The Syrian Refugee Crisis

The Syrian Civil War officially began on March 15, 2011.  10 years later, Syria along with the rest of the world still feel the lasting effects that this devastating war has placed upon the Syrian people.  Over 5 and a half million men, women, and children are seeking asylum and have fled Syria as refugees, and another 6.2 million are displaced from their homes within Syria.  Nearly 12 million people require humanitarian assistance in Syria currently.  Of all of these horrible, saddening statistics, one tugs on the heart strings even more.  Over half of the human beings affected by the Syrian refugee crisis are children.

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has bombed dozens of “off-limits” sites according to the U.N., such as hospitals and medical facilities across Syria.  Evidence of chemical attacks, a direct violation of 1925 Geneva Protocol, has been found in parts of Syria.  The violence has spread from the original source – political uprising – to religious warfare as well, including the presence of the ISIS caliphate in Syria.  Because of all of this violence and day-to-day uncertainty of life, millions of Syrians have fled their homeland in search of survival.  But where are they going, and how are they getting there?

Syrian refugees aren’t hopping in their commercial airliner and leaving to a new life.  They’re doing what they can to survive, whether it’s making the journey by foot across the desert into other middle eastern countries, taking the dangerous trek by boat into the Mediterranean, or even hiding in a fuel tank.  As shown in the world map above, Turkey takes in the most Syrian refugees, with nearly 3.5 million men, women, and children having fled to the nation in roughly the past 10 years.  This makes sense logistically because Turkey is the most accessible country for most fleeing Syrians.  Continuing along that line of thinking, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon – Syria’s bordering countries – all have the other high amounts of refugees from Syria.  However, despite its distance from Syria, Germany also has a high amount of Syrian Refugees – over half as many as neighboring Lebanon.

Germany’s stance on the Syrian refugee crisis has had its positives and its negatives.  First and foremost, hundreds of thousands of innocent lives have been saved by the German government’s decision to take a hands-on approach in accepting refugees seeking asylum.  Additionally, one aspect that is commonly misconstrued/underlooked is the economic aspect of refugees.  The natural inclination is to think that a country’s economy would suffer as a byproduct of taking in refugees, because the refugees are thrown into a new culture with a new language and probably few skills useful in the labor force.  However, researchers in Germany have found an economic boost due to refugees in Germany.  Germany is an aging nation towards the end of the demographic transition model.  In turn, their population will decline in the future and they’re in need of young workers.  Syrian refugees, due to language programs and job initiative programs, have stepped into German shoes and filled the labor force.  Over 35% of German refugees have stable jobs within 3 years of entering the country after fleeing their war-torn homeland.  Several studies conducted, like this one, disprove the common stereotype that refugees merely enter a country seeking asylum and offering nothing to contribute to the society.  However, many Syrians in Germany have been reported as feeling unwelcome, unwanted, and they want to return home but would be unsafe if they did so.

Why doesn’t the United States take a more German approach to the Syrian refugee crisis?  We have the monetary means, we can create similar language programs and job initiatives for Syrians, but what holds back the U.S. from accepting more than 30,000 Syrian refugees of the millions that need help?  After all, there’s a poem on the Statue of Liberty.  One of the trademarks of the land of the free states: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”  It doesn’t say “give me your wealthy, your educated, your successful immigrants”.  It says everyone is welcome in the United States.  So why does the United States have merely 33,000 Syrian refugees of the 6 million+ in need of help?  Now, it is reasonable and necessary to factor in the distance problem with transporting Syrian refugees to America.  A very select few Syrians could even make it to the United States without major assistance and direction, but that shouldn’t be a prohibitor in my opinion.  Look at Germany’s statistics.  Over 530,000 Syrians have made the long journey from Syria to Germany.  This is because Germany has adopted a more willing strategy to accept immigrants.  One major reason why the United States has struggled in accepting middle eastern refugees is a fear of terrorism.  Post-9/11, America has adopted a natural hesitancy and reluctance to admit Muslim refugees.  Coupled with the fact that ISIS has established a stronghold in Syria amidst millions of innocent Syrians, the United States fears letting in even one or a handful of terrorists among millions of innocent refugees could pose a national security threat.

Immigration and refugee crises are difficult to talk about because the obvious humanitarian answer is to want to save as many people as possible.  However, it never is that simple.  What do you think about the Syrian refugee crisis in particular.  What are some possible solutions, if there are any?  Would interfering in Syrian politics and attempting to end the civil war help, or would it make things worse?  Finally, what problems with accepting refugees do you think are valid that I did not mention in this blog?  I understand that I did not address any cons of accepting refugees, but that doesn’t mean there are no cons.  What are your thoughts?

Works cited:

Dowling, Siobhan. “Germany Welcomed Refugees. Now It’s Reaping the Economic Benefits.” Business and Economy News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 20 June 2019, www.aljazeera.com/economy/2019/6/20/germany-welcomed-refugees-now-its-reaping-the-economic-benefits.

Lind, Dara. “Why the US Isn’t Taking More Syrian Refugees.” Vox, Vox, 11 Sept. 2015, www.vox.com/2015/9/11/9309973/syrian-refugees-us.

Connor, Phillip. “Where Syrian Refugees Have Resettled Worldwide.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 31 May 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/29/where-displaced-syrians-have-resettled/.

Reid, Kathryn. “Syrian Refugee Crisis: Facts, FAQs, and How to Help.” World Vision, 22 Feb. 2021, www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/syrian-refugee-crisis-facts#fast-facts.

Browne, Malachy, et al. “Hospitals and Schools Are Being Bombed in Syria. A U.N. Inquiry Is Limited. We Took a Deeper Look.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Jan. 2020, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/31/world/middleeast/syria-united-nations-investigation.html.