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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