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453698/original/file-20220322-20-ww5wr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453698/original/file-20220322-20-ww5wr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453698/original/file-20220322-20-ww5wr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Refugee children mimic a ballet dancer in Bucharest, Romania, in 2017. Children of refugee families from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Congo, took part in a celebration of Romania’s national day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Poland: Epicentre of EU humanitarian crisis</h2>
<p>In the decade prior to joining the EU, with no large groups of immigrants in the country (lower than one per cent of the Polish population) and next to no public interest in immigration, Polish policy-makers repeated and applied <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230800717_9">the security arguments and fear-based language about immigration</a> they heard in the West.</p>
<p>Starting from this low point, Poland has been slow to adopt any active immigrant integration policies, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16256-0_14">opting instead for “organic” integration</a>. </p>
<p>In 2015, for the first time in Polish history, <a href="https://www.iedonline.eu/download/2019/IED-Research-Paper-Russia-as-a-security-provider_January2019.pdf">Russian disinformation efforts</a> put immigration at the top of the political agenda and propelled an anti-EU, anti-immigration and conservative populist party to power.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two men stand behind separate podiums with a row of Canadian and Polish flags behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452634/original/file-20220316-8425-1hbewgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452634/original/file-20220316-8425-1hbewgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452634/original/file-20220316-8425-1hbewgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452634/original/file-20220316-8425-1hbewgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452634/original/file-20220316-8425-1hbewgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452634/original/file-20220316-8425-1hbewgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/452634/original/file-20220316-8425-1hbewgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a joint news conference with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda on a recent meeting in Warsaw.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since then, all efforts to build a functioning Polish refugee reception system have been stalled, and the Polish government decided to undermine EU solidarity in the Syrian crisis <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/politics-nationalism-and-religion-explain-why-poland-doesnt-want-refugees/">by refusing to host even one Syrian refugee</a>.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.mipex.eu/poland">lack of a functioning reception and integration system</a> may have propelled Syrian asylum-seekers and refugees further west. </p>
<h2>Belarus-fuelled crisis</h2>
<p>The refugee crisis on the eastern European border in 2021, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillgoldenziel/2021/11/10/belarus-is-weaponizing-migrants-using-putins-playbook-europe-must-legally-fight-back/?sh=6dcbd82c1e2a">created artificially by Belarus in response to EU sanctions</a>, has been successful on two counts. First, it helped <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/rethinking-eastern-european-racism/">revive the narrative of racist eastern European states</a>. Second, it did the groundwork for the ongoing influx of refugees from Ukraine. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-eu-is-the-real-villain-in-the-poland-belarus-migrant-crisis-172132">The EU is the real villain in the Poland-Belarus migrant crisis</a>
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<p>The Polish welcome of Ukrainians is now being labelled <a href="https://theconversation.com/refugees-reporting-and-the-far-right-how-the-ukraine-crisis-reveals-brutal-everyday-racism-in-europe-and-beyond-178410">“white privilege,” helping support Vladimir Putin’s laughable claim that Ukrainians are Nazis</a>. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-how-citizenship-and-race-play-out-in-refugees-movements-in-europe-178118">lack of understanding on how EU border policies work</a> in the first weeks of the invasion also cast blame on Polish and Ukrainian border guards.</p>
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<img alt="Mothers push baby strollers down a ramp." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453700/original/file-20220322-25-1hisdfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453700/original/file-20220322-25-1hisdfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453700/original/file-20220322-25-1hisdfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453700/original/file-20220322-25-1hisdfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453700/original/file-20220322-25-1hisdfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453700/original/file-20220322-25-1hisdfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453700/original/file-20220322-25-1hisdfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Refugees with children walk after fleeing the war from neighbouring Ukraine at a railway station in Przemysl, Poland, on March 22, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Sergei Grits)</span></span>
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<p>Poland is now the epicentre of the largest humanitarian crisis in Europe since 1945. To point out the country is ill-prepared to handle it and avoid catastrophe is an understatement. </p>
<p>All support for the refugees in the first two weeks of the war <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lidiakurasinska/2022/02/27/polish-businesses-and-ordinary-citizens-scramble-to-help-ukrainian-refugees/?sh=16f19d893d09">was organized spontaneously by Polish businesses, local governments, civil society organizations and the population at large</a>, with the Polish state absent from the equation. The major difference with previous refugee crises was that the government actually allowed citizens to help refugees.</p>
<h2>The threat starts in Poland</h2>
<p>The skilful use of disinformation and misinformation amplified by Russian operatives on social media is more ferocious than <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/russian-disinformation-and-refugee-dehumanisation-overshadows-idlib-crisis-34220">what afflicted Turkey for its support to Syrians</a>. </p>
<p>Russia’s first goal is to weaken support for Ukrainian refugees in the countries hosting most of them. Poland, a country promoting right-wing anti-immigrant rhetoric for seven years, is the primary aim. </p>
<p>The mix of historical ambivalence on immigration, lack of structural governance support and the arrival of hundreds of thousands of long-term refugees is a fertile ground for war in cyberspace. </p>
<p>Polish social media is already under attack.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/russia-spreads-disinfo-to-undermine-poles-refugee-support/">Fake news triggered real-life incidents that put African refugees at risk</a>; the Polish Institute for Internet and Social Media Research <a href="https://ibims.pl/komunikat-ws-prorosyjskich-grup-prowadzacych-dzialania-dezinformacyjne-25-02-22/">says it recorded more than 120,000 attempts at disinformation on social media related to Russia’s attack on Ukraine within just 24 hours of the invasion</a>; and Putin’s spin machine is feeding <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/11/1085606596/ukraine-russia-news-invasion-refugees-poland-przemysl">Polish right-wing politicians, trying to erode popular support for the refugees</a>. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/both-facts-and-fake-news-about-the-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-are-spread-on-social-media-178773">Both facts and fake news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine are spread on social media</a>
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<p>Polish consensus on Ukrainian refugees is fragile and fraught with danger. With the government still vague about its integration policy, Polish society needs international support to immediately raise social media literacy and migrant integration awareness.</p>
<p>When the well-being of a refugee depends solely on the generosity of a private citizen, the risk of help going wrong is enormous, especially with Russian trolls in play. Anti-immigrant sentiments can be easily triggered and misinformation can spin out of control.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178816/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Agnieszka Weinar was a Research Fellow receiving research funding from the FP7 program of the European Union (until 2017). She is affiliated with New Europeans and Canada-Europe Women in Business.</span></em></p>The European Union is once again faced with the danger of destabilization. Putin’s cyberwar on free societies using the migration crisis went well in 2015. He must not succeed now in Poland or beyond.Agnieszka Weinar, Adjunct Research Professor, Migration Policy, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1761212022-02-22T17:13:09Z2022-02-22T17:13:09Z‘I am back to square one’: How COVID-19 impacted recently resettled Yazidi and Syrian refugees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445495/original/file-20220209-13-584ubx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C8%2C5708%2C3819&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A group of Syrian refugees, now new Canadians, take part in a virtual citizenship ceremony in December 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Giordano Ciampini</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed and exacerbated existing challenges and vulnerabilities across <a href="https://rsc-src.ca/en/covid-19-policy-briefing/supporting-canada%E2%80%99s-covid-19-resilience-and-recovery-through-robust">Canada’s immigration system</a>. It has placed an <a href="https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v16i1.2691">uneven burden on refugees</a>, including <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1059602">temporary halts</a> on Canada’s resettlement efforts and has increased their risk of <a href="https://www.ices.on.ca/Publications/Atlases-and-Reports/2020/COVID-19-in-Immigrants-Refugees-and-Other-Newcomers-in-Ontario">COVID-19 infection</a>.</p>
<p>Beyond higher infection rates, how did lockdowns, school closures and the economic downturn impact refugees who were recently resettled in Canada before the pandemic began? </p>
<p>In our two recently published studies based on <a href="https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v16i1.2692">interviews with Yazidi</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v16i1.2669">and Syrian families</a>, we find that the emotional, social and economic toll of COVID-19 unsettled families and reinforced pre-migration trauma. </p>
<p>Between spring and winter 2020, our research teams interviewed 38 Syrian refugees and 23 Yazidi refugees in three Canadian cities: Calgary, London and Fredericton. </p>
<p>Our findings showed that, for many refugee families, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing structural inequalities. The pandemic effectively eliminated progress in employment, social connections, language development and access to suitable housing they had made since arriving in Canada.</p>
<h2>Falling behind, feeling unsettled</h2>
<p>“It’s like I am back to square one. It’s like I am in my first month in Canada. It took me almost three years to make all the progress and now I lost it again. It makes me very scared for my family’s future,” says Gulroz, a Yazidi mother, when talking about the pandemic.</p>
<p>Gulroz is not alone. Many families felt like they were “back to square one.” </p>
<p>The families we interviewed were financially vulnerable before the pandemic. So when the pandemic brought <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/2020004/s6-eng.htm">job losses</a>, <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/longforms/covid-19-pandemic-disrupted-schooling-impact/">disruptions to schooling</a> (for both children and adults) and increased expenses (like <a href="https://www.dal.ca/sites/agri-food/research/canada-s-food-price-report-2021.html">higher food costs</a>), people felt a growing sense of hopelessness. </p>
<p>The sense of falling behind loomed large, especially in areas of language acquisition, employment and housing prospects — these impacts were felt more acutely by women who experienced <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/blogs/compounding-misfortunes-refugee-women-and-girls-lose-even-more-ground-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/">disproportionate care work responsibilities</a>. </p>
<h2>Social isolation and reliving trauma</h2>
<p>The implementation of local lockdowns led to intense feelings of social isolation for recent refugee families who lived in inadequate, crowded housing conditions with minimal access to green space. As Elham, a Syrian refugee, explained, “We do not have a balcony.… During the [lockdown], we wanted to breathe some fresh air [but] we were always inside the apartment.” </p>
<p>Elham’s frustration illustrates <a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ncc-tightens-rules-closes-all-urban-parks-except-for-walkthrough">how the closure of public green spaces</a> led to feelings of claustrophobia for people living in small apartments <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2230">without access to balconies, backyards and residential green spaces</a>.</p>
<p>Many families used the imagery of prison, suffocation and captivity to describe the lockdown. Peri, a Yazidi single mother, says, “It’s like, I am back in that little room where the monster who took me kept me, locked in chains. Sometimes I can’t breathe. All the progress I made in my head to feel better is gone now. I feel like it’s the first day of landing here when I kept having visions of my captivity.” </p>
<p>COVID-19 restrictions and other governmental measures were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014564118">necessary</a> to contain the pandemic. However, an unintended fallout was that, for many refugee families, lockdowns <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32669034/">increased mental health challenges</a>. Our interviewees were triggered as memories of pre-migration trauma were reignited. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman stand working on a garden" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445531/original/file-20220209-25-12bq8ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445531/original/file-20220209-25-12bq8ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445531/original/file-20220209-25-12bq8ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445531/original/file-20220209-25-12bq8ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445531/original/file-20220209-25-12bq8ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445531/original/file-20220209-25-12bq8ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445531/original/file-20220209-25-12bq8ll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Land of Dreams, an urban farming project in Calgary, helped some Yazidi women build relationships during the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kheriya Khidir/Calgary Catholic Immigration Society)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Hope and resilience</h2>
<p>Despite the enormous challenges they faced, the refugees we spoke with are determined to pursue their dreams of suitable employment and homeownership. They also expressed gratitude and a sense of security for the “sanctuary” of their lives in Canada — most believed living in Canada allowed them to avoid the extreme effects of the pandemic in their <a href="https://www.msf.org/health-system-overwhelmed-northern-syria-most-severe-covid-19-outbreak-yet">countries of origin</a>.</p>
<p>Many of our interviewees were part of community engagement programs that made space for resiliency in their lives throughout the pandemic.</p>
<p>Some Yazidi women in Calgary engaged in an urban farming project, <a href="https://www.ccisab.ca/services/urban-farming.html">Land of Dreams</a> — a place that enabled building new relationships during the pandemic. As they connected with the land, the women shared food they grew in the farm and exchanged cultural knowledge with other newcomer communities. </p>
<p>Vian, a Yazidi mother says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“… we came from a small village where we used to wake up very early in the morning, go to the farm, plant our vegetables, water them and feed our animals. It was a very beautiful and simple life and I liked it so much. When I go Land of Dreams, I remember those days and feel like I still am living in those moments and nothing bad [has] happened to us.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Land of Dreams shows that community-led approaches can support refugees during and beyond the pandemic. Our research highlights the need for governments to include refugees in COVID-19 recovery responses that address the disproportionate burden the pandemic has placed on refugees and other marginalized peoples. Many refugees feel like the pandemic has caused them to fall behind and they know what structural changes are needed to catch up. </p>
<p>We must meaningfully include newcomers and refugees in the formulation of policies that address structural constraints that affect them during times of crisis. </p>
<p><em>Fawziah Rabiah-Mohammed, PhD Student in Health Sciences at Western University co-authored this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176121/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leah Hamilton has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pallavi Banerjee has received funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), and the University of Calgary Research Grant Committee. </span></em></p>We must meaningfully include newcomers and refugees in the formulation of policies that address structural constraints that affect them during times of crisis.Leah Hamilton, Professor, Department of General Management & Human Resources, and Department of Psychology (cross-appointed), Mount Royal UniversityPallavi Banerjee, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1689922021-10-11T13:14:03Z2021-10-11T13:14:03ZWhy Joe Biden should emulate Canada and go big on private refugee resettlement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425255/original/file-20211007-25-1pfkxpj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5040%2C3357&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Now is the time for U.S. President Joe Biden to ask the American people to invite homeless and war-ravaged Afghan refugees into their homes and their communities. Experience has taught us that, like the Statue of Liberty, many will raise their hand in enthusiastic response.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As attention turns from the evacuation of Afghanistan to the arrival of refugees, U.S. President Joe Biden has an opportunity for large-scale engagement of the American public in a deeply personal fashion. </p>
<p>If Canada’s history is any indicator, the capacity of private American citizens to resettle refugees is large and untapped. It may even bridge the divide over immigration in the United States.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-story-behind-the-worlds-first-private-refugee-sponsorship-program-126257">The story behind the world's first private refugee sponsorship program</a>
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<p>In the immediate aftermath of <a href="https://www.ap.org/explore/fall-of-saigon/">the fall of Saigon in 1975</a>, some 130,000 Vietnamese refugees <a href="https://amcmuseum.org/history/operation-babylift-and-new-life/">were lifted</a> by sea and air to Guam and military bases in the southern United States. They were quickly resettled in the U.S., Canada and other countries, and were <a href="http://cihs-shic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Indochinese-Refugees-Cdn-Response-report-ENG.pdf">soon followed</a> by an even larger exodus of refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. </p>
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<img alt="A weeping woman and her three children on a boat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425478/original/file-20211008-14-1kguck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425478/original/file-20211008-14-1kguck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425478/original/file-20211008-14-1kguck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425478/original/file-20211008-14-1kguck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425478/original/file-20211008-14-1kguck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425478/original/file-20211008-14-1kguck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425478/original/file-20211008-14-1kguck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A weeping South Vietnamese mother and her three children on the deck of an amphibious command ship are rescued from Saigon by U.S. Marine helicopters in Vietnam in April 1975.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/J.T. Wolkerstorfer)</span></span>
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<p>Another three million refugees would flee these countries as communist regimes were consolidating power. <a href="https://senatorngo.ca/history-of-the-boat-people/">Many fled on ramshackle boats where almost one in three were lost at sea</a>. Others died of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/23/opinion/l-camps-victimize-vietnamese-boat-people-214391.html">abuse and neglect in camps</a>, where they were preyed upon by unfriendly governments. </p>
<p>Despite the situation, the international community was slow to respond — <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadian-response-to-boat-people-refugee-crisis">only 8,500 refugees were resettled in the four years between the fall of Saigon and May 1979</a>. In Canada, the government of Pierre Trudeau had committed to resettle 5,000 Indochinese refugees, but only 1,100 had arrived. Then, something remarkable happened.</p>
<h2>Canada steps up</h2>
<p>On the eve of a United Nations conference in Geneva to discuss the issue, <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/cic/MP23-60-1982-1-eng.pdf6">Canada announced</a> its intention to resettle 50,000 refugees by the end of 1980, which was just 18 months away. This would later be revised to 60,000. </p>
<p>Just as astounding was its intention resettle half of these through <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2019/04/canada-celebrates-40-years-of-the-refugee-sponsorship-program.html">its new private refugee sponsorship program</a>. Canadians from all walks of life, from rural Manitoba to urban Toronto, could respond to the situation by volunteering their homes, funds and time to receive and resettle Indochinese refugees.</p>
<p>This announcement coincided with swelling Canadian support for refugee resettlement. In February 1979, <a href="http://cihs-shic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Marcus_IMRC_Submission.pdf#page=14">89 per cent</a> of Canadians were opposed to inviting more refugees; only seven per cent wanted more. Within months, opposition had tumbled to <a href="https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/79207/Gateman-Madison-MA-HIST-May-2020.pdf#page=28">38 per cent</a>, while 52 per cent supported increased resettlement. </p>
<p>Groups ranging from churches to <a href="http://cihs-shic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Marcus_IMRC_Submission.pdf#page=14">bowling clubs</a> signed up to sponsor individuals and families, while <a href="https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/79207/Gateman-Madison-MA-HIST-May-2020.pdf#page=71">kids sold lemonade</a> at $50 a glass ($175 in 2021 dollars) to fund new arrivals. Rural townships called into Ottawa to ask when they would receive their family, and townhalls that had been convened to debate the topic of refugees <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=_rjiOXMRd4sC&lpg=PA139&pg=PA139">turned into</a> spontaneous sponsorship drives.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People are seen crammed onto a small boat in a black and white photo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425257/original/file-20211007-25-hry98v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425257/original/file-20211007-25-hry98v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425257/original/file-20211007-25-hry98v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425257/original/file-20211007-25-hry98v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425257/original/file-20211007-25-hry98v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425257/original/file-20211007-25-hry98v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425257/original/file-20211007-25-hry98v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vietnamese people fleeing their country are seen in a crammed boat off the coast of Vietnam in the late 1970s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jesuit Refugee Service Asia Pacific)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Pairing sponsors with refugees</h2>
<p>In Ottawa, the government was busy matching sponsors to refugees. An <a href="http://cihs-shic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Berlin_Airlift_and_the_Indochinese_Refugees_final.pdf">enterprising policy officer</a> drew inspiration from the Berlin Airlift to avoid overcrowding at arrival points. In the late 1940s <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/berlin-airlift">during a Soviet blockade of Berlin</a>, western allies flew continuous supplies to airports in Berlin. </p>
<p>Thirty years later, the policy officer obtained one of Ottawa’s first computers that matched refugees to sponsors or immediately placed them in a government-assisted stream. This was aimed at ensuring the smooth transition of Indochinese refugees to their new homes.</p>
<p>Despite some hiccups, more than 80 per cent of eligible refugees were matched with sponsors before the planes landed, and by the end of 1980, all 60,000 had arrived. Adjusted to 2020 U.S. population terms, that’s an equivalent of almost 890,000 people resettled in just 18 months.</p>
<p>Subsequent generations of Canadians have responded with <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/canada-private-sponsorship-model-refugee-resettlement">equal enthusiasm</a> to new arrivals from the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Ethiopia and Syria, among others. Private sponsorship continues at a steady, moderate level during years between crises, spurred by cultural groups and family members of refugees, but when sudden large displacements capture public attention a large pool of first-time sponsors step forward. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.environicsinstitute.org/docs/default-source/project-documents/welcome-the-stranger-private-sponsorship-study-2021/environics-r613-private-refugee-sponsorship-market-study-2021---final-report-eng.pdf?sfvrsn=9e66b9b2_4">Roughly</a> <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/refugee-resettlement-minister-ahmed-hussen-explains/id1368638855?i=1000431607843">five per cent</a> of the Canadian population has sponsored a refugee, while millions more have donated couches, cash or labour.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man holds a baby and two teddy bears and smiles as his smiling wife and son, holding a small Canadian flag, stand beside him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425480/original/file-20211008-13-1yy2tp1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425480/original/file-20211008-13-1yy2tp1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425480/original/file-20211008-13-1yy2tp1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425480/original/file-20211008-13-1yy2tp1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425480/original/file-20211008-13-1yy2tp1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425480/original/file-20211008-13-1yy2tp1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425480/original/file-20211008-13-1yy2tp1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A family of Syrian refugees arrives at the Welcome Centre at Toronto’s Pearson Airport in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bridging American divides</h2>
<p>Perhaps this large constituency of people with experience resettling refugees is one explanation for positive Canadian attitudes towards immigration. If so, private refugee resettlement is a policy that could bridge American divides on migration. </p>
<p>It would also fill the gap left by <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-09-27/us-refugee-agencies-wither-trump-administration-cuts-numbers-historic-lows">drastic cuts</a> to the government-funded resettlement sector under the previous Donald Trump administration. <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2019021-eng.htm">Evidence suggests</a> that those sponsored under a private resettlement program do just as well, if not better.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/donald-trumps-ban-will-have-lasting-and-damaging-impacts-on-the-worlds-refugees-72001">Donald Trump's ban will have lasting and damaging impacts on the world's refugees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the midst of the Afghanistan crisis, several <a href="https://twitter.com/JonFeere/status/1427712063766515722">U.S. immigration critics</a> (including members of the previous administration) have asked immigration advocates and the public if they really want refugees in their communities.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1427839604376444929"}"></div></p>
<p>Contrary to their perceptions, polling suggests the answer is yes — support for resettling Afghan interpreters and other allies sits at around <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VJKdBglH8nPNslg4duYhtV1fuTcoWF4w/view">81 per cent</a> and is unusually consistent across party affiliation. </p>
<p><a href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/travel/survey-results/daily/2021/08/17/fcdbe/3">Sixty-five per cent</a> support expanding resettlement to other Afghans, and <a href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2021/08/18/61982/3">61 per cent</a> are in favour of hosting refugees in their home state.</p>
<p>While the U.S. State Department has <a href="https://www.axios.com/biden-private-refugee-program-afghans-5efefa5c-b496-4092-975c-5c4396515fbb.html">announced its intention</a> to start a private sponsorship program, its size or scope isn’t clear yet. Lessons from history teach us that a limited pilot program risks drastically under-utilizing the American capacity for resettlement.</p>
<p>Now is the time for Biden to ask the American people to invite homeless and war-ravaged Afghan refugees into their homes and their communities. Experience has taught us that, like the Statue of Liberty, many will raise their hand in enthusiastic response.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Falconer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the U.S. considers its own private refugee sponsorship program, it should look to Canada. History shows that large-scale adoption is possible and can bridge divides on immigration.Robert Falconer, Researcher in Immigration and Refugee Policy, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1670332021-09-12T13:28:45Z2021-09-12T13:28:45ZFederal election 2021: What the Conservatives don’t understand about refugee resettlement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420615/original/file-20210912-17-wwv0r9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C40%2C2986%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this photo from 2015, newly arrived Syrian refugees take part in a mass at the Armenian Community Centre in Toronto. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the Sept. 20 federal election approaching, the Conservative Party of Canada <a href="https://cpcassets.conservative.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/25132033/5ea53c19b2e3597.pdf">is pledging</a> to “replace public, government-assisted refugee places with more private and joint sponsorship places.” </p>
<p>The plan argues “that privately sponsored refugees are more likely to succeed than publicly sponsored ones, even after they have been in Canada for a long time.” With few exceptions, the party says it will replace government resettlement with privately and jointly sponsored resettlement. </p>
<p>We argue that government-assisted refugees, in the long term, integrate nearly as well as privately sponsored refugees. More importantly, we believe ending government-assisted resettlement would jeopardize Canada’s global humanitarian leadership.</p>
<p>First, we want to make one thing clear: Canada does not select refugees based on how well they will succeed. While we of course hope to see refugees thrive and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/service-delivery/resettlement-assistance-program.html">Canada supports them</a> to do so upon arrival, it’s not the purpose of the program nor the basis of its admission criteria. </p>
<p>Refugees are selected based on their vulnerability and their need for protection.</p>
<h2>Canada’s resettlement streams</h2>
<p>Canada has offered refugee resettlement since 1978 with programs for both government-assisted refugees and the private sponsorship of refugees. In 2013, the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/help-outside-canada/private-sponsorship-program/blended-visa-office-program.html">Blended Visa Office-Referred Program</a> was introduced to match government funds with funds from sponsors who would also provide personal support. Overall, more than <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/in-canada/unhcr-role-resettlement/refugee-resettlement-canada/">700,000 refugees</a> have been resettled to Canada. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-joe-biden-can-learn-from-canadas-private-refugee-sponsorship-program-158341">What Joe Biden can learn from Canada's private refugee sponsorship program</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The sponsorship program was, from the beginning, a way for Canadians to step up and provide support for refugees in need of protection. The <a href="https://refugeesponsorship.org/guidebook?chapter=1&area=3">principles of additionality</a> (acting as a complement to government resettlement) <a href="https://ccrweb.ca/en/private-sponsorship-refugees">and naming</a> (identifying the refugees to be resettled — often via family or faith-based connections) have always been at the core of private sponsorship. Amid the Syrian crisis, private sponsorship has gained considerably in popularity, overtaking government resettlement numbers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man holds up a phone that shows a screen of many people taking part in the citizenship ceremony." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420616/original/file-20210912-27-1i8rudj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420616/original/file-20210912-27-1i8rudj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420616/original/file-20210912-27-1i8rudj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420616/original/file-20210912-27-1i8rudj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420616/original/file-20210912-27-1i8rudj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420616/original/file-20210912-27-1i8rudj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420616/original/file-20210912-27-1i8rudj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A group of Syrian refugees taking the Canadian citizenship oath in an online ceremony last December to mark the fifth anniversary of the landing of the first plane of Syrian refugees in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Giordano Ciampini</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fhumd.2021.625358/full">One study</a> highlights how between 2010 and 2020 (prior to COVID-19 restrictions), sponsorship admissions increased by 400 per cent compared to government admissions that grew by only 25 per cent. The blended model works in periods of crisis, like with <a href="http://www.lifelinesyria.ca">Syrian refugees</a> and now probably with <a href="https://www.lifelineafghanistan.ca">Afghan refugees</a>, but otherwise attracts <a href="https://crs.info.yorku.ca/files/2019/04/BVOR-Briefing-2019-May1.pdf?%20x44358">minimal interest</a>.</p>
<p>The Liberals came to power in 2015 with the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/liberals-revised-goal-met-as-25000th-syrian-refugee-arrives-in-canada/article28944527/">promise to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees</a> through their government program, a number that was ultimately complemented with additional private sponsorship admissions. The current election campaign is playing out as Afghan refugees, caught up in a humanitarian crisis following the chaotic withdrawal of United States-led forces this summer, are in need of protection. <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2021/08/canada-expands-resettlement-program-to-bring-more-afghans-to-safety.html">Canada has offered that protection through both government resettlement and private sponsorship</a>. </p>
<p>While the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed resettlement arrivals, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/supplementary-immigration-levels-2021-2023.html">the government is planning in 2022</a> to admit 22,500 privately sponsored refugees, 12,500 government-assisted refugees and another 1,000 under the Blended Visa Office-Referred Program. Pledges to resettle Afghans are presumably in addition to these numbers. </p>
<p>None of Canada’s resettlement numbers are particularly high. Compared <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/permanent-residence/economic-classes.html">to economic</a> and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/permanent-residence/non-economic-classes/family-class-process.html">family-class immigration</a> to Canada, humanitarian admissions are already the smallest stream, representing less than 15 per cent in the most recent <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/supplementary-immigration-levels-2021-2023.html">Immigration Levels Plan</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-must-step-up-to-help-millions-displaced-inside-their-own-countries-119063">Canada must step up to help millions displaced inside their own countries</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Government-assisted refugees need protection</h2>
<p>The Conservative Party’s rationale focuses on the integration potential of refugees rather than their protection needs. That’s despite a <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2019021-eng.htm">Statistics Canada study</a> that shows the long-term (over 15 years) differences in outcomes between government-assisted refugees and those privately sponsored are not particularly stark.</p>
<p>Additionally, government-assisted refugees are selected solely on their need of protection. These refugees are often displaced for longer periods of time and have lower levels of education and less developed English/French language skills than privately sponsored refugees. </p>
<p>Privately sponsored refugees, on the other hand, also tend to have family or faith-based connections supporting them in Canada. </p>
<p>Canada’s humanitarian admissions are aimed at helping the global refugee population that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is responsible for supporting. That number now exceeds <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html">20.7 million</a>.</p>
<p>As Afghanistan too clearly illustrates, it can quickly swell. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/syrian-refugees-in-canada-four-years-after-the-welcome-126312">Syrian refugees in Canada: Four years after the welcome</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of people carrying bags are seen boarding a bus." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420617/original/file-20210912-14-80qev4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420617/original/file-20210912-14-80qev4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420617/original/file-20210912-14-80qev4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420617/original/file-20210912-14-80qev4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420617/original/file-20210912-14-80qev4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420617/original/file-20210912-14-80qev4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420617/original/file-20210912-14-80qev4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Refugees from Afghanistan board a bus after being processed at Pearson Airport in Toronto on Aug 17.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.unhcr.org/46f7c0ee2.html">The UNHCR</a> views resettlement as meeting three key purposes — it serves as a tool of international protection for individual refugees, it offers durable solutions and it’s a “tangible expression of international solidarity and a responsibility sharing mechanism, allowing states to help share responsibility for refugee protection, and reduce problems impacting the country of asylum.” </p>
<p>The UNHCR refers less than one per cent of refugee population for resettlement, and there are scant resettlement spaces made available by states. In its <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/protection/resettlement/60d320a64/projected-global-resettlement-needs-2022-pdf.html">Projected Global Resettlement Needs</a> report for 2022, released in June 2021 before the escalation of the crisis in Afghanistan, the UNHCR estimates 1,473,156 people will need resettlement. </p>
<h2>Responsibility of countries, not citizens</h2>
<p>In Canada, referrals for government resettlement and the Blended Visa Office-Referred Program come through the UNHCR. Sponsors can name people outside of these prioritized referrals, but government resettlement is the primary way for Canada to adhere to the UNHCR’s view that refugee protection, durable solutions and responsibility sharing should be paramount. </p>
<p>After all, it’s not up to individual citizens to respond when refugees need protection — it’s the responsibility of states.</p>
<p>Sponsorship spaces exist to help extend and expand Canada’s reach to refugees in need of protection. Canada’s complementary government and sponsorship resettlement programs position our country as a <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/news/global-displacement-grows-80-million-people-canada-world-leader-refugee-resettlement/">recognized leader in refugee protection</a>. </p>
<p>The Conservative plan would not only close off a crucial route to protection for particularly vulnerable refugees with no ties to Canada, it would also diminish Canada’s international standing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shauna Labman has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She sits on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adèle Garnier receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Société et Culture.</span></em></p>The Conservative pledge to replace government-assisted refugee places with more private sponsorship focuses on the integration potential of refugees rather than their protection needs. That’s wrong.Shauna Labman, Associate Professor of Human Rights, Global College, University of WinnipegAdèle Garnier, Professeure adjointe, Département de géographie, Université LavalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1598872021-08-22T12:00:16Z2021-08-22T12:00:16ZWhy the oldest child in Syrian refugee families needs the most urgent support, and what schools can do<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412323/original/file-20210721-19-b71f12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C347%2C4808%2C2711&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers found that the oldest child in Syrian refugee families has the most responsibility and the lowest English knowledge compared to peers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kilarov Zaneit/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This article focuses on the case study of Mariam, a fictional eldest child based on children we have encountered in our research. Mariam, 14, fled from Syria with both parents and her two younger siblings (aged six and 10). Mariam has the most responsibility in her family and she often accompanies her parents to appointments to help translate. </p>
<p>Our sketch of Mariam is <a href="https://www.ciim.ca/img/boutiquePDF/608_metropolis_ebook_vol1_2020_v10_lr-n3qfp.pdf">based on a longitudinal study that assessed reading skills and well-being</a> of 122 Syrian refugee children from 73 families in <a href="https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/chenlab/index.html">our Multilingualism and Literacy Lab</a> at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Forty-two children were aged six to eight; 50 children were aged nine to 11; 30 children were aged 12 to 14.</p>
<p>We learned that the oldest students were the most behind in reading skills in comparison to their English-speaking peers, more so than their younger siblings. The oldest students had the lowest scores and the slowest growth in English vocabulary and reading comprehension when compared to younger refugee children.</p>
<h2>Unique burdens</h2>
<p>Mariam, as the eldest child in a Syrian refugee family, faces many unique burdens:</p>
<ol>
<li>Complex trauma;</li>
<li>Lowest English language knowledge compared to her peers;</li>
<li>Highest interrupted education out of her siblings; </li>
<li>Least time to catch up to her peers before graduation; </li>
<li>Highest burden to support her family both socially and financially;</li>
<li>Least resources to support her academic success.</li>
</ol>
<p>While eldest children in Syrian refugee families face different familial expectations depending on their gender, the ultimate goal is always to support the family. For example, if Mariam were male, she would likely be looking for a job to support her family instead of helping with child care. Despite these differences, the language development and well-being of eldest male or female children is equally affected. </p>
<p>We propose targeted solutions that teachers, school leaders and other educators can rely on to help children like Mariam to better succeed.</p>
<h2>Trauma</h2>
<p>Children in refugee families, like Mariam, are highly likely to experience and be affected by trauma and <a href="https://adc.bmj.com/content/87/5/366">mental illness</a>. </p>
<p>The term “<a href="https://doi.org/10.20355/jcie29364">triple trauma</a>” explains the unique struggles of trauma that Syrian refugee children experience as they flee Syria, seek refuge at temporary settlements, then adjust to an unfamiliar environment in Canada. Once settled, the trauma of forced migration <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60050-0">continues to influence their social integration and academic achievement</a>. Experiencing trauma, especially at a young age, affects brain development. Repeated exposure to reminders of traumatic experiences (triggers) causes the brain to react differently to situations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401362/original/file-20210518-23-1ryt8bb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart breaking down how PTSD is manifest, with a list of triggers and common symptoms." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401362/original/file-20210518-23-1ryt8bb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401362/original/file-20210518-23-1ryt8bb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401362/original/file-20210518-23-1ryt8bb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401362/original/file-20210518-23-1ryt8bb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401362/original/file-20210518-23-1ryt8bb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401362/original/file-20210518-23-1ryt8bb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401362/original/file-20210518-23-1ryt8bb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A list of triggers and common symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Language development</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02252-9_6">Children learning a new language need one to three years to acquire conversational language</a>, and between five and seven years to acquire academic language. Academic language is topic-specific vocabulary of academic subjects like math or science that children learn in a typical school context.</p>
<p>Mariam, who is 14 and in Grade 9, does not have adequate time to develop academic language before graduation. She will have acquired conversational language, but the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716420000284">lack of English academic language</a> will limit her employment opportunities when she graduates. It is therefore crucial that students like Mariam receive immediate and intensive language support. We often recommend a systematic and explicit approach. </p>
<p>It may seem counterintuitive that Mariam, the oldest child, is the least proficient in learning English. The main reason for this is the high amount of interrupted education Mariam experienced both in Syria and as she migrated to Canada. On average, children have <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/57d9d01d0">lost three to four years of schooling</a> by the time they arrive in Canada. Furthermore, her younger siblings are closer to the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/at-what-age-does-our-ability-to-learn-a-new-language-like-a-native-speaker-disappear/">optimal age for language learning</a> (10 and under). The younger children are, the more easily their brains absorb new languages. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401178/original/file-20210518-13-ya1kat.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing comparisons of how different age groups fare in reading comprehension and performance across time." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401178/original/file-20210518-13-ya1kat.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401178/original/file-20210518-13-ya1kat.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401178/original/file-20210518-13-ya1kat.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401178/original/file-20210518-13-ya1kat.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401178/original/file-20210518-13-ya1kat.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401178/original/file-20210518-13-ya1kat.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401178/original/file-20210518-13-ya1kat.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Age group comparisons of English vocabulary and reading comprehension performance (standard scores) averaged across time.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Supporting early reading skills</h2>
<p>As researchers, we are often asked for the most efficient solution to help refugee students. In other words, what strategy will have the maximum impact? We offer <a href="https://ruor.uottawa.ca/handle/10393/40933">several key research findings </a>.</p>
<p>We know that the biggest predictor of academic success is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2014.932236">the development of early reading skills</a>. This is why the <a href="https://cyrrc.org/">Child and Youth Refugee Research Coalition</a>, a countrywide alliance of community partners, academics and government agencies working to promote the successful integration of refugee children, youth and their families, focuses on the development of reading. Recently, studies from this group have found that one of the strongest predictors of reading success is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S014271642000017X">exposure to the English language</a> both in and out of school. </p>
<p>We therefore suggest a variety of flexible activities focused on improving language exposure to English, such as:</p>
<ol>
<li>“Book Buddy” programs, where English speakers pair up with students learning the language;</li>
<li>Access to English media (movies, music, books);</li>
<li>Lunchtime or after-school activities in English (chess clubs, science programs, yearbook club and so on), bearing in mind that family responsibilities could affect students’ availability;</li>
<li>Resources for families to use at home (books that siblings can read together).</li>
</ol>
<p>For teachers, it can be overwhelming to try and help refugee students in all the areas they need support. One study conducted with teachers found that <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1167098">the best suggestion was to build community learning</a>. This means that instead of relying on families for additional support, teachers worked with colleagues and their other students to wrap a system of support around the children who need it the most. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401364/original/file-20210518-17-yaxp6d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401364/original/file-20210518-17-yaxp6d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401364/original/file-20210518-17-yaxp6d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401364/original/file-20210518-17-yaxp6d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401364/original/file-20210518-17-yaxp6d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401364/original/file-20210518-17-yaxp6d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401364/original/file-20210518-17-yaxp6d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/401364/original/file-20210518-17-yaxp6d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Refugee youth participate in programs at Human Endeavour, a non-profit organization dedicated to inclusion of marginalized communities in Vaughan, in the Greater Toronto Area. Left: Rina Singh conducts a self-portrait workshop through art and poetry. Right: Maulik Chaudhari leads muai thai/kickboxing sessions.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Addressing well-being, racism in curriculum</h2>
<p>A complicating factor for these students is the complex trauma they face. While individual counselling can be difficult to implement during school hours, there is new evidence that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/24750573.2017.1304748">teacher-implemented, classroom-wide interventions are effective</a>. This innovative study shows that building well-being into the curriculum effectively helps students deal with their trauma. </p>
<p>Refugee children also experience racism. Some research has found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22480">this can be mitigated by providing positive examples of intercultural friendships in the form of stories</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/celebrating-diversity-isnt-enough-schools-need-anti-racist-curriculum-140424">Celebrating diversity isn't enough: Schools need anti-racist curriculum</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our study finds that Mariam, the oldest child in her family, needs the most urgent support in terms of language development, social integration and mental health. We urge all educators to consider how they can better support students like Mariam in their schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159887/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diana Burchell receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for her doctoral research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Becky Xi Chen receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to conduct research on Syrian refugee children and youth. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jermeen Baddour works for Human Endeavour as a Program Manager serving immigrant and refugee children and youth.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>
Redab Al- Janaideh is a project lead at the Social-Emotional Development and Intervention Lab-University of Toronto. She is working on (Supporting Prosociality and Resilience in Newcomer Transitions) project.</span></em></p>Schools can focus on collaboration between teachers and students to wrap a system of support around children who need it the most.Diana Burchell, PhD Candidate in Developmental Psychology and Education, University of TorontoBecky Xi Chen, Professor, Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of TorontoJermeen Baddour, Researcher, Multilingualism and Literacy Lab, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of TorontoRedab Aljanaideh, PhD student, Developmental Psychology and Education, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1583412021-05-16T12:17:12Z2021-05-16T12:17:12ZWhat Joe Biden can learn from Canada’s private refugee sponsorship program<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400823/original/file-20210514-21-dxn95v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2995%2C2335&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Newly arrived refugee children learn how to skate from Ottawa Senators staff in Ottawa in March 2016. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Among U.S. President Joe Biden’s early executive orders has been <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/02/04/executive-order-on-rebuilding-and-enhancing-programs-to-resettle-refugees-and-planning-for-the-impact-of-climate-change-on-migration/">a promise</a> to expand the country’s refugee resettlement program. But it will take significant work to reverse the decline of the American program under Donald Trump over the previous four years, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/19/canada-now-leads-the-world-in-refugee-resettlement-surpassing-the-u-s/">when Canada surpassed the United States as the leading nation of resettlement</a>. </p>
<p>In 2020, <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/us-annual-refugee-resettlement-ceilings-and-number-refugees-admitted-united">fewer than 12,000 refugees were resettled</a> in the United States, down from almost 85,000 in 2016.</p>
<p>While the U.S. is looking to reclaim global leadership from Canada on resettlement, there is growing interest in adapting one prominent and long-standing feature of the Canadian model of resettlement: private refugee sponsorship. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, more than 50 organizations <a href="https://www.niskanencenter.org/more-than-50-organizations-call-upon-biden-administration-to-pursue-campus-sponsorship-of-refugees/">called upon the Biden administration</a> to include colleges and university sponsorship programs “as part of any private sponsorship initiative established by the administration.”</p>
<h2>Private sponsorship works in Canada</h2>
<p>It’s not hard to see the appeal of Canada’s system of private sponsorship. Since it was first introduced into law more than 40 years ago, private sponsors have helped resettle <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2019/04/by-the-numbers--40-years-of-canadas-private-sponsorship-of-refugees-program.html">over 300,000</a> refugees. Two million Canadians report that they personally helped Syrian refugees resettle in Canada. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/supplementary-immigration-levels-2021-2023.html">Next year</a>, the Canadian government expects private sponsors to take responsibility for resettling almost twice as many refugees as the government itself.</p>
<p>Sponsors commit to providing funds to cover the first year of settlement in Canada, while the government provides health care, education, language training and some other costs. In 2018, the government estimated the cost to sponsors at $16,500 for an individual refugee, and $28,700 for a family of four.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A virtual citizenship ceremony is viewed on a smartphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400657/original/file-20210513-17-1aabnzu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400657/original/file-20210513-17-1aabnzu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400657/original/file-20210513-17-1aabnzu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400657/original/file-20210513-17-1aabnzu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400657/original/file-20210513-17-1aabnzu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400657/original/file-20210513-17-1aabnzu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400657/original/file-20210513-17-1aabnzu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New Canadians take part in a virtual citizenship ceremony last December in a video recorded from a livestream on the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration’s YouTube channel, as seen on a smartphone in Toronto.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Giordano Ciampini</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The program has a number of positive effects, in addition to government savings and the expansion of refugee protection. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1623017">studies indicate</a> that measures of social and economic integration (such as employment rates and earnings) are higher for sponsored refugees, compared to government-assisted ones — although <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1064818ar">significant differences in selection</a> can make these comparisons challenging. Private sponsorship — possibly by increasing personal contacts with refugees — might also help foster pro-immigrant sentiment among the general public.</p>
<p>However, it’s also important for advocates and policy-makers to be aware of tensions and dilemmas within the Canadian program they are seeking to replicate.</p>
<h2>Displaced Europeans</h2>
<p>The origins of the Canadian program can be traced to the period following the Second World War, when religious groups sponsored family members and those of the same faith <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-happened-wwiis-last-million-displaced-people-180975799/">who were displaced in Europe</a>. </p>
<p>This introduced the concept of “naming” into the program, which allows sponsors to choose — by name — the refugees they are resettling.</p>
<p>Many regard this as a strength of the Canadian program; it certainly contributes to the motivation of sponsors, some of whom use the program for family reunification. However, it also creates an ethical dilemma when scarce resettlement spots are not filled by the most vulnerable refugees prioritized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. </p>
<p>Canada ostensibly tried to address this problem with the introduction of the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/help-outside-canada/private-sponsorship-program/blended-visa-office-program.html">Blended Visa Office-Referred Program</a>, established in 2013. It lowers the financial burden on sponsors in exchange for government control over selection. The program has been significantly less popular with sponsors, however.</p>
<p>The intimate relationships between refugees and sponsors are also a core feature of the Canadian program. In images popularized by media, sponsors often meet refugee families at the airport, arrange their housing, and become closely involved in their private lives in their first year of settlement. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Syrian-Canadian man hugs and kisses his newly arrived grand-daughter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400569/original/file-20210513-20-7i24ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400569/original/file-20210513-20-7i24ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400569/original/file-20210513-20-7i24ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400569/original/file-20210513-20-7i24ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400569/original/file-20210513-20-7i24ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400569/original/file-20210513-20-7i24ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400569/original/file-20210513-20-7i24ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Syrian-Canadian man meets his grand-daughter for the first time in Toronto in December 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These scenes have positive long-term effects. However, they can also interfere with the sense of agency and self-reliance felt by refugees to define their path of social integration.</p>
<p>The private sponsorship program also leads to the broader privatization of refugee resettlement. This dynamic empowers religious groups and other civil society organizations to become more closely involved in refugee protection. It allows for the underlying humanitarian sentiments in society to be organized and expressed via concrete action. </p>
<h2>Rights and responsibilities</h2>
<p>However, the problem of refugees is not simply an issue of charity. It’s also a matter of rights and responsibilities.</p>
<p>A refugee program that is primarily run and paid for by civil society groups can risk allowing the state itself to shirk its international responsibilities to help resolve a continuing global refugee crisis. Canada’s increasing reliance on private sponsors to meet resettlement targets suggests a shifting balance in this direction.</p>
<p>Since the end of the Second World War, the U.S. refugee resettlement program has operated through a partnership between only a small handful of voluntary agencies and the government. One of the merits of the Canadian program is that it’s evolved from similar origins to embrace more than 120 groups as sponsorship agreement holders. </p>
<p>This may be the real upside for the U.S. and the Biden administration: the executive order could significantly broaden the number of organizations and stakeholders actively involved in the work of resettlement. But Canada’s successes and challenges with private sponsorship contain lessons for the U.S. as it charts the next steps in its resettlement program.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158341/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shauna Labman received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoffrey Cameron received funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Joe Biden’s efforts to increase refugee resettlement could boost the number of stakeholders actively involved. But Canada’s experiences with private sponsorship contain lessons for the U.S.Shauna Labman, Associate Professor of Human Rights, Global College, University of WinnipegGeoffrey Cameron, Research Associate, Global Migration Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1545952021-03-15T12:31:24Z2021-03-15T12:31:24Z‘Every day is war’ – a decade of slow suffering and destruction in Syria<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388068/original/file-20210305-17-1cy3igf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C1049%2C759&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The city of Homs has been ravaged by war, leaving millions of people homeless and displaced. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Abduljalil Achraf</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Abduljalil sent me a photo of his ruined home in Homs, Syria. “It is the third floor”, he told me over WhatsApp. The building still stands but it looks like an empty skeleton. Most of its facade has been destroyed, while piles of debris surround it. Residents have not been able to return, as they fear it could collapse at any time.</p>
<p>For a decade now, conflict, violence and destruction have reshaped the lives of millions of Syrians since the start of the Syrian Revolution in March 2011. Abduljalil is just one of more than <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/syria-emergency.html">12 million</a> people who have had to flee their homes. While 5.6 million people have fled Syria to find refuge in countries such as Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, 6.6 million people have been internally displaced.</p>
<p>Over the past five years, I have been <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/xT6AE8RNPymQ9PCNpge2/full?target=10.1080/13604813.2019.1575605">researching</a> the relationship between urban violence and the impact it has on cities. My research has been mainly focused on my home city of Homs where I conducted a series of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13604813.2020.1833536">interviews</a> with local people and examined the way Homs has been transformed in the past decade. The conflict has created a disorientating experience for many Homsis. People have lost some of their most cherished places, as well as many of their loved ones. </p>
<p>I want my research to help people understand how it feels to be forcibly uprooted. What does it mean to see your own country getting destroyed, to see your home – the place that gave you a sense of safety, security, belonging and identity – in ruins? </p>
<p>These questions are personal to me. I too was forced to leave my home in Homs when fighting broke out and tanks entered my city. I have not been able to return since 2011. From afar, I have seen my country crumble into ruins. I have watched the people I love struggle daily, losing their homes, their dreams, their friends and their future. I have lost people – people I coudn’t even say goodbye to.</p>
<p>As a displaced person, my life moves in parallels. Walking in London where I now live, the images of destroyed homes and shattered lives are always at the forefront of my mind. I left Syria, but Syria didn’t leave me. My life, like the lives of millions of us, has been terribly damaged – just like our cities. The past decade has been a story of loss and suffering, a landscape of grief and sorrow.</p>
<h2>Homs as it was</h2>
<p>Before the conflict started, Homs was known as a city of diversity where different communities from different religious and sectarian backgrounds lived together. It had a population of 800,000 people, but yet there was a strong sense of community – it felt as if everyone knew everyone else. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The busy city centre of Homs before the fighting began." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389522/original/file-20210315-13-cxxd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389522/original/file-20210315-13-cxxd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389522/original/file-20210315-13-cxxd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389522/original/file-20210315-13-cxxd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389522/original/file-20210315-13-cxxd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389522/original/file-20210315-13-cxxd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389522/original/file-20210315-13-cxxd32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bustling Homs before the conflict started in 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.city-analysis.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/8.-Homs-before-2011-Source-Ammar-Azzouz.jpg">Ammar Azzouz</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many neighbourhoods were divided along sectarian lines. Some were mostly inhabited by Alawites or Sunnis while others were mixed with Alawites, Sunnis and Christians living together. </p>
<p>It was a city of peace, quiet and simplicity. Its people famous for their sense of humour and generosity. The memory of this thriving and cosmopolitan city, makes the present reality even more difficult to swallow.</p>
<p>Abduljalil said the memories of old times haunt his former home like a ghost. He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I remember the stars I put on the roof in my bedroom … but even the stars fell.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Abduljalil and his family had no choice but to flee their home in 2013 fearing, for their lives. Their neighbourhood, Jouret al-Shayah, at the heart of Homs, was <a href="https://unhabitat.org/city-profile-homs-multi-sector-assessment">heavily targeted</a>.</p>
<p>Other cities including Mosul, Beirut, Aleppo and Raqqa have suffered too. Cities have turned into battlefields. Wars are no longer fought outside densely populated areas, but in neighbourhoods. The urbanisation of the military has made <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0267303032000087766?journalCode=chos20">everyday life</a> a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5yEOdutixw&t=18s">target</a>. </p>
<p>Even cultural heritage sites have been targeted. The shelling of places such as the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyQdng7qsCI&t=37s">Khaled Ibn al Walid Mosque</a> in Homs, the destruction of monuments, cultural artefacts and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-34036644">temples</a> in Palmyra and in the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/38303230">Ancient City</a> of Aleppo shocked the world. </p>
<p>But this interest in the ancient monuments has overshadowed the loss people have endured to their way of living that has collapsed in the past decade – the slow suffering. Homes, bakeries, schools and hospitals have been destroyed too. But these “ordinary” spaces have rarely been brought into the conversation.</p>
<p>Everyday life is a battle for survival, even though the fighting in Homs has ended. For many families, food – including sugar and bread – are becoming hard to obtain. Some of the people I spoke to reported long hours waiting to get rice, while many struggle to afford food due to the country’s <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f3ccc3a7-c697-412a-9b99-18944de5c108">economic collapse</a>. The UN has <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/02/1085722">reported</a> that around 60% of Syrians (12.4 million people) do not have regular access to safe and nutritious food.</p>
<p>One woman I spoke to, who asked not to be identified, lives in Mashta Al Hilu, a town between Homs and Tartus. After finishing her degree in architecture in Homs, she struggled to find a job. She told me how she felt when walking in the ruined streets. In Baba Amr she said she felt as if a “monster” had destroyed it.</p>
<p>Her dream is to improve her violin skills, but these dreams are on hold. She said she felt isolated, as many of her friends had left Syria or had been killed. She asked me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Is life after war more difficult than the life at the time of war? … Every day is war.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There were hopes for change in 2011. People imagined that the future would be different. Nobody expected that Homs would be destroyed, that entire neighbourhoods would be razed to the ground, that another day could mean yet another loss. </p>
<p>Abduljalil and his family couldn’t rebuild their home. No charity or organisation helped them. They eventually decided to sell the ruins and rent outside the heart of the city. Abduljalil still visits his past life, his lost home. He told me: “I feel as a flower uprooted from its roots and planted in another place”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154595/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ammar Azzouz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After ten years of conflict and destruction, what is left of Syria and what hope is there for its people?Ammar Azzouz, Short-term Research Associate, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1477042020-11-02T10:58:03Z2020-11-02T10:58:03ZIn Turkey, life for Syrian refugees and Kurds is becoming increasingly violent<p>A spate of attacks in Turkey on Syrian refugees and Kurdish internal migrants and displaced people in recent months have put both communities on edge. In July, a Syrian teenager working as a market seller in Bursa, northwestern Turkey, died <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/refugees/voice-voiceless-refugees-voice-hamza-ajan">after he was attacked</a> by a group of men. </p>
<p>Another Syrian teenager who worked in a bakery in Samsun, another northern province, was <a href="https://ahvalnews.com/homicide/sixteen-year-old-syrian-refugee-murdered-northern-turkey">killed during a fight</a> in a street in September. His brother, who witnessed it, <a href="https://bianet.org/english/migration/230838-syrian-child-killed-in-samsun-province">said it was a racist attack</a>.</p>
<p>The same weekend, a young <a href="http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/230803-armed-attack-on-kurdish-workers-claims-one-life-wounds-two-others">Kurdish man</a> from Van working in construction in western Turkey was shot dead and two of his friends were wounded. A week earlier, members of a Kurdish family from Mardin employed as seasonal agricultural workers in Sakarya, a Turkish province where Kurds are <a href="http://bianet.org/english/male-violence/230419-the-moment-when-they-attacked-us-still-haunts-me">frequently targeted</a>, told reporters they had been verbally <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA3KjN4Mqog&ab_channel=MezopotamyaAjans%C4%B1">humiliated and physically attacked</a> by a group of local Turkish men. </p>
<p>These recent attacks against both Syrian refugees and Kurds reveal how the nationalist policies of Turkey’s authoritarian and aggressive regime are influencing perceptions and attitudes towards non-Turkish minorities – with devastating consequences.</p>
<h2>Syrians remain stuck</h2>
<p>It’s been nine years since Syrians started taking refuge in Turkey, and there are now <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/syria/location/113">3.6 million</a> Syrian refugees registered as “foreigners under temporary protection” in the country. As the conflict in Syria has turned into a protracted one, hopes that their stay would be temporary have been replaced with anxiety of a more <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/tr/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2020/09/SB2019-TR-04092020.pdf">permanent situation</a>. </p>
<p>The ongoing civil war and instability in Syria, as well as <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18/eu-turkey-statement/">a 2016 EU-Turkey deal</a> which largely stopped people crossing the Aegean from Turkey to Greece, have made it almost impossible for refugees to consider moving anywhere else. The deal recognises Turkey as a safe country for Syrian refugees. Yet Syrian <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-syria-refugees-idUSKCN1U40X8">refugees</a> and their <a href="https://observers.france24.com/en/20200304-racism-syrian-turkey-violence-soldier-die-syria">property</a> are often attacked by Turkish citizens.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1234400569382424577"}"></div></p>
<h2>Kurds displaced</h2>
<p>Kurds make up around <a href="https://www.institutkurde.org/en/info/the-kurdish-population-1232551004">20%-25%</a> of Turkey’s population of 82 million. Over the past century, millions of Kurds have become internally displaced in Turkey due to the conflicts in southeast Turkey (northern Kurdistan) between the Turkish state forces and Kurdish armed groups. Northern Kurdistan – “Bakur” in Kurdish – is a reference used by the <a href="https://hezenparastin.info/eng/">Kurdistan Workers’ Party</a>(PKK) and other Kurdish political parties for the Kurdish-populated region in east and southeast Turkey.</p>
<p>A first wave of displacement happened in the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14718800108405092">1920s and 1930s</a> followed by another in the <a href="http://myweb.sabanciuniv.edu/bcelik/files/2015/06/Bradley-book-chapter.pdf">1990s</a>. The most recent wave of forced migration happened after <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/content/turkeys-pkk-conflict-visual-explainer">conflict</a> erupted in July 2015 between Turkish security forces and the PKK in southeast Turkey, particularly in the provinces of Diyarbakır, Mardin, Şırnak and Hakkâri. </p>
<p>Some Kurds built up optimistic expectations that they would be able to safely return to their homeland during the 40-year conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK, including in <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/turkey/Turkey1002.pdf">1990s</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/legacy/turkish/reports/turkey0305/turkey0305trweb.pdf">2000s</a>. But the majority of displaced Kurds did not want to return due to protracted conflict and socioeconomic instability in their home regions. Government policies focusing on economic growth, rather than <a href="http://myweb.sabanciuniv.edu/bcelik/files/2015/06/Bradley-book-chapter.pdf">reconciliation and compensation</a> for people who had been displaced, also played an important role in their hesitancy.</p>
<p>Aggressive and anti-democratic policies introduced since 2016 targeting Kurdish politicians and Kurdish political and cultural <a href="https://www.hdp.org.tr/images/UserFiles/Documents/Editor/12%20Trustee%20report%202019.pdf">organisations</a> have worsened <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/kurds-in-turkey-increasingly-subject-to-violent-hate-crimes/a-50940046">anti-Kurdish sentiments</a> in the country. So has Turkey’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2019.1642662">deepening authoritarianism</a>.</p>
<p>Syrian refugees and displaced Kurds have both been victims of <a href="http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-3433%28199008%2927%3A3%3C291%3ACV%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6">post-conflict violence</a>. This has included direct violence, as well as marginalisation, discrimination and cultural violence against their identity and heritage. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/231364-280-racist-attacks-in-turkey-in-10-years?bia_source=rss">report</a> by the Human Rights Association, a Turkish-Kurdish group which monitors human rights in the country, shows how racist and hate crime against minorities, including Syrians and Kurds, have left dozens of people dead and hundreds wounded in the past decade. Four key factors appear to have led to this violence: nationalist policies, othering, polarisation and impunity.</p>
<h2>Identity politics</h2>
<p>Since the beginning of the 20th century, nationalist identity politics have played a critical role in systematic violence against minorities in Turkey, particularly Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and Kurds. This violent, assimilationist approach is borne out of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14683849.2018.1514494">Turkification policies</a> which promote a Sunni-Turkish identity while denying minority rights.</p>
<p>Political and armed resistance by minorities such as the Kurds against Turkification have resulted in <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/43701">violence</a> and widespread discrimination from Turkey against those who don’t want to assimilate. The current Justice and Development Party (AKP) of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, emphasises a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2018.1497755">“one state, one nation, one flag, one language”</a> agenda. By ignoring diversity, this is exacerbating the existing anti-minority sentiments even further.</p>
<p>A process of othering, dividing people into “us” and “them”, characterised by mistrust, group-based inequality and marginalisation, is also rife in Turkey. It leads to stereotypes, discrimination and social exclusion of particular ethnic groups. </p>
<p>Like the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2016.1250382">Kurds</a> before them, Syrians have become <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/new-perspectives-on-turkey/article/syrian-refugees-in-turkey-from-guests-to-enemies/29536558EBF6E27022769A7B858F29E7/core-reader#">the new “others”</a> in Turkey due to the public and political debate and <a href="https://bianet.org/english/media/231141-media-in-turkey-5-thousand-515-instances-of-hate-speech-in-a-year">mass media representations of Syrians</a> as <a href="http://suriyelilersuriyeye.com/">a threat to security and economy</a>. </p>
<h2>Polarisation and impunity</h2>
<p>Polarisation along ethnic and ideological lines also contribute to the violence, particularly when violence by both Turkish citizens and the state is not <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2018.1451035">properly investigated</a>. This encourages those who conduct attacks against refugees and displaced people, because they can easily <a href="http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/230448-detained-over-attack-on-kurdish-workers-two-people-released">avoid prosecution</a>. </p>
<p>Both the government policies and people’s perceptions and attitudes towards Syrian refugees and displaced Kurds feed public hostility. The coalition government formed in February 2018 by the AKP and the <a href="https://www.mhp.org.tr/mhp_dil.php?dil=en">Nationalist Movement Party</a> – which has a remarkable ability to foment domestic, regional and international enemies – is increasingly <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17448689.2019.1668627">oppressing</a> civil society organisations and opposition parties. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/04/10/lawyers-trial/abusive-prosecutions-and-erosion-fair-trial-rights-turkey">abusive prosecutions and the erosion of fair trials</a>, particularly since a <a href="https://theconversation.com/turkey-coup-erdogans-tightening-grip-will-test-relations-with-the-west-62706">failed coup</a> attempt against the Erdoğan government in July 2016, are trying to silence journalists, human rights defenders and opposition politicians. There is little chance the violence will be remedied soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147704/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yasin Duman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What are the drivers behind violent attacks against minorities in Turkey?Yasin Duman, PhD Candidate, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1469762020-10-13T16:28:25Z2020-10-13T16:28:25ZDispatch from a refugee camp during the COVID-19 pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361767/original/file-20201006-24-10rvfoh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C35%2C6000%2C3880&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrants, most of them wearing face masks to protect against the spread of COVID-19, gather outside the temporary refugee camp in Kara Tepe as they wait to depart from Lesbos for mainland Greece on Sept. 28, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the COVID-19 pandemic first appeared, and we were preoccupied with bread-baking and <em>Tiger King</em>, it was talked about as the great equalizer, a moment to bring us all together. </p>
<p>Yet as we enter the eighth month of this global crisis, it becomes increasingly clear that we’re hardly “in this together.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-solidarity-during-coronavirus-and-always-its-more-than-were-all-in-this-together-135002">What is solidarity? During coronavirus and always, it's more than 'we're all in this together'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We recently returned from the island of Lesbos, the site of the latest tragedy within European borders — the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54082201">burning of the Moria refugee camp</a>. We witnessed thousands of people being sequestered on a barren stretch of road without food or water, tear-gassed and then herded into a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/18/after-moria-fire-refugees-decry-conditions-in-new-camp-on-lesbos">new camp hastily built</a> on the grounds of an old shooting range on a windswept peninsula. </p>
<p>We entered the camp with a group of journalists and saw first-hand the woefully inadequate living conditions, as well as a barbed-wire facility keeping suspected COVID-19 cases apart from everyone else. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Tents are seen at dawn behind a fence." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360105/original/file-20200926-24-k5iw19.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360105/original/file-20200926-24-k5iw19.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360105/original/file-20200926-24-k5iw19.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360105/original/file-20200926-24-k5iw19.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360105/original/file-20200926-24-k5iw19.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360105/original/file-20200926-24-k5iw19.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360105/original/file-20200926-24-k5iw19.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The COVID-19 area of the Lesbos camp is seen at dawn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kenya-Jade Pinto)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If anything, COVID-19 was an afterthought at the camp. When your baby is sleeping on a flattened cardboard box and you have not had water for days, a global pandemic is a distant threat that pales in comparison to the everyday violence that is omnipresent. Yet there was a spectre of fear around the increasing COVID-19 numbers. It’s a threat that is impossible to combat when you have nowhere to wash your hands. </p>
<h2>COVID-19 weaponized</h2>
<p>We grappled with the ethics of travelling during a global pandemic. But because one of us is currently based in Athens and working on a long-term project documenting migration and surveillance technologies, we felt it was imperative to witness the building of a new detention facility that will serve as a testing ground for new technological interventions.</p>
<p>Already, the COVID-19 pandemic has been weaponized to justify <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/opinion/coronavirus-surveillance-privacy-rights.html">increasing surveillance mechanisms</a>, leading to potentially far-reaching human rights abuses for communities on the margins. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-contact-tracing-poses-serious-threats-to-our-privacy-137073">Coronavirus contact tracing poses serious threats to our privacy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Just recently, <a href="https://frontex.europa.eu">Frontex</a>, Europe’s border-monitoring agency, announced that it was piloting a new <a href="https://frontex.europa.eu/media-centre/news-release/frontex-to-launch-maritime-surveillance-by-aerostat-pilot-project-KzMGfe">aerostat maritime surveillance system</a>, using Greece as a testing ground. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A small dinghy at sea with a larger boat in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362446/original/file-20201008-18-ucftxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362446/original/file-20201008-18-ucftxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362446/original/file-20201008-18-ucftxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362446/original/file-20201008-18-ucftxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362446/original/file-20201008-18-ucftxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362446/original/file-20201008-18-ucftxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362446/original/file-20201008-18-ucftxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Refugees and migrants arrive with a dinghy accompanied by Frontex vessels at the village of Skala Sikaminias, on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey in February 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Micheal Varaklas)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The European Commission’s new <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/promoting-our-european-way-life/new-pact-migration-and-asylum_en">Migration Pact</a> reveals the European Union’s staunch refusal to stop criminalizing migration, its empowerment of Frontex, its insistence on locking people in far-away frontier camps and its failure to redistribute responsibility for migrants among EU member states.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Graffiti reading 'EU, where are you?' on a white wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360112/original/file-20200926-14-13k80f1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360112/original/file-20200926-14-13k80f1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360112/original/file-20200926-14-13k80f1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360112/original/file-20200926-14-13k80f1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360112/original/file-20200926-14-13k80f1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360112/original/file-20200926-14-13k80f1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360112/original/file-20200926-14-13k80f1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graffiti is seen in Lesbos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kenya-Jade Pinto)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also witnessed the inaction of the international community during our time on Lesbos. </p>
<p>While local preoccupations with spiking COVID-19 numbers are understandable, and as existential fatigue sets as the pandemic endures, it’s telling that the pandemic is just one of the many layers that are making 2020 a very difficult year for so many migrants and refugees. </p>
<h2>Lost in nameless photos, numbers</h2>
<p>The stories of individual lives can get lost in nameless photos and numbers when reporting on international crisis of mammoth proportions. Yet many Canadians may have deep connections to the people still detained on Lesbos, particularly because more than 40,000 Syrian friends, neighbours and family members were <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/welcome-syrian-refugees.html">resettled to Canada in 2015-16</a>. Many of the people in Lesbos are Syrian.</p>
<p>Just imagine how terrifying it would be to be detained in bunk beds with strangers and no running water, monitored by an omnipresent government, with nowhere to wash, bathe or properly disinfect amid a pandemic that’s <a href="https://covid19.who.int/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw8fr7BRDSARIsAK0Qqr5F3Ph_6NZivzmRSl4zSuEvx4Li5L21IeltQikcguthOAA85iXXq3YaAgOvEALw_wcB">killed more than a million people</a> — and stuck in a violent migration system for years with no end in sight. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The burned remains of a shelter in Moria camp, Lesbos" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362448/original/file-20201008-24-1a40e37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362448/original/file-20201008-24-1a40e37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362448/original/file-20201008-24-1a40e37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362448/original/file-20201008-24-1a40e37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362448/original/file-20201008-24-1a40e37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362448/original/file-20201008-24-1a40e37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362448/original/file-20201008-24-1a40e37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The burned remains of a shelter in Moria camp, Lesbos.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kenya-Jade Pinto)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>COVID-19 is one of the many intractable and overwhelming problems facing the world today that can be overwhelming to contemplate. However, understanding how the pandemic is experienced around the world will bring us closer to the otherwise empty sentiment of “we’re all in this together.” </p>
<p>Looking beyond our own frame of reference allows us the opportunity to consider the deep connections among us all, tied together by the same virulent disease, a once-in-a-lifetime experience highlighting just how much we owe to each other as members of the global community. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fire-destroys-moria-refugee-camp-another-tragic-wake-up-call-for-the-eus-asylum-policy-145899">Fire destroys Moria refugee camp: another tragic wake-up call for the EU's asylum policy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It’s becoming evident that things can and likely will get worse before they get better in refugee camps around the world.</p>
<p>While the answers are yet to be found, we must continue to ask the question: What does it mean to be in this ordeal together, when barbed wire, digital borders and policies that turn places of refuge into prisons keep us apart?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Petra Molnar is a fellow with European Digital Rights (EDRi). She receives funding from the Mozilla Foundation for this project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenya-Jade Pinto does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the middle of a windswept refugee camp in the aftermath of the burning of Moria, the COVID-19 pandemic is an afterthought.Petra Molnar, Associate Director, Refugee Law Lab, York University, CanadaKenya-Jade Pinto, Filmmaker in Residence, Refugee Law Lab, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1459102020-10-07T18:49:25Z2020-10-07T18:49:25ZSyrian refugees in Lebanon are misled on their chances of coming to Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362039/original/file-20201006-18-dot2hu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5030%2C3524&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Syrian refugee holds up a sign with a portrait of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, during a protest outside the headquarters of the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, demanding to be moved out of Lebanon, in September 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/the-lights-go-out-on-lebanons-economy-as-financial-collapse-accelerates/2020/07/19/3acfc33e-bb97-11ea-97c1-6cf116ffe26c_story.html">an economic crisis</a>, COVID-19 lockdowns and the summer’s Beirut explosion, Syrian refugees living in Lebanon express increasing fears that <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/31/lebanon-is-sick-and-tired-of-syrian-refugees/">they will be scapegoated</a> or <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/02/syrians-deported-lebanon-arrested-home">forced to return</a> to Syria by authorities trying to explain away crippling levels of unemployment and overwhelmed social services. </p>
<p>Some refugees hope to find a new refuge in Canada. Canada is a <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/news/global-displacement-grows-80-million-people-canada-world-leader-refugee-resettlement/">world leader</a> in refugee resettlement in large part because of its use of <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1064822ar">private sponsorship programs</a> to encourage citizens and charitable organizations to support the integration of refugees into their communities. </p>
<p>But Canadians looking to help through sponsorship will find that <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-6000-convention-refugees-abroad-humanitarian-protected-persons-abroad.html">most of these programs require that — in big bold letters — applicants already have refugee status</a>. </p>
<p>Those without status can only submit a refugee claim through one part of Canada’s private sponsorship program. This is through <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/help-outside-canada/private-sponsorship-program/agreement-holders.html">Sponsorship Agreement Holders</a> (SAHs) — organizations that the government of Canada has agreed can help to sponsor refugees from abroad.</p>
<p>Like many living in countries that aren’t signatories to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Syrians in Lebanon are very rarely given official refugee status. </p>
<h2>At risk of harm</h2>
<p>They’re treated instead as something between displaced persons seeking international protection and <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/guidelines-international-protection-no-11-prima-facie-recognition-refugee-status#:%7E:text=INTRODUCTION,country%20of%20former%20habitual%20residence"><em>prima facie</em> refugees</a> — recognized because conditions in their home country are known to put those who have fled at risk of harm. </p>
<p>In a country with <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/lb/at-a-glance">more refugees per capita</a> than any other, Lebanese authorities have few incentives to offer Syrians more. </p>
<p>Rather, they avoid integrating Syrians more permanently into Lebanese society in the hopes that Syrians, unlike the Palestinians who came before them, will only stay temporarily. </p>
<p>As an example, aid workers in Lebanon recently showed me where they had been prevented from raising refugee families’ tents out of muddy flood waters by using cement or gravel foundations. This would signal a permanence that authorities were unwilling to give. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men work to take down a concrete block wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362182/original/file-20201007-14-3d2yxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362182/original/file-20201007-14-3d2yxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362182/original/file-20201007-14-3d2yxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362182/original/file-20201007-14-3d2yxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362182/original/file-20201007-14-3d2yxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362182/original/file-20201007-14-3d2yxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362182/original/file-20201007-14-3d2yxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this June 2019 photo, Syrian refugees demolish a concrete wall built inside their tent at a refugee camp in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal. Lebanese authorities ordered the demolition of anything in their squalid camps that could be a permanent home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), meanwhile, has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2017.1371140">mostly adopted</a> Lebanese state language. Syrian “movement” or the Syrian “displaced” are often used in place of Syrian “refugee.” The UNHCR also avoids pushing for status determination for more than the most vulnerable Syrians, choosing not to ruffle too many feathers in order to protect its assistance in Lebanon. </p>
<h2>Syrians left out of debate</h2>
<p>Yet while scholars and practitioners debate the implications of this almost-a-refugee status on Syrian lives, often choosing pragmatism over advocacy, Syrians are regularly left out of the conversation. </p>
<p>Many do not know, and have not been told, that the registration papers they received from the UNHCR upon entering Lebanon are unlikely to move forward their claims for protected refugee status. Instead, refugees often said to me: “I’m on the list” for resettlement to Canada. </p>
<p>The first and most pressing concern is, therefore, that refugees are disempowered by an international refugee regime that is meant to support them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Women hold up a protest sign reading 'We have the right to live in safety. Get us out of Lebanon.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362037/original/file-20201006-22-170sz7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362037/original/file-20201006-22-170sz7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362037/original/file-20201006-22-170sz7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362037/original/file-20201006-22-170sz7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362037/original/file-20201006-22-170sz7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362037/original/file-20201006-22-170sz7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362037/original/file-20201006-22-170sz7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Syrian refugees protest outside the headquarters of the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, demanding to be moved out of Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon. The country is home to more than a million Syrian refugees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Syrians, and refugees more broadly, are interested in protecting and advocating for themselves. But while the UNHCR is responsible for <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/4317223c9.pdf">informing Syrians of the process and outcomes of refugee status determination hearings</a>, when there are no hearings, it’s unclear that any such responsibility exists. </p>
<p>Refugees should be provided with the information they need to advocate for themselves.</p>
<p>Second, the complex legal status of many forcibly displaced people complicates potential third-country resettlement, in Canada and in countries <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/16902/private-sponsorship-refugee-resettlement-another-way">building new systems based on its model</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-canada-is-inspiring-scandinavian-countries-on-immigration-90911">How Canada is inspiring Scandinavian countries on immigration</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Millions in limbo</h2>
<p>Policy-makers should therefore do more to help refugees stuck in the grey areas, and more of them.</p>
<p>When someone does not have legal status as a refugee — even if they have a strong claim or come from a country where risk of harm is well known — their avenues are few. <a href="https://refugeeresearch.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/hyndman_feb%E2%80%9917.pdf">Previous loosening of restrictions by the Canadian government</a> for Syrians and sponsors are no longer in effect.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People stand near a green bus waving to its occupants." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362042/original/file-20201006-20-1hq9jb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362042/original/file-20201006-20-1hq9jb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362042/original/file-20201006-20-1hq9jb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362042/original/file-20201006-20-1hq9jb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362042/original/file-20201006-20-1hq9jb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362042/original/file-20201006-20-1hq9jb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362042/original/file-20201006-20-1hq9jb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Syrian refugees staying in Lebanon wave goodbye to their relatives in a bus that will take them home to Syria, in Beirut, Lebanon, in December 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Depending on the government of the day, the political party in power and their appetite for accepting refugees in Canada, the number of spots allocated to SAHs varies. But no matter the party in power, SAH wait lists are long and under-resourced.</p>
<h2>Must know someone in Canada</h2>
<p>What’s more, because few Syrian asylum-seekers will be identified by the UNHCR in Lebanon for status determination and resettlement, only those with a foothold in Canada will have a chance at seeking refuge this way. They need to know someone able to bring their case to an SAH and raise the funds to cover the costs of a first year in Canada.</p>
<p>The need to have this kind of advocate can very quickly reproduce many of the blind spots and inequalities already built into the global refugee system.</p>
<p>As countries around the world develop their own private sponsorship systems or change their approaches to refugee resettlement, they should acknowledge how elusive refugee status can be. Policy-makers should proceed accordingly, increasing global capacities to resettle non-status refugees.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145910/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Emily K M Scott has received funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and is affiliated with the NGO Doctors Without Borders.</span></em></p>As countries around the world develop their own private sponsorship systems, they should acknowledge how elusive refugee status can be. Policy-makers should proceed accordingly.Emily K M Scott, Postdoctoral Researcher, International Relations and Comparative Politics, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1445132020-08-17T15:37:01Z2020-08-17T15:37:01ZWhen hope is a dinghy in the Channel: how racism in Britain is a crisis of belonging<p>Fourteen years ago I came from Syria to study in Edinburgh, and because of the war there, Scotland is now home. As I watch the latest wave of desperate refugees try to make for the British coastline, I witness with a heavy heart how they are demonised in a now-familiar narrative by both the UK government and some parts of the media.</p>
<p>In a talk I gave last year, I discussed what Brexit means for Britain’s cultural and national identity and what its alienating stance means for immigrants like me.
As I shared my reflections as an academic and a new British citizen on how Brexit was not only a political issue but also a social challenge requiring urgent debate, a woman in the audience protested, saying she could not understand why Brexit mattered to me.</p>
<p>My critique of British politics was clearly not welcome. The woman’s dismissal of my Britishness was also a dismissal of my views as illegitimate. Was it my accent? My skin tone? Or was it my inescapable association with the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/12/demonisation-migrants-tories-scapegoat-covid">dangerous migrant</a>” discourse that has permeated British politics over the past ten years?</p>
<p>Did I cross a line because I dared to say Britain, my country, was wrong about Brexit, just like it was about the Iraq war and Windrush and the handling of the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/refugee-crisis-britain-and-other-rich-countries-failing-syrian-refugees-report-warns-a6957216.html">Syrian refugee crisis</a>? </p>
<p>I explained how politics does not escape people like me: every Syrian person is political. I explained how I was unable to distance myself from the social and political responsibility I feel towards Britain and its people, now my country and my people. I talked about the belongingness I feel to Britain, which I discussed in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/syrian-scottish-british-how-i-came-to-belong-before-i-became-a-uk-citizen-108226">previous Conversation article</a>. I said it mattered to me because as an academic, I am paid to think and be critical. She might not have said “why do you stay in this country?”, but I heard it. </p>
<h2>Faux Britishness</h2>
<p>During the recent <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/">Black Lives Matter protests</a>, one debate that particularly resonated with me was the writer Afua Hirsch’s <a href="https://twitter.com/afuahirsch/status/1270331795557486592">calling out</a> of Britain’s racism on the Sky News discussion show <a href="https://twitter.com/thepledge?lang=en">The Pledge</a> and LBC’s <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/nick-ferrari-accused-of-making-racist-bigoted-comment-to-muslim-caller-a6736686.html">Nick Ferrari</a> demanding: “Why do you stay in this country?”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1270331795557486592"}"></div></p>
<p>Hirsch was born to a British father and raised in London and yet Ferrari felt entitled to say what he said. What does that mean for me, an immigrant-turned-citizen? What happened to Hirsch was appalling not just because of what was said but the casualness of it, as if it was a white man’s right to say it and be heard.</p>
<p>This is not new and that is the problem. This issue has become pervasively cultural: an ingrained culture of impunity where some people feel entitled to use language to inflict emotional damage and derail a person’s sense of belongingness to this country.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Tweet from Dr Zubaida Haque about racism and xenophobia in Britain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353159/original/file-20200817-14-1ogh2gt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353159/original/file-20200817-14-1ogh2gt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353159/original/file-20200817-14-1ogh2gt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353159/original/file-20200817-14-1ogh2gt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353159/original/file-20200817-14-1ogh2gt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353159/original/file-20200817-14-1ogh2gt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353159/original/file-20200817-14-1ogh2gt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>If the Pledge incident says anything, it is that systemic racism is an issue that touches the lives of all those “plagued” by otherness in Britain. Hirsch raises these issues in her book, <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/brit-ish/afua-hirsch/9781784705039">Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging</a>, that debates, with courage and elegance, identity and belonging in 21st-century Britain.
The significance of Hirsch’s book, to me, is about her trying to establish a sense of belongingness in spite of the racism and bigotry that exist in British society, and what these things can do to a person’s sense of who they are. </p>
<p>I know that as someone who has ideals drawn from multiple cultures and whose identity and belonging are disrupted every time I proudly proclaim my Britishness, I always think that my Mediterranean looks might be overlooked, and then someone demands: “No, where are you <em>really</em> from?”</p>
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<h2>Let down by government</h2>
<p>Questions like that become even more problematic when linked to harmful narratives such as deserving versus undeserving immigrants and the government’s hostile immigration policy. Or home secretary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/07/uk-plan-to-use-navy-to-stop-migrant-crossings-is-unlawful-lawyers-warn">Priti Patel’s intention</a> to use the British navy to stop migrant crossings. Or a photo-opp-ready <a href="https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/brexit-party-leader-ridiculed-on-twitter-over-migrant-spotting-pic-1-6791192">Nigel Farage sitting on a cliff-top</a>, looking out for migrants in the Channel.</p>
<p>In addition to being a <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/publications/brochures/450037d34/rescue-sea-guide-principles-practice-applied-migrants-refugees.html">violation of</a> the UN Refugee Convention, Patel’s calls for navy intervention add to the rhetoric that presents migrants and refugees as a threat to Britain. But these refugees and migrants in dinghies, people looking for a better life, are not the only group affected.</p>
<p>Such harmful narratives affect the rest of us, once refugees and migrants and now citizens contributing to building this country, as we watch these people demonised by right-wing scaremongering and callously left in distress at sea. These narratives become a threat to our sense of humanity and belonging, and provoke feelings of not being accepted by a country we now call home.</p>
<p>But perhaps offering sanctuary to those fleeing persecution is too much to ask of a morally bankrupt government whose politics have been consistently disappointing in recent times. A government that was slow to engage with the BLM movement, has let down the Windrush generation, watched as Grenfell happened and dealt with COVID-19 with such incompetence, does not appear to be one that can protect those who are British, let alone those who are not. </p>
<p>Hirsch’s face during that exchange with Ferrari is a look I never want to see on my son’s face. In a future Britain, I imagine him, a boy born and raised in Scotland, being asked, “Where are you from?” but never “Where are you <em>really</em> from?”. I hear him uttering an unapologetic “I am British” without being made to question his identity or having to parse reasons for being a brown-skinned, brown-eyed British man. Or worse, being told to leave.</p>
<p>A future Britain would give all of us immigrants a chance, just like it has given singers Freddie Mercury and Rita Ora, architect Zaha Hadid, novelists Dina Nayeri and Judith Kerr, artists Mona Hatoum and Lucien Freud and filmmaker Hassan Akkad – individuals who have shown what a creative force refugees and migrants can be. A future Britain would be a safe home for us all and stable ground beneath our feet – not a Grenfell tower, not a refugee camp, not a patched-up dinghy sinking slowly within sight of the English coast.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lina Fadel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Can you only ever truly ‘belong’ in Britain if you aren’t white?Lina Fadel, Assistant Professor, Business Research Methods, Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1443022020-08-12T13:48:39Z2020-08-12T13:48:39ZAfter the Beirut blast, the international community must stop propping up Lebanon’s broken political system<p>The finger of blame for <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/09/opinions/beirut-blast-anderson-opinion-intl/index.html">the Beirut explosion</a> is pointing at Lebanon’s corrupt and criminally negligent political leadership. Amid continuing protests, the government of prime minister Hassan Diab resigned on August 10, though ministers will stay on in a caretaker role until a new cabinet is formed.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/beirut-blast-donors-push-for-reforms-in-return-for-pledged-money/a-54501539">international community has pledged aid</a> to Lebanon’s government in exchange for <a href="https://www.la-croix.com/Debats/Est-possible-changer-systeme-libanais-2020-08-06-1201108110">political reform</a>. But this stance requires a reversal of the international community’s existing role in Lebanon – and its complicity in the survival of the regime.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13537113.2019.1565171">Lebanon’s power-sharing system</a>, which sustains sectarianism and thrives on corruption, is propped up by international powers. Rather than promote meaningful reform, countries such as France, the US and the UK have historically viewed power-sharing as a stabilising force.</p>
<p>Based on a 1943 National Pact, Lebanon’s power-sharing formula allocates political offices along sectarian lines, including between Christian, Druze, Sunni and Shia factions. This undermines meritocracy and encourages polarisation. </p>
<p>Still, power-sharing in Lebanon is not a reflection of ancient sectarian hatreds. It is largely the <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/08/06/over-50-00-sign-petition-calling-for-france-to-take-control-of-lebanon">product of the French Mandate</a> between 1923 and 1943, which cemented sectarianism in public life. So it was ironic that when the French president, Emmanuel Macron, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?next_url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fopinions%2f2020%2f08%2f08%2fwhat-does-france-owe-lebanon-can-it-deliver%2f">arrived in Beirut</a> in the aftermath of the explosions, he called for a new pact for Lebanon in the guise of a National Unity Government.</p>
<p>When Lebanese power-sharing was revised to end the civil war in 1989, international actors were again involved. As a reward for joining an anti-Iraqi coalition led by the US, the international community gave Syria the green light to act as Lebanon’s guardian. </p>
<h2>Myths of stabilisation and resilience</h2>
<p>Lebanon is inappropriately imagined as the Switzerland of the Middle East, a place where multiple religious groups coexist and a veneer of cosmopolitanism reigns. Any attempt to transform power-sharing is resisted by warlord elites. Reforms such as phasing out sectarian appointments have been frowned upon by political leaders on the basis that they would lead to the terrifying violence seen in neighbouring countries. </p>
<p>The international community often frames Lebanon’s political system as the lesser evil in the context of autocratic fortresses in the neighbourhood. Rather than helping the country move to end political sectarianism, as Lebanon’s post-war peace accord stipulates, power-sharing has become <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13537113.2019.1565177">an invasive species, colonising the state</a>. </p>
<p>In an attempt to shield itself from the blowback effects of the Arab Spring, the international community has shifted away from policies aimed at deepening democracy in the Middle East to those of pragmatic realism. Stabilisation rather than change is the goal. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Lebanon has received more than a million displaced Syrians since the civil war began in 2011. While Lebanon initially adopted an open-border policy towards Syrians fleeing violence, it closed its borders in 2014, <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/31/lebanon-is-sick-and-tired-of-syrian-refugees/">cracking down on the livelihoods</a> and rights of displaced people. Yet the international community has lauded Lebanon’s so-called hospitality, portraying it as a pivotal actor in the international refugee regime.</p>
<p>Lebanese politicians leverage the state’s value as a refugee host, warning that any destabilisation of Lebanon would <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/lebanon-syrian-refugees-europe-migrant-crisis-a8842566.html">trigger waves of refugees</a> to Europe. The EU has <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2019/07/05/contested-meanings-of-resilience-building-how-great-expectations-in-brussels-are-dashed-in-beirut/">closely cooperated</a> with Lebanon’s governing elite since 2012 to build resilience, in programmes aimed at empowering refugee and host communities. </p>
<p>But the EU’s <a href="https://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/iaiwp1729.pdf">resilience-building rhetoric</a> conceals accumulated vulnerabilities, injustices and political abnormalities. In response, civil society activists and analysts have <a href="https://eif.univie.ac.at/downloads/workingpapers/wp2019-01.pdf">cautioned</a> against the EU’s cooperation with Lebanon’s corrupt elite. The false allure of regional stabilisation only consolidates elite power, rather than addressing the needs of citizens and refugees.</p>
<h2>Empowering elites</h2>
<p>Lebanon’s crises have multiplied in recent years. In 2015, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?next_url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fnews%2fmonkey-cage%2fwp%2f2015%2f09%2f18%2fthis-isnt-lebanons-first-garbage-crisis-and-what-that-should-teach-us%2f">a massive garbage crisis</a> epitomised the decline of public services and rising corruption. Yet, in April 2018, the international community used <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-economy-france/lebanon-wins-pledges-exceeding-11-billion-in-paris-idUSKCN1HD0UU">the Cedre Conference</a> to pledge more than US$11 billion to strengthen and develop the Lebanese state. </p>
<p>Back then, the Lebanese government presented “a vision for stabilisation, growth and employment”. In return, the international community called for a follow-up mechanism to track reforms as a condition to unlock pledged grants and loans. Yet, the international community’s call for reforms remained ineffectual and couched in vague terms – and the follow-up mechanism never materialised.</p>
<p>In October 2019, Lebanon’s political leaders faced <a href="https://merip.org/2019/12/lebanons-thawra/">unprecedented protests</a> demanding the dismantling of sectarian institutions. International powers vowed not to funnel aid to the Lebanese government unless it embarked on radical reforms.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-protests-continue-lebanons-sectarian-power-sharing-stalemate-must-end-128753">As protests continue, Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing stalemate must end</a>
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<p>The August 4 blast, however, imposed new realities in the architecture of international aid to Lebanon. Transformed into a site for post-disaster restructuring, Lebanon needs urgent aid. On August 9, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-security-blast-conference/frances-macron-to-host-donor-conference-for-blast-stricken-lebanon-idUSKCN255099">France co-hosted an international conference</a> that pledged US$300 million for humanitarian relief and reconstruction.</p>
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<h2>A new chance</h2>
<p>The international community must ensure that this aid does not prop up defunct institutions and inept sectarian leaders. </p>
<p>Myths of stabilisation and resilience-building during overlapping crises have double-edged consequences for Lebanon. By not engaging with the roots of dispossession and conflicts, international powers promote <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13523260.2019.1698182">short-term versions of resilience</a>, stability and humanitarian protection. This papers over dysfunctional institutions and deteriorating livelihoods. </p>
<p>Such recipes are counterproductive. Rather than encouraging citizen resilience, they consolidate the robustness of political leaders who feel empowered enough to tread on their citizens’ suffering and hopes. </p>
<p>Only the Lebanese can cast off their own warlords and kleptocrats through new elections and a homegrown political system that strengthens the rule of law and weakens the grip of patronage and sectarian identities on state institutions. Yet the international community can help – by refraining from bolstering and legitimising their rule.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144302/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tamirace Fakhoury receives research funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany, the UK Research Council, and from the Carnegie Corporation in New York. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Nagle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How can the international community help Lebanon’s people not its power-sharing regime?Tamirace Fakhoury, Associate Professor in Political Science and International Affairs, Lebanese American UniversityJohn Nagle, Professor in Sociology, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1369252020-04-30T12:12:24Z2020-04-30T12:12:24ZRefugees tell stories of problems – and unity – in facing the coronavirus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331157/original/file-20200428-110757-g6j7db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A group of refugees living on the pavement near the Cape Town Central Police Station on the first day of a national coronavirus lockdown, March 27, 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/general-view-of-a-group-of-refugees-living-on-the-pavement-news-photo/1208565415?adppopup=true">Getty/Nardus Engelbrecht/ Gallo Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Across the globe, refugees are trying to settle into new surroundings and are running into new challenges thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p>But too often news coverage of refugee issues doesn’t include the people’s own voices. <a href="https://fletcher.tufts.edu/people/karen-jacobsen?personkey=3923141C-E683-40A6-B7CB-CAE5E77BA514">We</a> <a href="https://www.refugeesintowns.org/people">coordinate</a> the <a href="https://www.refugeesintowns.org/">Refugees in Towns</a> project, which is a network of refugee researchers and humanitarian workers who we train to conduct research and then write about their experiences in the cities where they live. </p>
<p>We asked members of our network to tell us how the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting their lives. Here are dispatches from South Africa, Serbia, Zimbabwe, Costa Rica, Denmark and Jordan, written by our refugee researchers and aid workers. </p>
<h2>Denmark</h2>
<p><em>Denmark hosts <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/statistical-yearbooks.html">39,000 refugees and asylum seekers</a>, from countries such as Syria, Iraq and Somalia. Abdullah, a Syrian refugee in Aarhus, wrote:</em></p>
<p>The Ministry of Health has published fliers and educational videos in multiple languages to help refugees understand the new rules (ed: about the coronavirus). The Danish Refugee Council used Facebook to help refugee students with their homework by matching them with local volunteers. Refugees took initiatives … through social media groups created to translate information, news and new rules.</p>
<p>Refugee parents with kids in school experience new challenges with remote teaching, and try to use the (refugee council) groups to help. My friend Reem told me about her difficulties communicating with her daughter’s school through the school app because it is in Danish.</p>
<p>The refugees and the Danes say the coronavirus crisis is creating a kind of unity among people. It shows how the world is interconnected and everybody learns lessons about taking care of each other. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">In this video from the U.N.’s High Commission on Refugees, the students of Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan continue their education despite the closure of the 32 schools in the camp to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Zimbabwe</h2>
<p><em>In recent years, some of the people who fled Zimbabwe during then-<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/obituaries/robert-mugabe-dead.html">President Mugabe’s dictatorship</a> have begun returning. But the economy, power supply and health care system <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/04/08/830205827/lockdown-ordered-in-zimbabwe-where-the-economy-and-health-care-already-suffer">are all in desperate straits</a>. Tash came back to “Zim” 17 years after her family was forced to leave their farm during <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1152276/zimbabwes-white-farmers-kicked-out-by-mugabe-will-be-compensated-by-mnangagwa/">Mugabe’s expulsions of white farmers</a>. She wrote from Harare:</em></p>
<p>Zim has been in lockdown now for three weeks and only critical industries like food stores and farming are allowed to operate. The government is applying the rules to both formal and informal sectors, which is a relief. Many people are concerned about our dilapidated health system, but I think we could prevent a major outbreak if people continue to take the lockdown seriously – which they have been doing, amazingly. Social media has reached the rural population.</p>
<p>Perhaps because our economy is so broken, shutting down has not had such a big impact. Our private sector is good at self-regulating and caring for their employees. Many businesses gave hand sanitizer and masks to their workers and some even closed before the lockdown so their staff wouldn’t have to risk travel on public transport. Businesses and money transfers don’t require physical transactions – things continue through WhatsApp. If anything, the shutdown has made life easier, with less pressure on ZESA (Zimbabwe Electrical Supply Company), we have had power all week!</p>
<p>Most people don’t have the means to panic-buy so the shops are still in good stock. People don’t stress about finding fuel (we are only allowed within 5 km radius; the police check and arrest people who go beyond) and many people are walking as they have the time. However, I feel removed living in the “suburbs” with a pantry full of food.</p>
<h2>Serbia</h2>
<p><em>Serbia has almost <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/75271">9,000 refugees</a>, mostly from Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan and Bangladesh, who are seeking to move deeper into Europe but are stuck in Serbia. Our Serbian researcher, Teodora, wrote from Belgrade, with a description of how aid organizations, known as NGOs, stopped working after the pandemic began:</em></p>
<p>Almost all humanitarian NGOs withdrew from the field, the Commissariat and one NGO in Belgrade are the only ones working. MSF (Doctors Without Borders) have also withdrawn – they were providing showers and laundry for migrants who live outside reception centers. Migrants in reception centers have water and soap, but not gloves and masks (except what they sew themselves). Lots of people live in a same room (up to 10). They are completely isolated and not able to go anywhere. There are often demonstrations and sometimes violent protests organized by migrants in reception centers. They don’t understand that Serbian people are in quarantine too, and the shops are closed. So, they are angry, thinking that they are simply victims of racism (which is not completely untrue).</p>
<h2>Canada</h2>
<p><em>Canada has resettled <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/19/canada-now-leads-the-world-in-refugee-resettlement-surpassing-the-u-s/">thousands of Syrian refugees</a>. One of them, Noor, reflected on what the pandemic and lockdown is like for refugees living with past trauma and psychosocial problems:</em></p>
<p>It’s not like the war; the war was easier. When we were in Syria, we knew where the attacks would be, and we could move or hide. Not with a virus … We can’t see it. We don’t know where the danger is. During the war we didn’t isolate (ourselves).</p>
<h2>South Africa</h2>
<p><em>South Africa <a href="http://reporting.unhcr.org/node/37">hosts almost 273,000 refugees and asylum seekers</a> from different African countries, including Zimbabwe, Somalia and Eritrea. Barnabas, a Zimbabwean university student living in Makhanda, wrote:</em></p>
<p>The best decision I made this year was to move out of the university residence. When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced South Africa’s lockdown the university administration ordered those in residence to vacate in less than 24 hours. International students were ordered to leave even though there were hardly any flights and some countries were already under lockdown. There was panicking and anxiety among us, even though we were eventually allowed to stay.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331142/original/file-20200428-110785-e7vrzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331142/original/file-20200428-110785-e7vrzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331142/original/file-20200428-110785-e7vrzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331142/original/file-20200428-110785-e7vrzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331142/original/file-20200428-110785-e7vrzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331142/original/file-20200428-110785-e7vrzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331142/original/file-20200428-110785-e7vrzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331142/original/file-20200428-110785-e7vrzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Refugees sleep on a sidewalk in Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, March 27, 2020, after South Africa went into a nationwide lockdown for 21 days.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-South-Africa/23a905b96a9b4ed8832aace172385692/1/0">AP/Nardus Engelbrecht</a></span>
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<p>Since the lockdown, I have remained holed up at my place. Videos of soldiers and the police kicking those who have dared to walk on the streets during the lockdown have been circulating on social media. As an immigrant, I would not want to be on the streets.</p>
<p>Many immigrants work as Uber drivers and waiters, but Uber service is barred, and those depending on tips have no income. Most spaza shop (an informal convenience store) operators in the townships are Somalis and Ethiopians. However, when the Minister of Small Business Development announced which shops should remain open, it was only shops owned by South African nationals, and only they would be compensated for losses. That means immigrants will struggle to raise money to rent the premises they occupy in townships.</p>
<p>It’s interesting how unity has emerged among Zimbabweans here. They are usually a divided community, but now they are mobilizing resources using social media groups like ‘Zimbabweans in Cape Town’ and helping each other buy food and pay rent.</p>
<h2>Costa Rica</h2>
<p><em><a href="https://www.unhcr.org/5d08d7ee7.pdf">Costa Rica officially has 37,000 refugees and asylum seekers</a>, but so-called “<a href="https://migrationdataportal.org/themes/irregular-migration">irregular migrants</a>,” many from African countries, fly to a South American country, then travel north and transit Costa Rica en route to the U.S. On March 18, the government closed its borders and began enforcing strict controls. Michelle, an aid worker in San Jose, wrote:</em></p>
<p>I’m pretty annoyed with border controls and government double talk, it’s obvious that when they close borders many migrants are going to transit through the blind spots. The president has ordered that any migrant resident that leaves the country in the next months will lose [their residence] condition, i.e. permission to be in the country.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331154/original/file-20200428-110761-g4nge8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331154/original/file-20200428-110761-g4nge8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331154/original/file-20200428-110761-g4nge8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331154/original/file-20200428-110761-g4nge8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331154/original/file-20200428-110761-g4nge8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331154/original/file-20200428-110761-g4nge8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331154/original/file-20200428-110761-g4nge8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331154/original/file-20200428-110761-g4nge8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nicaraguan and Cuban homeless migrants demonstrate outside the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees office, demanding help amid the new coronavirus pandemic, in San Jose on April 21, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nicaraguan-and-cuban-homeless-migrants-demonstrate-outside-news-photo/1210615140?adppopup=true">Getty/Ezequiel Becerra / AFP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As of March 22, the migration police have deported 511 migrants across the northern border with Nicaragua. At the southern border with Panama, the government accepted 2,600 African and Haitian migrants and took them to a detention center in the north, because Costa Rican authorities apparently could not contain the flow.</p>
<h2>Jordan</h2>
<p><em>Jordan hosts some <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/jo/12449-unhcr-continues-to-support-refugees-in-jordan-throughout-2019.html">745,000 mostly Syrian refugees</a>. This is a high number, but not as high as Lebanon, which hosts some 1.5 million Syrian refugees. More than 80% live outside refugee camps, in Jordan’s towns and cities. Ruby, a Jordanian aid worker in Amman, writes:</em></p>
<p>Prices of essential items have increased with serious consequences for both refugees and poor Jordanians. The Jordanian government has set price ceilings for essential goods like groceries and announced penalties for noncompliance. Some landlords show understanding and have accepted delaying rents for the current month. Some restaurant owners provide free meals for volunteer youth … Students continue their education through the electronic platforms launched by the Ministry of Education, and through the private TV channel, but some Syrians struggle to pay for internet cards.</p>
<p>[<em>Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-facts">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136925/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From getting schooling for their children through an app in the wrong language to trouble finding gloves and masks, refugees across the globe face different challenges in dealing with the coronavirus.Karen Jacobsen, Henry J. Leir Chair in Global Migration, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts UniversityCharles Simpson, Program Administrator, Feinstein International Center, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1333302020-03-31T12:16:46Z2020-03-31T12:16:46Z2 reasons – and 1 disease – that make peace in Syria so difficult<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321766/original/file-20200319-22614-1x9uuh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C206%2C5691%2C3621&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Displaced Syrians learn about the danger of the coronavirus to them in their camps.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/displaced-syrian-some-wearing-protective-masks-listen-as-news-photo/1207608498">Mohammed Al-Rifai/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite many <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/30/syria-peace-talks-vienna-iran-saudi-arabia">attempts</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39934868">at</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/world/middleeast/syria-peace-talks.html">negotiations</a>, the Syrian war – a conflict with a complicated and constantly changing cast of characters that has killed as many as <a href="http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=152189">585,000 people</a> and <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/syria-emergency.html">displaced</a> over half of Syria’s prewar population – has proved extremely difficult to resolve. </p>
<p>As the war grinds on, conditions are only getting worse. <a href="https://apnews.com/76cd635424dc016e04a04dc4f4609400">For months</a>, the Syrian regime and its Russian allies have been engaged in an assault on Idlib, the last rebel-held region in the country. That has sparked an <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worst-humanitarian-crisis-of-the-21st-century-5-questions-on-syria-answered-132571">exodus of nearly a million people</a> toward the now-sealed Turkish border. Although the U.N. has tried to deliver badly needed relief, many Syrians are facing winter conditions without shelter and there are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/world/middleeast/syria-idlib-refugees.html">reports of children freezing to death</a>.</p>
<p>On top of all this, Syrians are now facing the coronavirus outbreak, which poses a devastating threat to the displacement <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/world/middleeast/syria-coronavirus-idlib-tents.html">camps jammed with people</a> fleeing the conflict, who have no opportunity to practice social distancing – or even wash their hands.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CQdE9nYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I am currently working on a book</a> about the war in Syria. The Syrians I’ve spoken with in the course of my research point to many reasons for their country’s tragedy. For many of those I spoke with, those reasons include the Assad regime itself and, for at least some, the rebels as well.</p>
<p>But there are two factors that stand out in explaining why the war seems to be so intractable and peace so sadly elusive: First, everyone in Syria is fighting a slightly different war from everyone else. And second, the war involves lots of outside participants, all with their own goals. </p>
<p>With a fast-spreading dangerous disease on the doorstep, the situation in Syria looks grimmer than ever.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C37%2C4985%2C3285&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C37%2C4985%2C3285&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321763/original/file-20200319-22602-7jt8ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women walk among airstrike-ruined buildings in Idlib, Syria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Syria-Idlib-on-the-Brink/aef79c4ef57e4369a529d3870f3e1dd2/53/0">AP Photo/Felipe Dana</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A complex mix of battles and wars</h2>
<p>The Syrian war involves a sometimes bewildering constellation of participants. </p>
<p>At a bare minimum, they include President Bashar al Assad’s regime; the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its associated armed wings (the YPG and YPJ); the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or IS; and the constantly shifting array of armed groups who make up “the opposition” (sometimes also referred to as “the rebels”), which have included everyone from former army officers, to foreign jihadists, to local warlords.</p>
<p>Each group has its own objectives. The rebels and the regime seek control of Syria itself. In contrast, the <a href="https://syriadirect.org/news/the-state-of-rojava-a-month-long-reporting-series-from-syria-direct/">Kurds</a> and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/world/middleeast/isis-yazidi-women-rape-iraq-mosul-slavery.html">Islamic State group</a> were (and are) fighting to carve out entirely <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/world/middleeast/syria-kurds.html?searchResultPosition=5">new territories</a> with new boundaries and new forms of government. These conflicting objectives mean that what might appear from the outside as a single war is really a collection of semi-related subconflicts. </p>
<p>By 2012, the nonviolent uprising against the Assad regime the had begun in the spring of 2011 had morphed into a military conflict between the regime and a range of rebel groups. While all of the rebels were bent on removing Assad from power, they often had quite divergent visions of what or who might replace him (although in most cases, the answer was “themselves”). </p>
<p>Beginning in mid-2013, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/world/middleeast/syria.html">fighting</a> erupted in the north between the Kurdish armed groups and the Islamic State group, a conflict that was largely disconnected from the war being waged elsewhere in the country. In 2018, Turkish-sponsored rebel groups <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/18/world/middleeast/afrin-turkey-syria.html">attacked Kurdish territory</a> in the north, while other rebel factions continued fighting the regime – and still others <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-rebels-idUSKCN1OX1JF">fought amongst themselves</a>.</p>
<p>All this infighting and complexity means that even if a settlement is reached that satisfies some groups, it is unlikely to satisfy everyone. There will almost certainly be someone left with an incentive to keep fighting.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321767/original/file-20200319-22594-1b59dam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321767/original/file-20200319-22594-1b59dam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321767/original/file-20200319-22594-1b59dam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321767/original/file-20200319-22594-1b59dam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321767/original/file-20200319-22594-1b59dam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321767/original/file-20200319-22594-1b59dam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321767/original/file-20200319-22594-1b59dam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321767/original/file-20200319-22594-1b59dam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fighting continues in northwestern Syria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-syrias-opposition-national-liberation-front-fire-news-photo/1205047412">Aaref Watad/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Major international forces are involved</h2>
<p>Nearly every one of these factions has support from foreign allies. The Assad regime is backed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/world/europe/russia-sides-firmly-with-assad-government-in-syria.html?searchResultPosition=25">by</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/world/europe/russian-forces-remain-heavily-involved-in-syria-despite-appearances.html?searchResultPosition=12">Russia</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/world/middleeast/irans-support-emboldens-assad-us-envoy-says.html?searchResultPosition=10">Iran</a> and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/world/middleeast/iran-and-hezbollahs-support-for-syria-complicates-us-strategy-on-peace-talks.html?searchResultPosition=9">Iran-backed</a> Lebanese armed group <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/world/middleeast/syrian-army-and-hezbollah-step-up-raids-on-rebels.html?searchResultPosition=2">Hezbollah</a>. </p>
<p>The various rebel factions each have their own backers, <a href="https://mepc.org/journal/eyes-bigger-stomachs-turkey-saudi-arabia-and-qatar-syria">including</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-idlib-idUSKCN1SV0FA">Turkey</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-saudi/saudi-arabia-and-qatar-funding-syrian-rebels-idUSBRE85M07820120623">Saudi Arabia, and Qatar</a>. </p>
<p>The Kurds have received U.S. military support in their campaign against the Islamic State group – which has the dubious distinction of being so unpleasant that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29074514">no nation</a> is willing to openly support it.</p>
<p>This outside support has enabled all the war’s participants to keep fighting for far longer than would have been possible without it. In particular, direct Russian intervention in 2015 probably <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/video/multimedia/100000004069392/assad-russias-support-changes-balance-on-the-ground.html?searchResultPosition=5">saved the Assad regime</a>.</p>
<p>At the same time, all of these foreign parties are in Syria for their own interests. Russia hopes to preserve both its influence in the region and access to <a href="https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/09/27/naval-base-in-syria-anchors-russia-to-mediterranean/">its naval base</a> in the Syrian city of Tartus. </p>
<p>Turkey seeks to prevent the Syrian Kurds from establishing their own autonomous territory on its southern border, fearing this would work to the advantage of the PKK, the Kurdish armed group that has been embroiled in a conflict with the Turkish state since the 1980s. Aside from some early support for some parts of the opposition, the U.S. has mostly focused on <a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-defeats-the-islamic-state-remains-unbroken-and-defiant-around-the-world-128971">containing the Islamic State group</a>.</p>
<p>All have engaged in military strikes that have cost Syrian lives, including Turkish <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/20/turkey-bombs-kurdish-controlled-city-of-afrin-in-northern-syria">attacks on Afrin</a>, the American <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-un-idUSKCN1BB17G">bombardment of Raqqa</a> and Russia’s <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/10/30/civilians-northern-syria-there-no-escape">assault</a> on <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/10/18/syria-russia-attack-refuge-apparent-war-crime">civilian targets</a> <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/russian-airstrike-kills-civilians-in-syrias-aleppo-province-attack/a-52322455">across Syria</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321765/original/file-20200319-22622-dgjwom.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Displacement camps in Syria’s Idlib province pack people closely together, with no running water.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/drone-image-taken-on-march-17-shows-a-displaced-camp-in-the-news-photo/1207507564">Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From bad to worse?</h2>
<p>Recent developments suggest that, if anything, the situation in Syria is worsening. Most of the war’s participants, including (and recently, especially) Assad’s regime, have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/21/syrian-regime-targets-hospital-and-refugee-camp-killing-at-least-22">attacked</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/31/world/middleeast/syria-united-nations-investigation.html">medical facilities</a>, <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1058451">humanitarian aid</a> operations and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/21/syrian-regime-targets-hospital-and-refugee-camp-killing-at-least-22">refugee camps</a>.</p>
<p>One new factor stands to significantly complicate the situation in Syria: If there is an outbreak of the novel coronavirus and its associated disease, COVID-19, anywhere in Syria, the results will be <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/concern-mounts-catastrophic-coronavirus-outbreak-syria-200316003354976.html">catastrophic</a>. The Syrian regime has <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/syria-reports-first-coronavirus-death-as-fears-grow-of-major-outbreak/ar-BB11Tnrp?li=AAggFp5">acknowledged nine cases and one death</a> so far, though the number may well be higher. Given the poor state of the country’s health system, things will likely get much worse.</p>
<p>Displacement camps in Syria and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/stopping-coronavirus-spread-syrian-refugee-camps-mission-impossible-says-turkish-n1153606">refugee camps</a> outside of Syria provide ideal conditions for the spread of disease. With much of the country’s medical infrastructure and equipment damaged or destroyed, especially outside of Damascus, treatment will be extremely difficult.</p>
<p>The Assad regime may be close to winning a bitter victory. But the country’s future doesn’t look good. </p>
<p>For one thing, an end to the war doesn’t necessarily mean an immediate cessation of all violence; opposition forces may wage a low-grade insurgency for years to come, as has happened in Iraq.</p>
<p>Even if violence does end, rebuilding Syria will require an enormous amount of money and human effort – both of which are in short supply there. Many of the Syrians who fled in the war’s early years were <a href="https://time.com/4046618/syrian-migrants/">young and</a> <a href="https://www.voanews.com/world-news/middle-east-dont-use/un-many-syrian-refugees-educated-seeking-better-lives">educated</a> – exactly the people whose skills Syria will desperately need in order to recover. But they may not be willing to return, either out of fear of reprisals from the regime, or because they have nothing to return to.</p>
<p>The process of rebuilding Syria will be further hampered by the regime itself; the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/world/asia/01makhlouf.html">corruption</a> and repression that protesters objected to in 2011 remain very much a part of Assad’s government. Amnesty International has <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE2445082016ENGLISH.PDF">documented the use of torture</a> against tens of thousands of Syrians, especially in the notorious Sadnaya Prison. </p>
<p>Probably unsurprisingly, few of the Syrians I have interviewed expressed much admiration for or confidence in any of the participants in the war – neither for the various nonstate armed groups involved, nor for the regime. As complex as ending the Syrian war has proved, building the Syrian peace may prove to be almost as difficult.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ora Szekely does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Everyone in Syria is fighting a slightly different war from everyone else, there are outsiders with their own goals – and the coronavirus is about to make everything much worse.Ora Szekely, Associate Professor of Political Science, Clark UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1325332020-03-10T11:07:49Z2020-03-10T11:07:49ZThe fragmented politics of the Syrian refugee crisis jeopardises the future of millions<p>The Syrian province of Idlib, the remaining holdout of rebels fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad, has experienced <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-45403334">fierce fighting</a> in recent months as the Syrian army, supported by Russia, has pushed to reclaim the territory. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the expansionist impulses of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in north-west Syria brought Turkey into direct confrontation with Assad’s forces in Idlib and exacerbated tensions with Russia. A ceasefire was agreed in early March, but tensions in the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/newsfeed/2020/03/russia-turkey-agree-idlib-ceasefire-200309083037719.html">region remain high</a>.</p>
<p>Even before the military escalation in Idlib, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/world/middleeast/the-kurds-facts-history.html">Turkish attack</a> on Kurds in north-eastern Syria in October 2019 had added a layer of complexity to the conflict. Now the recent assaults on Syrians in Idlib have led to the exodus of an estimated <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/nws_flash_update_20200305_final.pdf">1 million civilians</a>. UN officials <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-un/syria-displacement-is-worst-since-conflict-began-un-idUSKBN2051MA">said</a> it was “the fastest growing displacement” they had ever seen in Syria. </p>
<p>Many people fled to Turkey, already home to around 3.5 million Syrian refugees. On February 29, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/28/tensions-rise-between-turkey-and-russia-after-killing-of-troops-in-syria">Turkey opened its border with Greece</a>, apparently to put pressure on Europe to support its operations in Idlib. </p>
<p>Sadly, this wave of migration is only the latest flashpoint in the worst humanitarian crisis since the horrors of the second world war. But even this crisis, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/09/turkey-erdogan-holds-talks-with-eu-leaders-over-border-opening">thousands now stuck</a> in no-man’s land on the Greek-Turkish border, hasn’t triggered a way through the regional and domestic blockages that have prevented an end to the bloodshed in Syria. This is something we’ve written about in <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030350154">a new book on the Syrian refugee crisis</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tensions-mount-at-greek-border-with-turkey-amid-contested-history-of-migration-in-the-aegean-132990">Tensions mount at Greek border with Turkey amid contested history of migration in the Aegean</a>
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<h2>Regional inertia</h2>
<p>Since 2011, the humanitarian consequences of the Syrian crisis have spilled over several Middle Eastern countries. But there has been no collective, regional response – largely because of political fragmentation and competition for power. </p>
<p>One striking illustration of these dynamics is the inertia of the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The two organisations have repeatedly failed to provide effective responses to regional issues such as the turmoil in Yemen and Libya or the rise of extremist groups in Iraq and Syria. The Syrian refugee crisis, and more recently the situation in north-west Syria, are no exceptions. </p>
<p>The Arab League has limited its intervention to support for efforts by the international community to mitigate the impact of the refugee crisis. As for the GCC, its actions were overshadowed by an <a href="https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/qatar-crisis-its-regional-implications-and-us-national-interest">internal rift</a> and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/06/29/syria-war-saudi-arabia-qatar/">the involvement of Qatar and Saudi Arabia</a> in the Syrian chaos. This means that the humanitarian burden has continued to be borne by countries that host Syrian refugees. </p>
<p>Some may have expected Arab solidarity in the face of a crisis that emerged in the context of wider Arab uprisings. Yet even in the Arab countries that have hosted the bulk of refugees from Syria, such as Jordan and Lebanon, the government and people distanced themselves from their Arab brothers as the crisis became protracted.</p>
<p>The national borders in the Middle East that were drawn up after the first world war still <a href="https://www.rienner.com/uploads/53924248e6ec6.pdf">remain contested </a> by pan-Arab, pan-Islamic and pan-Kurdish movements. Nevertheless, the Syrian refugee crisis showed how these borders and national identities are powerful drivers of everyday politics. </p>
<h2>A crisis politicised</h2>
<p>The stance of the governments in Jordan and Lebanon towards the Syrian conflict shaped the <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030350154">countries’ refugee policy</a>. What started as a policy of open doors evolved from 2014 when restrictions were imposed on Syrians entering and staying in both countries. Jordan and Lebanon then began to cooperate with the international community to mitigate the refugee crisis in early 2016, and eventually began to <a href="https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/amp/news/2018/8/14/syria-says-deal-struck-with-jordan-to-return-refugees?__twitter_impression=true">actively encourage</a> the <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/06/lebanon-syrian-refugees-return-process.html">return of refugees</a> to Syria in 2018. </p>
<p>Lebanon’s ruling elites capitalised on the humanitarian crisis by portraying the Syrian refugees as a <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030350154#">security threat</a>. Pro-Assad political parties Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement used this narrative to undermine anti-Assad political forces in Lebanon, namely a party called the Future Movement. This, in turn, created a sense of urgency which encouraged the flow of foreign aid into the country in an attempt to bring stability. But this foreign aid fed <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ar/politics/2015/03/lebanon-corruption-syrian-refugees-aid.html">corruption</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/syrian-refugees-remain-trapped-and-marginalised-by-lebanons-power-sharing-politics-108363">Syrian refugees remain trapped and marginalised by Lebanon's power-sharing politics</a>
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<p>The media has also played an important role in shaping the perception of Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon by circulating a twofold government-sponsored narrative about the crisis. On one hand, this narrative tried to reassure Lebanese people of a sense of normalcy and fostered patience and societal strength. On the other, the government framed the refugee crisis as an emergency to convince international donors to channel humanitarian aid to the country. But as we found in our research, it was the second narrative that dominated, causing confusion among Lebanese and Jordanians who have started to ask for their share of the foreign aid. </p>
<h2>Stuck in the middle</h2>
<p>Amid this fragmented regional landscape and the politicisation of the crisis at the regional and national levels, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/refugees-forced-to-return-to-syria-face-imprisonment-death-at-the-hands-of-assad-113159">fate of Syrian refugees</a> remains unclear. Russia has offered to facilitate dialogue between host countries – mainly Lebanon – and the Assad regime regarding the return of Syrian populations. But the ongoing process of their return to their home country might now be hampered by diplomatic tensions between Syria and its neighbours, especially Lebanon and Turkey.</p>
<p>The safe return of Syrian refugees will also be restricted by the demographic changes initiated by the Turkish government in efforts to <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/12/19/who-exactly-is-turkey-resettling-in-syria/">eliminate the Kurdish presence</a> along its border. The fate of returnees is also jeopardised by the Assad regime’s policies against those who took part in the uprising, those who didn’t answer the conscription call during the war or those who <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/05/29/qa-syrias-new-property-law">own properties</a> in former rebel-held areas. </p>
<p>The Syrian refugee crisis will remain a major card both in the hands of the countries involved militarily in the conflict, and those hosting refugees. As for the Syrian refugees themselves, their lives, rights and future are precarious. They remain the primary victims of the regional competition for power.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132533/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juline Beaujouan received funding from AHRC's Open World Research Initiative (OWRI), Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and Higher Education Funding Council for England (hefce). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amjed Rasheed received funding from the AHRC's Open World Research Initiative (OWRI), the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (hefce).</span></em></p>How the humanitarian consequences of the Syrian crisis have spilled across the region.Juline Beaujouan, Research Associate, Political Settlements Research Programme, The University of EdinburghAmjed Rasheed, Research Fellow, School of Government and International Affairs, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.