David Cameron’s recent visit to Jordan, where he spoke to Syrian people in the massive Zaatari refugee camp and neighbouring Zaatari village, will have furnished the British prime minister with a fresh perspective ahead of the UN general assembly in New York next week.
Zaatari camp, which would now be Jordan’s fourth largest city, is a sprawling mass of misery. It houses tens of thousands of Syrian refugees with no jobs, fractured families, little to do and nowhere to go. Bad as it is, it is still infinitely better than the living conditions of a vast number of Syrians – of whom 11 million have been displaced over the past four and a half years. It is no wonder so many are making the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean.
Now that he has a fresh, first-hand understanding of the overwhelming needs in the Middle East, Cameron has an obligation to challenge fellow world leaders to make major new commitments to the people of Syria and its neighbours. On behalf of a humanitarian community struggling mightily to bring comfort and hope to Syrians, I urge him to push a number of actions with his colleagues in New York.
First, and starting closest to home, the UK and other EU states need to step up immediately and meet the needs of those refugees who have managed to make it here. That includes working together on a coherent EU asylum policy.
Second, people in Syria need far more humanitarian support from rich-country governments. The UK has been generous relative to other donor countries, and thanks in large part to the Department for International Development, my organisation, Mercy Corps, is providing food and assistance to more than 500,000 people a month just in the Aleppo area. Still, the UN appeal for Syria is significantly underfunded – so far it has just 32% of what is needed – and that shortfall contributes directly to the ongoing misery of people caught in this brutal civil war.
Third, in addition to lifesaving humanitarian support in Syria, donor governments need to increase their investment in communities that are hosting refugees, particularly in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. With the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees living there, strains are inevitable between local residents and refugees who have become long-term guests. Mercy Corps has had success creating common ground through our community projects, as the prime minister saw, but we and others need to expand these efforts to reduce tensions and contain the current conflict.
Fourth, our leaders need to stop pretending that emergency aid will solve the problem. For too long, the international community has been collectively guilty of pursuing quick fixes to complex challenges in the form of short-term humanitarian assistance in places where a crisis has been ongoing for years. Emergency aid saves lives in the short term, but world leaders also need to fund approaches that are explicitly designed to address the underlying causes of misery and despair – conflict, injustice, weak governance and a poor economy. Cameron should be proud that the UK is a global leader in creative thinking on how foreign aid can best address these conditions; let’s increase that commitment and encourage other leaders to do the same.
Finally, the prime minister and his P5+1 counterparts – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany – need to reflect on their victory with the Iran nuclear deal, and turn their full attention to ending the war in Syria. Emergency aid can save lives and reduce suffering; smarter, long-term support can help address the underlying causes of crisis; but ultimately only a political solution will end the misery once and for all.
What we do next on Syria should signal a new approach to an increasingly complex world. More people are displaced from their homes now than at any time since world war two. Poverty is increasingly concentrated in the world’s 50 most fragile countries. Protracted conflict between weak states and non-state actors – from South Sudan to Yemen – and the rise of violent extremist groups defy the usual diplomatic and military interventions.
We must rise to these challenges with courage and imagination. If world leaders next week resolve to shift their focus to shoring up fragile states – places where poverty, weak governance, and violent conflict keep people trapped in despair – and if they meet the complexity of these challenges head-on with support for intelligent, long-term solutions, then we will make durable progress toward a better, safer world. If not, we will see tens of thousands more people choosing the dangerous journey to Europe over enduring hopelessness at home.
-
Simon O’Connell is executive director of Mercy Corps in Europe
