Even as our attention has switched to the question of military intervention in Syria, the world’s largest humanitarian crisis continues to unfold across the Middle East. The terrible conditions that drove millions of refugees to flee Syria have in no way improved. In many cases, they are getting much worse, and life is increasingly gruelling in their countries of first asylum.
There are more than four million Syrian refugees living in the countries surrounding their former home: many more than made it to Europe during this extraordinary summer. More than two million are in Turkey, and more than one million are in the tiny country of Lebanon, where they make up a quarter of the entire population. Another million are scattered across Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt; some are in camps and many others are struggling to get by in the towns and cities.
They can’t go home as the violence there continues unabated, and they see little hope for a political solution any time soon. At the same time, they face a growing struggle to survive where they are.
Throughout the region, in the frontline states, many refugees have reached breaking point. Restrictions and rising discrimination make it impossible for them to earn a living wage. Most have used all their savings and sold all their valuables to cover the basics of rent, food and medicine.
A lost generation of children has been out of school for years, and Syria’s neighbours have cracked down on residency permits, making it increasingly difficult to stay legally. Living conditions are steadily deteriorating, week by week, month by month.
In Lebanon, 93% of Syrian refugee households now live below the national poverty line. In Jordan, outside the formal camps, it’s 87%. Families are turning to exploitative gangs, child labour and early marriage to survive.
If all these things were already true at the beginning of this year, they are even more true now. In a recent survey of Syrian refugees in Greece, the lack of non-exploitative employment opportunities was the number one reason for moving away from their countries of first asylum. Other reasons included a lack of financial assistance, inadequate shelter, fears for their safety, no education, and the possibility of deportation.
Yet, even as the world seeks a comprehensive solution to the Syria crisis, humanitarian appeals to help people in frontline countries go unfunded. The Syria regional response plan for 2015 has so far received only 50% of what is needed, despite the huge attention given to the European refugee crisis.
Earlier this year, the World Food Programme was forced to cut food assistance to Syrian refugees by 50% on average, since increased to 80% of the monthly voucher value. Many understandably felt that the international community was abandoning them, and saw no option but to move on.
As Europe shuts down its frontiers, the need to support Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries becomes even more urgent. Unless we improve the living and working conditions for refugees, fuelled by desperation, more people will take the risky decision to move on – feeding a vast, exploitative criminal smuggling network as they do so.
Today, the UN is launching its humanitarian appeal for 2016, asking for close to $20bn to help more than 87.6 million people of the most vulnerable people worldwide. This is more than six times what we needed a decade ago.
Within it, the conflict in Syria will stand out as one of the greatest drivers of need, forcing people from their homes at unprecedented levels. But we recognie that aid is not enough. Next year’s appeals will mark a growing shift from care and maintenance, to a professional, systematic and market-based approach which nurtures self-reliance and livelihoods, and is more closely linked to economic development. We need to help refugees earn a living for themselves, and for their host communities to thrive while they do so.
If governments wish to diminish the pressures for people to move on, it is essential that they fund these appeals more generously than in 2015. They must also play their part by recommitting to resettlement programmes and other forms of admission such as humanitarian visas, private sponsorship, scholarships and facilitated access to family reunions.
There are now 60-million forcibly displaced people worldwide, the largest number since the second world war. Chances are that the number will be larger next year. As the events of 2015 have shown, if we do not help refugees in their current location, if we do not shoulder our part of the responsibility, more desperate people will turn to smugglers as they see no other option for themselves and their families.
This year also taught us something else: that there is a vast groundswell of generosity amongst ordinary citizens to help. Volunteers came out in their thousands to step in where their institutions had failed. Let us live up to their example, and show that our international system is capable of mustering a humanitarian response with every ounce of urgency it is now demonstrating on the field of battle.
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