World Refugee Day: Handicap International voices serious concerns about huge burden on countries hosting Syrian refugees
London, 20 June 2013. Today, on World Refugee Day, Handicap International is voicing serious concerns regarding the lack of resources available to support Syrian refugees. Over 1.6 million people are estimated to have fled the fighting in Syria and sought refuge abroad. The organisation is also extremely worried about the impact on host countries and is calling on international funding bodies and the United Nations to recognise the extent of the crisis and provide the appropriate resources and coordination required to meet both current and future needs.
Syrian refugees represent up to 25% of the populations of host countries, placing a massive strain on resources. “Although exact comparisons are impossible, imagine the situation in the UK if 15 million people from a neighbouring country suddenly came into the country seeking refuge," explains Thierry-Mehdi Benlahsen, Handicap International's Regional Emergency Response Coordinator.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of refugees in Lebanon is set to hit the one million mark by the end of 2013, the equivalent of 25% of the country’s population. In fact, the Lebanese government estimates that this figure has already been reached, if all Syrians who have crossed the border are taken into account. With no official refugee camps, the refugees have dispersed throughout the country, taken in by individual host families and often living in very basic accommodation.
Jordan is also set to be home to more than one million refugees by the end of 2013. "Imagine what this influx of a population with all its needs represents", adds Thierry-Mehdi Benlahsen. “Hospitals are at breaking point, there is a serious lack of accommodation, and the quite exceptional solidarity shown by the inhabitants of the host countries may well reach its limits if the international community does not provide an appropriate response to the situation."
According to UNHCR, at the beginning of June 2013, over 5 million people had already been forced to flee the fighting and leave their homes behind them. Of these, 1.6 million have left Syria and forecasts for the future are less than optimistic. As Thierry-Mehdi Benlahsen explains, "These very shocking figures are still far below the actual number of refugees because they do not take into account the families who have fled to neighbouring countries but have not registered with UNHCR."
In comparison, at the beginning of 2012 there were 15 million people worldwide registered as refugees. Recently, UNHCR has warned that this figure may well have increased due to the crisis in Syria and could reach a record high.
Handicap International, which is supporting Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, has repeatedly denounced the international community’s inaction and its consequences. “In the best case scenario the funding made available will cover the needs identified four months ago," stresses Thierry-Mehdi Benlahsen. "In the meantime the situation has deteriorated and NGOs do not have the resources they need to cope."
Handicap International is calling on the international community to make a firm commitment to ending the conflict and ensuring both parties respect the rules of engagement regarding protection of civilians. The organisation also deplores the lack of proper UN coordination of the humanitarian response to the crisis. This lack of coordination means there are inevitably entire groups of people who receive no assistance whatsoever. Paradoxically, these are often the most vulnerable populations.
World Refugee Day this year has a special resonance in light of the Syria conflict, which is emblematic of the full spectrum of issues relating to forced displacement: ever-increasing numbers of refugees leaving the country, an even higher increase in the number of persons displaced within the country, a drawn out crisis, a multiplication of the forms of refuge, the international community’s difficulties in providing coordinated aid, and a range of issues relating to protection, violence and discrimination.
Handicap International has been working with Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon since summer 2012 and it has been working inside Syria itself since the beginning of 2013, providing support to refugees and displaced persons, in the form of health care for the injured, guidance and care management for the most vulnerable populations and by raising awareness of the risks of unexploded ordnance.
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Press contact
Tom Shelton
Email: tom.shelton@hi-uk.org
Direct: 44 (0)203 463 2377
Mobile: 44 (0)7508 810 520
About Handicap International
Co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Handicap International is an international aid organisation working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. Working alongside people with disabilities and vulnerable populations, we take action and raise awareness in order to respond to their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights. Handicap International is a co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Cluster Munition Coalition. www.handicap-international.org.uk
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