Jr. Model United Nations Preparatory Conference

The Refugee Crisis in Syria

Presented by: Mr. Samer Abboud, Arcadia UniversityWednesday, March 12 & Thursday, March 13,

2014Temple University, Fox School of Business · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Refugee Crisis in Syria

Samer Abboud

Assistant Professor, International Studies

Arcadia University

Some key questions

• What has caused the Syrian refugee

crisis?

• Who are the refugees and where are

the refugees going?

• What is being done to help them?

The beginning of the crisis

• The Syrian uprising began in March 2011

• The uprising was slowly militarized – more

violence led to more people leaving their

homes

• Internally displaced people versus refugees

– Why would someone stay within their country

as opposed to leaving it?

The severity of the crisis

• Syria’s population is about 22.5 million

– 1/3 of this population now live outside of their

homes

• The United States population is 314 million

– If 1/3 of Americans were displaced, that would

be around 105 million people

• What do you think would be some of the long-term

consequences if that happened here?

Refugee demographics

Age group Male Female

0-4 9.5 9.1

5-11 9.7 9.2

12-17 6.7 5.9

18-59 25.6 21.9

60+ 1.2 1.4

Meeting refugee needs

• Basic service provision is lacking

• Donor commitments do not match actual

contributions

• Refugees have very few protections, very few

rights

• Reliance on international organizations for relief

and support

Life in the camps

• Very few are able to leave the camps

• Impermanence and permanence at the same time

• Reliance on aid

• Attempts to establish social structures of support

• Loss of assets, jobs, skills and economic

opportunities

• Informality and loss of education possibilities

• Poor services

Future impacts• Social ruptures and cultural

destruction

• Loss of economic capacity and

development

• Resentment and retribution

– How will Syrians live together after this

collective experience?

Global priorities

A global problem

Refugee options

• Integration

• Repatriation

• Resettlement

Looking forward• Refugee support services are slow to

materialize

• Economic and political resentment is

growing against Syrians

• The conflict is getting worse, not

better