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Refugee crisis: lessons from Syria to Afghanistan

2021-09-08T15:02:49.979Z


A look at the Syrian refugee crisis can give us some lessons to find solutions for thousands of Afghan families.


Where are the Afghan refugees going now?

1:34

(CNN Spanish) -

While more than half a million refugees from Afghanistan are expected to escape to neighboring countries by the end of 2021, a look at the Syrian refugee crisis, which has been going on for more than a decade, can give us some lessons for seek solutions to the situation of thousands of Afghan families.

Although the conflicts that Syria experienced - and still lives - are different from what is happening in Afghanistan today, the impact on displaced people is similar.

"The main lesson we must learn is that countries neighboring crisis regions are the ones that generally receive the vast majority of refugees," William Spindler, spokesman for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), told CNN. Latin America.

"You have to support them [neighboring countries] because without the necessary support the refugees will seek safety and better conditions elsewhere," added Spindler.

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“If we take the case of the Syrian exodus, it started getting more attention when people started arriving in Europe in the [boreal] summer of 2015. But the crisis had been going on for several years and it wasn't being given enough attention because they weren't reaching Europe. Spindler pointed out.

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According to the UNHCR spokesperson, these refugees were mainly moving to Turkey, Iraq and Jordan.

"These countries were not getting the support they needed to respond and be able to assist these people," Spindler said.

This, in part, is what prompted many Syrians to move to other countries, according to Spindler.


Faced with the possibility of the same happening to Afghans who manage to escape, Spindler stressed that it is “extremely important to recognize the efforts of neighboring countries during crises.

Help them so that they can give support and protection to refugees ”.

In this way, said the representative of Acnur, it is avoided that people are exposed to greater distances of transfer and, therefore, to more dangerous routes.

The role of neighboring countries vis-à-vis refugees

According to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there are some 5.5 million displaced from Afghanistan.

German airbase is used as a refugee camp 2:05

Many of them have not yet managed to leave the country, while those who did escape, initially flee to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.

Shortly after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on other European countries to take responsibility for Afghans fleeing the Taliban, warning that Turkey has no obligation to be "the warehouse of refugees from Europe ".

“Europe, which has become the center of attraction for millions of people, cannot avoid this problem by closing its borders just to protect the well-being of its citizens.

With this attitude, Europe is turning its back on human values, ”Erdogan told a press conference on August 21.

He said that about half of the "irregular" migrants that Turkey has registered in the past three years are from Afghanistan.

Turkey is currently home to some 5 million foreign nationals, including 3.6 million Syrians and 300,000 Afghans, he added.

Turkey asks European countries to host Afghans 0:41

The Turkish president said that "if necessary," his country would be willing to meet with the "government that the Taliban will form."

Currently, UNHCR and other international organizations are asking for funding to be able to do their work.

"We have asked for US $ 330 million in funding for Afghan refugees and have received less than half before the crisis," Spindler said.

"It is extremely important that substantive requests are answered favorably so that we continue to do our work, both in Afghanistan and in neighboring countries."

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Spindler explained that at this time the humanitarian and displacement crisis in Afghanistan is essentially internal. “This can change, it depends on how the situation evolves. In general, people try to find safety in their country before leaving it. Furthermore, many borders are closed and access to the airport has become difficult, as we have seen in recent days, ”said the UNHCR spokesperson for Latin America.

Spindler believes that, while the media attention has focused on the heartbreaking images of the events that occurred at the capital's airport, there is another reality that we are not seeing.

“The vast majority of the displaced are not in Kabul, but internally displaced.

To this are added other crisis factors.

About 45% of the Afghan population suffers from malnutrition.

There is a drought in 80% of the territory and to this we must add the covid-19 pandemic, ”Spindler explained.

For its part, IOM Argentina told CNN that the IOM and the international community are deeply attentive and involved in the development of the events in Afghanistan, and actively working to provide emergency assistance to all displaced people, migrants and refugees " .

IOM has launched an urgent appeal for US $ 24 million "to boost its response to the growing humanitarian needs in Afghanistan, including hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people in the last two months."

The priorities are to provide "shelter and non-food aid, water, sanitation and hygiene, health, protection, multi-sector humanitarian assistance in border areas, emergency livelihoods and social cohesion"

Community sponsorship, an example of solidarity

In addition to the work of international organizations, there are solidarity support systems for refugees in different countries.

“These programs are extremely important because they send a message of solidarity to the countries.

Numerically it may not be a huge help, but symbolically it is.

They show that there is a community willing to help refugees, ”Spindler said.

The life of displaced Syrians in a camp 2:17

From IOM Argentina they highlighted the case of the Resettlement Program for the Syrian population in Argentina.

"It is a positive example of a sustainable solution for displaced people, which could serve as a precedent for the decision of the States to move forward with the reception of people from Afghanistan," they said in an email sent to CNN.

“This program is based on the community sponsorship model, made up of an intersectoral scheme that includes government actors, international organizations and civil society with the aim of providing support and assistance in the transfer, reception and integration of people. displaced ”, they detailed.

CNN spoke by video call with representatives of the Community Sponsorship Network in Argentina


“With the Syrian crisis we carried out the accompaniment of individuals and families.

We help them to integrate at the local level ”, said Nicolás Figari, coordinator of the Network.

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In that sense, he stressed that as a preliminary step, the commitment of the State is fundamental, in terms of protection of refugees and adhering to international mechanisms.

Andrea Dos Santos, representative of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), which is part of the Community Sponsorship Network, said that the organization offered to help when the Syrian crisis arose.

"We proposed that the evangelical churches that they wanted could receive a Syrian family, at least for a year, providing housing, food, education and helping to find employment."

"The accompaniment of organizations is voluntary, solidarity, non-profit


subsidiary to the State, which is the main responsible for assisting and providing protection to


people," explained Figari.

For her part, Carolina Mussi, representative of the Amal Argentina Foundation, which is also part of the network, said that, given the Syrian crisis, they called in local volunteers to receive refugee families.

"We have managed to establish protocols and good practices," he told CNN, adding that the same could be implemented in the case of Afghans.

For this, they have already presented a letter to the Argentine Government.

“It would be very positive if Argentina joined in giving refuge to Afghan citizens.

It would be a very supportive international message.

Civil society is willing, ”Mussi said.

The smallest, the main affected in humanitarian crises

In both Syria and Afghanistan, the most vulnerable and those who suffer the worst consequences of the humanitarian crisis are minors.

According to a UNHCR report, “Children's rights during the crisis are undermined on a daily basis.

An increasing number of Syrian children have been victims of child labor, and the cases in Lebanon have almost doubled in just one year ”.

Mexico will offer asylum to Afghans who request help 0:35

The same is true in Afghanistan.

According to Unicef, this country “has been, for many years, one of the worst places in the world to be a child.

But in recent weeks, the situation for many children has become even more desperate. "

The figures support this concern.

Since the beginning of the year, "more than 552 children have died and more than 1,400 have been injured" in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, "half of the population, more than 18 million people - including almost 10 million children - need humanitarian aid."

The concern of UNICEF and other international organizations has grown due to the increase in serious violations of children's rights, especially their recruitment by armed groups.

"The contexts of Syria and Afghanistan are different, and it is not easy to draw parallels," Blanca Carazo, head of Programs and Emergencies at Unicef ​​Spain, told CNN via email.

“In the case of Syria, the war reached a country with a high level of development and positive indicators at the childhood level (high vaccination rates, almost universal education, basic water services, health, etc., adequate).

The conflict devastated everything and has meant a setback of many years for the situation of children and adolescents, "he said.

"Afghanistan, for its part, has dragged on decades of conflict and remains one of the most difficult places in the world to be a boy or a girl over time," he said.

"In both cases, as in the rest of the humanitarian crises on the planet, it is that children suffer disproportionately the impact of violence and deprivation, and need urgent help," said the representative of Unicef, and stressed that the organization " is firmly committed to continuing on the ground, both in Afghanistan and Syria, with programs that, among other things, provide safe water, increase vaccination, offer treatment against malnutrition, take children to school and protect them against child marriage, recruitment by armed groups and other forms of violence ”.

In that sense, he asked that the arrival of supplies to Afghanistan be guaranteed.

And he argued that “it is important to establish safe channels for leaving the country and comply with international agreements regarding asylum and refuge, and avoid, as happened with Syrian refugees, and as continues to happen every day in the Mediterranean, that despair lead families to risk their lives and those of their sons and daughters, in a flight controlled by the mafias and through roads full of dangers ”.

Refugee Crisis

Source: cnnespanol

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