Challenges Experienced by Syrian Refugees Research Paper

Introduction

The Syrian civil war became a significant challenge for not only the Middle Eastern region but also for the international community. The military conflict led to the refugee crisis that cannot be overcome on domestic and international levels even after several years of the war. Even though the neighboring countries, Europe, the United States, and Canada among other states have responded to the challenge, and they continue to provide humanitarian aid to the vulnerable population in Syria and refugees, conditions in which migrants live in host countries are dreadful.¹

The purpose of this paper is to analyze different challenges and problems faced by Syrian refugees when they seek asylum with the focus on the Syrians’ access to housing, healthcare services, and education. The attention is also paid to refugees’ opportunities to become employed in neighboring, European, and other countries.

Even though the right to seek asylum and find the protection in different countries is granted to Syrian refugees according to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951), the problem is in the fact that many states cannot provide Syrians with the necessary support. As a result, Syrian refugees suffer from the lack of sanitation, housing, material resources, and health care while living in foreign countries and being unable to receive the appropriate support.

Aspects of the Syrian Crisis and the Problem of Refugees

The war in Syria began in 2011 when mass protests against the government regime of Bashar al-Assad led to the development of a military conflict.² The situation resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe and many victims. According to the report published by Amnesty International in 2014, “more than 150,000 people” died, and “10.8 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance inside Syria.”³

The number of persons who chose to seek asylum in other countries is even higher, and according to the data provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “over 3.2 million Syrian refugees had been registered” by October of 2014.⁴ Still, the exact number of refugees who migrated to neighboring and other countries is even higher because they crossed borders illegally.⁵

Syrian refugees have the right to seek asylum that is granted according to the principles stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the 1951 Refugee Convention). According to Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Refugee Convention, a refugee is a person who is “outside the country of his nationality and is unable or … is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who … is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”⁶

Refugees cannot return to their countries because of a fear of persecution that is based on their political vision, nationality, race, ideology, and religion among other aspects.⁷ According to Ostrand, the majority of people can receive the refugee status after applying the required documents, and exceptions are adopted only for combatants and other persons related to military services.⁸ Still, even if refugees receive the protection and asylum in certain countries, these states can refuse to resettle migrants.

It is important to state that many refugees from Syria try to seek asylum in the neighboring states, but the actual number of migrants is different in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. According to the data of 2014, Turkey accepted and registered more than 1.5 million refugees, Lebanon accepted more than 1.1 million migrants, and Jordan accepted about 600,000 persons.⁹

Thus, Turkey remains to be a leader in the region in the context of accepting Syrian refugees. Researchers note that “in three days in September 2014, Turkey received some 130,000 refugees from Syria, more than the entire European Union had in the past three years [2011-2013].”¹⁰ However, in 2015, these countries chose the strategy of denying access to their territories for a significant number of refugees to address the problem of providing support to all persons in need.¹¹

According to İçduygu, the Turkish authorities focused on implementing not only formal but also “informal approaches to limit new arrivals” while supporting the construction of “camps for internally displaced Syrians within Syria, near the Turkish border.”¹² Also, there is “a policy of ‘passage with careful control’ intended to restrict the number of entries.”¹³

These approaches can be discussed as only partially effective to regulate the number of migrants from Syria who try to cross the Turkish border. The reason is that, currently, Turkey is one of the most attractive neighboring countries where Syrian refugees can receive access to emergency services, assistance, protection, healthcare, and education.¹⁴ Still, the course of Turkish leaders to decrease the number of migrants and control flows of refugees has led to causing many sufferings for these vulnerable people.

In Europe, the leader among countries that participate in resolving the refugee crisis in Germany. This country has significantly contributed to addressing the Syrian crisis while agreeing to accept and resettle more than 20,000 Syrian refugees in 2014. However, in reality, only about 1,500 Syrian refugees “were resettled to Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.”¹⁵

The European countries accentuated their readiness to accept refugees, but the increased flows of migrants caused significant problems for officials to control the situation and provide refugees with all the required resources. Thus, Syrians who have no passports or filled documents and applications are usually denied to cross the border. This situation has created the problem of illegal crossings.¹⁶ To address the needs of the increased number of refugees, the European officials concentrated on constructing more camps and tent cities in provinces near the national borders to accept more migrants.

Problems Experienced by Syrian Refugees

To understand what challenges Syrian refugees face while migrating to the Middle Eastern and European countries, it is necessary to focus on the aspects of their legal status, housing, healthcare, education, and employment. The review of reports and studies on the Syrian refugee crisis indicates that a situation with migrants has specific features in different countries, and they should be taken into account while analyzing the problem.¹⁷ Therefore, all the determined areas should be discussed in detail to conclude what challenges prevent Syrians from living a better life in host countries.

Legal Status of Refugees

In comparison to other countries that protect Syrian refugees, Turkey has achieved significant success in developing and adopting policies that determine the status of refugees in the country.

In 2014, the Temporary Protection Directive was passed by the authorities to explain the status of refugees from Syria.¹⁸ It was declared concerning the Temporary Protection Directive that Syrian refugees in Turkey could receive the legal status and identity cards, but today, the actual implementation of the Directive differs from the set course.¹⁹ Therefore, the status of many refugees and thousands of those persons, who arrive monthly, remain to be undetermined.

However, even in Turkey, the majority of Syrian migrants have an unclear legal status, and they do not know what assistance to expect from the Turkish officials in terms of the financial assistance and legalization of their staying in the country.²⁰ As it is stated in the report by Amnesty International, the Turkish authorities are inclined to refer to Syrians “as ‘guests’ rather than refugees.”²¹

As a result, such an approach accentuates the migrants’ limited access to different types of services, including financial resources, healthcare, and education. From this point, the law that determined the temporary protection status for refugees in Turkey was not followed appropriately, and it did not contribute to clarifying the status of thousands of migrants from Syria.²²

When Germany announced the readiness to accept and resettle thousands of refugees, the number of migrants who planned to receive the temporary protection in this country increased significantly.²³ Furthermore, in July of 2016, the German officials adopted the law that guarantees the integration of refugees in the nation with the focus on language acquisition and provision of employment opportunities.²⁴ Thus, Turkey and Germany are discussed today as states that contribute much to overcoming the humanitarian crisis associated with Syria.

Germany focused on developing the first program to support refugees and their rights in 2013, and additional sponsorship programs were implemented in the country’s provinces.²⁵ The Syrian migrants became interested in receiving “a two-year temporary residence permit” that was granted to refugees by the German officials.²⁶

However, the actual number of resettled persons and refugees who have received the legal status in the country is significantly lower than it was expected because of the impossibility to follow the policy strictly. As a result, many refugees have to live in Germany while having an illegal status, and this aspect influences their access to medical care, sanitation, housing, and other resources.

In its turn, the United States did not declare the number of refugees for whom the country could provide the legal status or resettlement. Still, according to Ostrand, the country resettled about 100 persons in 2014, and it planned to increase the number of resettled refugees during the following years.²⁷ The reason is that the United States received about 5,000 claims that were submitted by refugees seeking asylum in the country from 2012 to 2014.²⁸

However, researchers pay attention to the fact that it is rather difficult to adopt the effective refugee policy in the United States because of disagreements between the representatives of the country’s authorities regarding the discussion of the Syrian crisis and the problem of refugees.²⁹

Ostrand notes that in December of 2014, the US Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration declared that the country aimed to “take the lead in resettling Syrian refugees worldwide.”³⁰ However, currently, these plans seem to be unrealistic because the United States is not ready to accept more refugees and gave them legal status to them.

Still, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden are the countries that spend many resources to sponsor the humanitarian mission in Syria, as well as refugees who come to other countries while seeking asylum.³¹ In the United Kingdom, the authorities also adopted the specific program to provide the protection status only to the most vulnerable Syrians.

According to this program, individuals who are not recognized as refugees cannot receive the legal status, but they are classified as vulnerable persons, and they can receive the support.³² In 2014, the United Kingdom provided such type of support for more than 140 refugees, and analysts believe that the program will cover more migrants during the following years.³³

Despite having a status of asylum seekers, many migrants from Syria cannot receive the legal status of a refugee and use the provided support and protection.³⁴ The illegal status of a migrant influences all aspects of these persons’ life in the host countries. The most problematic situation is observed while discussing women and children who belong to the protected categories of asylum seekers, but in reality, the conditions in which these persons live and public attitudes to them cause many sufferings.³⁵ In this context, women and people with disabilities remain to be the most vulnerable categories of refugees.³⁶

Housing

When those Syrian migrants who seek asylum in other states come to the host country, they are encamped in tent cities and reception centers. Refugee camps and centers are constructed to provide them with basic services, heating, food, clean water, and different types of assistance.³⁷ The problem is in the fact that Syrian refugees are at risk of staying in these camps for months and years because of their unclear status. Refugees can return to Syria only after the end of the conflict.

However, many refugees came to Turkey and the European countries to find the asylum and be resettled. Therefore, they do not plan to stay in camps till they receive the residence permit.³⁸ However, when refugees choose to leave camps and centers they experience problems with finding places to live.

Researchers report that many refugees in different countries have to live in unsanitary places, and housing conditions can be described as hazardous or risky to the lives of adults and children.³⁹ In those countries where Syrians seek asylum, they are inclined to find shelter in remote districts and neighborhoods and live almost in ruins.⁴⁰ The places where refugees choose to live are often overcrowded and uninhabitable, there is a lack of privacy and basic services in these shelters.⁴¹

In Turkey, those refugees who live in camps are provided with basic services, such as food and medical care. The Turkish authorities have sponsored the building of more than 20 refugee camps to settle more than 200,000 migrants from Syria.⁴² Still, many persons report that conditions in these camps are not appropriate, and the distribution of foods and different types of goods in camps is unfair.

According to the report by Amnesty International, refugees state that, in camps, they receive only “two eggs, two potatoes, two cucumbers and three pieces of bread daily, for the whole family to share,” and moreover, they have no “sanitary, medical, educational facilities or services available to them” except for toilet facilities near the camp.⁴³ Furthermore, many refugees complain that these camps are not appropriate for different weather conditions, and they are not heated enough in winter.

However, more than 80% of refugees from Syria do not live in the specialized camps and reception centers, and they need to find other shelters to survive. Amnesty International reports that “the camps are operating at full capacity, which leaves the vast majority of Syrian refugees outside of the camps, and having to fend for themselves.”⁴⁴

The problem is in the fact that the majority of these persons are not registered refugees, and their illegal status prevents them from finding appropriate places to live. Also, those persons who cannot find shelter in camps often face prejudice and discrimination because they need to contact house owners who refuse to accept refugees because of their origin. In Jordan, more than 80% of refugees also live outside the camps. They try to find shelter in rural areas, many of these persons are extremely poor, and they need food and clothes, as well as physical and psychological assistance.⁴⁵

In Lebanon, the situation with accepting refugees is also critical because the country has no resources to provide asylum seekers with even basic services. Thus, according to Ostrand, the Lebanese “health, education, and infrastructure services are overstretched, and in some areas demand for electricity, water, and waste collection far surpasses the capacity to meet the needs.”⁴⁶

Furthermore, Ostrand pays attention to the fact that, in 2014, more than 50% of the 1,150,000 Syrian refugees had to live in “substandard shelter, mainly in informal settlements, garages, worksites, or unfinished buildings.”⁴⁷ The officials cannot provide the required resources for migrants, and there are no formal reception centers and camps to accept refugees although the percentage of Syrian migrants coming to Lebanon is extremely high. These data are related to different countries that accept Syrian refugees, and they demonstrate that migrants have to face many sufferings while seeking asylum outside their homeland.

Access to Healthcare Services

The right to health and receiving the medical care is guaranteed to all people according to the principles of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).⁴⁸ While following the standards declared by this treaty, Syrian refugees should have access to high-quality care to support their physical and mental health.

Those Syrian refugees, who live in camps, and those migrants, who try to find shelter with the help of non-governmental organizations, suffer from inadequate access to medical care and services provided by qualified caregivers and nurses.⁴⁹ The inadequate sanitation in camps, tent cities, and centers is one of the key causes that provoke skin conditions and poisoning in children and adults among refugees.⁵⁰ Thus, volunteers from different countries cannot provide all refugees with the required assistance.

Migrants often suffer from problems with the respiratory system because they live in non-ventilated shelters, and they also suffer from hunger because of eating food with low nutritional value.⁵¹ In many cases, refugees, who live in camps and outside them, have no access to medications, and they often need painkillers that cannot be provided because of the limited resources.⁵² As a result, the number of migrants with chronic and acute conditions increases monthly.⁵³

Thousands of Syrian refugees who try to seek asylum in different countries need assistance not only in terms of their physical state, but they also require the psychological support. Refugees can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and they need to rehabilitate and overcome stress and the experienced pressure.⁵⁴ Still, in Turkey and European countries, there are no well-developed systems to provide all refugees from Syria with the adequate access to healthcare services and psychological counseling. Thus, in 2014, Turkey announced that all registered Syrian refugees could receive access to free healthcare services, including consultation and hospitalization. Still, thousands of unregistered or illegal refugees have no access to medical care, and they have no opportunities to cope with their acute or chronic diseases.⁵⁵ Although the Turkish government reports that the high percentage of registered refugees receives the access to health care, the process of registration is rather complicated, and many migrants cannot access health services or be admitted to hospitals.⁵⁶

High costs of medical services, the absence of the legal status, and the necessity of insurance are the main barriers to the high-quality services provided by healthcare professionals.⁵⁷ As a result, for instance, many women have to give birth to children in unsanitary environments.⁵⁸

Furthermore, many chronic conditions develop in children as a consequence of living in inappropriate places.⁵⁹ Even though volunteers and representatives of non-governmental organizations from all over the world try to conduct health assessments and deliver the care to refugees and their families in camps all over the globe, thousands of migrants from Syria remain to be deprived of an opportunity to visit doctors and receive the assistance.⁶⁰

Education

Even though the authorities in such countries as Turkey and Germany try to promote policies to support Syrian refugees in terms of providing education for children, the increasing flows of migrants have led to complicating the situation. Thus, in Egypt, “despite the government’s initial commitments to provide refugees with access to public health and education on equal footing with Egyptians, the protection available for Syrians has decreased due to a change in the political environment.”⁶¹

The changes in the governmental structure led to changes in the policy regarding Syrians and children of migrants became deprived of the right to receive education in the country. Still, the 1951 Refugee Convention guarantees the access to primary education to all refugees despite their ethnic background.⁶² Thus, the access to primary education should be provided to school-aged children of all refugees without reference to their nationality.

In Turkey, the number of families in which migrants can send their children to Turkish schools where the Arabic language is used is very small. Thus, parents are often limited in terms of their finances, and they cannot afford to pay school fees. There are public and private schools that can accept Syrian refugees, but many families have no resources to send their children to schools and even pay for food.⁶³

The other side of the problem is the bureaucratic and policies’ requirements. In the majority of cases, only children from families where the members received identity cards and have residence permits can attend schools.⁶⁴ These children can be accepted to public schools following the specific procedure. Still, researchers pay attention to the fact that, in other countries, the situation is even worse.⁶⁵ In many European countries where refugees seek asylum, there are no schools where the Arabic language is used.

Furthermore, many countries have not developed specific policies to address the educational needs of Syrian refugees, and even those persons who were resettled in the European countries experience difficulties with sending their children to public schools.⁶⁶ Legal procedures associated with providing education to refugees remain to be unclear.

Recently, Germany has adopted the law to promote education and language acquisition among refugees.⁶⁷ However, there are still many barriers to education and integration faced by migrants from Syria because of financial constraints.

While speaking about education for adults, it is important to note that the programs that announced the vocational training and language courses for adult refugees were not realized effectively, and many migrants are still deprived of an opportunity to learn the language of the host country.⁶⁸ These persons need more guidance and support to integrate into the society with the focus on education and development. Furthermore, access to education will provide these people with more opportunities to become employed and avoid social isolation.

Employment

In the majority of countries where Syrian refugees seek asylum, they have only a few opportunities to be legally employed. The registered refugees who have the legal status in the country that has provided asylum can apply documents to receive a work permit.⁶⁹ However, a procedure is complicated, and authorities do not provide such permits eagerly, and they choose to limit refugees in their opportunities to find work.

Such behavior can be explained concerning economic aspects because, in many countries, it is disadvantageous for employers to hire migrants and refugees.⁷⁰ Even if refugees have passports and permits to live in the country during a certain period, they often have no job offers that are required to be presented to receive work permits because employers do not want to employ refugees legally.⁷¹

On the contrary, there are cases when employers from Turkey, Lebanon, and several European countries can provide refugees with offers to work without proposing the legal employment. Refugees who accept such offers receive extremely low wages.⁷² Such practice is popular in the Middle Eastern countries because of the large flow of Syrian migrants in the region. Besides, the representatives of local communities often perceive refugees as threats to their lives in cities because migrants can offer the low-paid labor, and they often agree to work in the sphere of construction and services.⁷³

Still, the dominant tendency related to the problem is the absence of any work that can be legally proposed to refugees and persons who seek asylum in the Middle Eastern and European countries. The situation is even more dramatic in the United States and the United Kingdom where the cases of employing refugees are very rare.⁷⁴

From this perspective, the issue of refugees’ employment is urgent, and it requires an effective solution. The reason is that the living conditions of many families including Syrian refugees are extremely poor in the Middle Eastern countries, and adults are often unable to receive the official work permit.⁷⁵ As a result, they choose to send their children to work instead of sending them to school where they can be asked to pay additional fees.⁷⁶

Although child labor is prohibited concerning the Convention on the Rights of the Child, exploitation of young refugees is observed in many countries that provide asylum to Syrians.⁷⁷ It is possible to state that, in the European countries, cases of child labor are not as frequent as it is in Turkey and Lebanon, but the international response is necessary to address this problem directly.⁷⁸

Analysis of the Refugee Crisis and People’s Experiences

Even though the international community declares the necessity of providing humanitarian aid to Syria and announces the increases in the number of accepted refugees annually, the problem associated with Syrian migrants remains to be unresolved. Currently, the adequate care and support can be provided only to refugees who live in camps and reception centers.⁷⁹ The appropriate level of support is provided to migrants who have received the legal protection status and the status of a refugee.⁸⁰

However, the number of persons who are registered as legal refugees is limited in comparison to the overall number of migrants from Syria who seek asylum in Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, and Germany among other countries.⁸¹ Every day, these persons need to overcome problems related to housing, nutrition, sanitation, and health in addition to problems associated with the lack of work and resources to support their families. The countries that can be discussed as providing the required minimum of resources to refugees are Turkey, Lebanon, and Germany.⁸²

Nevertheless, the number of illegal migrants from Syria increases annually, and the number of resettlement places should be expanded in these countries.⁸³ However, the development of the relevant policy is a prolonged process, but the adequate response to the problem is expected to be provided in the shortest period.

In this context, the procedures of admitting migrants should be revised to improve the process of working with persons who seek asylum at the border. In such countries as the United States and the United Kingdom, the procedures of accepting migrants are the most complicated ones, and the analysis of the past events accentuates the idea that the number of resettlement places will not increase significantly despite the claims of officials.⁸⁴

As a result, it is possible to expect the increased pressure on the Middle Eastern countries and Europe because of the attractiveness of policies adopted in Germany. Those Syrian refugees, who seek asylum in Germany, hope to receive the protection status and the right to be resettled or the right for the temporary residency in the country for two years. In the United Kingdom, this period equals to five years. These policies are the main reasons to explain the increased flows of Syrian migrants to Europe during the past two years.⁸⁵

The right for temporary residency allows for receiving more support and resources to find adequate shelter, find a job, and send children to school. Thus, the number of refugees became critical in 2014-2015. As a consequence, officials in the countries that claimed the readiness to support the Syrian population became to adopt policies to restrict the flows of migrants.⁸⁶

Thus, in Turkey, the number of migrants from Syria was extremely high during the first months of the conflict, and this number continues to increase annually.⁸⁷ However, the Turkish authorities state that have no enough resources to provide all refugees with basic services and support.

From this perspective, the analysis of reports and surveys related to the Syrian crisis demonstrates that, currently, there is no effective strategy to guarantee that all persons who seek asylum and refugees can receive the shelter, food, access to health care, employment, and education in host countries.⁸⁸ Also, the specific programs that are followed today in the Middle Eastern and European countries propose rather complicated schemes to receive the legal status, and there are no procedures to guarantee financial aid to families and individuals.⁸⁹

As a result, refugees have to spend years in refugee camps and tent cities without an opportunity to live in the other place or become employed. The capacity of refugee camps that are constructed in Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, and Germany among other countries is small, and it cannot address the needs of all migrants from Syria.

The most critical situation can be observed in Turkey and Lebanon where the number of Syrian refugees is the highest one. At the current stage, the international assistance and sponsorship are required to increase the capacity of refugee camps and guarantee appropriate living conditions there.⁹⁰ States are limited in resources and services that they can provide to refugees according to the adopted laws and programs. Therefore, the international financial assistance is required to be provided to the countries that are neighbors of Syria to increase the number of camps and improve sanitation and living conditions in them.⁹¹

Syrian refugees face many problems while trying to receive the access to housing. It is important to note that the housing needs of families of refugees often cannot be addressed concerning services provided in refugee camps and reception centers. Such camps are not appropriate to host asylum seekers for a long period. The analysis of data reported in studies indicates that, in most cases, all refugees living in camps cannot receive equal access to all proposed resources, and the most problematic situation is associated with the people’s access to health services.⁹² Also, the life in camps contributes to the social segregation and isolation of Syrian refugees.

From this point, Syrian refugees usually face many problems and challenges while seeking asylum in the Middle Eastern and European countries. The lack of housing and the limited access to medical care remains to be critical issues along with unemployment of Syrian migrants and refugees in host countries. Child labor and the exploitation of illegal migrants are other issues that require their solution.⁹³

Furthermore, Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan should develop additional policies to provide Syrians with more opportunities to find jobs and work legally. Another problem is the limited access to education.⁹⁴ Authorities in the states that guarantee support to Syrian refugees should develop effective programs to cover children’s needs in elementary education that can be provided in Arabic-language institutions. Furthermore, officials should pay attention to proposing vocational training and language courses for adults to ensure their integration into the society of a host country.

Also, the Syrian crisis has demonstrated that such countries as the United States and the United Kingdom can contribute to improving the conditions for Syrian refugees while sponsoring the construction of more camps and funding policies that are aimed at guaranteeing the provision of health care and education. The lack of access to medical services is a problem that requires its immediate solution because many refugees suffer from skin conditions and infectious diseases.⁹⁵

More companies should be invited to sponsor the provision of medications to refugees. These people cannot receive the required treatment, and many healthcare facilities do not hospitalize persons with acute conditions.⁹⁶ All these barriers are faced by Syrian refugees daily, and the international community should unite efforts to overcome the problem and address the identified gaps in such areas as housing, medical care, education, and employment.

Conclusion

The Syrian crisis became a challenge for the international community because of the necessity to provide immediate and effective responses to the humanitarian catastrophe observed in the country. Despite the efforts of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Germany as countries that accept thousands of Syrian migrants annually, the needs of this vulnerable group cannot be addressed appropriately because of the lack of resources. Thus, it is expected that host countries can provide persons who seek asylum and refugees with more places in camps, tent cities, and reception centers.

At these locations, refugees are provided with basic services and assistance. In the context of the refugee programs, migrants can have access to the medical care and required drugs, counseling, education, and training. These aspects are reflected in documents that are used by officials in host countries to guide their activities. In reality, the situation is different. Refugees have to spend months and even years in camps that are not prepared to shelter or house thousands of people. Infectious diseases are spread in these camps, and there are many conditions for developing different types of sicknesses in adults and children. Those people who leave camps often have no opportunities to find other places to live in, and they choose to encamp in neighborhoods where they have no access to clean water and sanitation.

Even though host countries aim to support refugees and cover their basic needs, the number of migrants and persons who seek asylum is not proportionate to resources that authorities are ready to spend. As a result, open-door policies are charged with denying access to states for refugees, and more emphasis is put on the humanitarian aid provided by such countries as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Sweden. From this perspective, it is important to concentrate on the suffering of refugees in host countries, as well as to develop and implement new policies and programs that can be appropriate to address the needs of these people.

Those refugees who live in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and other countries seem to be unprotected even regarding laws aimed at supporting refugees and guaranteeing their rights. Therefore, new approaches and strategies need to be developed to address the problem of Syrian refugees and provide these persons with the necessary assistance.

From this point, much attention should be paid to the questions of offering the legal status to refugees, as well as to the issue of resettlement. Also, it is important to resolve the issues associated with the housing, education, and employment to prevent cases when families have to send children to work because of the inability to be legally employed.

Footnotes

1. See Victoria Metcalfe-Hough, The Migration Crisis? Facts, Challenges and Possible Solutions 2 (2015).
2. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 257 (2015).
3. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 7 (2014).
4. Id. at 5.
5. See Erhan Arslan, Semuhi Sinanoğlu & Irmak Taner, Tackling the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Prospects & Challenges, 15 TPQ. 123, 128 (2016).
6. United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951, Can. T.S. art. 1, A(2).
7. International Justice Resource Center, Asylum and the Right of Refugees, (2015)
8. See Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 258 (2015).
9. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 4 (2014).
10. Id. at 5.
11. See Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 258 (2015).
12. Ahmet İçduygu, Syrian Refugees in Turkey: The Long Road Ahead 7 (2015).
13. Id. at 7.
14. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 4 (2014).
15. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 267 (2015).
16. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 6 (2014).
17. See Seth Holmes & Heide Castaneda, Representing the “European Refugee Crisis” in Germany and Beyond: Deservingness and Difference, Life and Death, 43 Am. Ethan. 12, 18 (2016).
18. Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants, The Temporary Protection Directive Has Been Published (2014, 9:12 AM). Web.
19. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 19 (2014).
20. See Ahmet İçduygu, Syrian Refugees in Turkey: The Long Road Ahead 7 (2015).
21. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 20 (2014).
22. Id. at 21.
23. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 267 (2015).
24. Germany Passes Historic Law on Refugee Integration, The Local, (2016, 08:48 AM)
25. Seth Holmes & Heide Castaneda, Representing the “European Refugee Crisis” in Germany and Beyond: Deservingness and Difference, Life and Death, 43 Am. Ethan. 12, 18 (2016).
26. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 267 (2015).
27. Id. at 268.
28. Id. at 267.
29. Id. at 269.
30. Id. at 268.
31. Id. at 268.
32. Id. at 268.
33. Victoria Metcalfe-Hough, The Migration Crisis? Facts, Challenges and Possible Solutions 23 (2015).
34. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 268 (2015).
35. Id. at 267.
36. United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979, 34/180 U.N. GAOR, 397.
37. Victoria Metcalfe-Hough, The Migration Crisis? Facts, Challenges and Possible Solutions 23 (2015).
38. See Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, What We Need to Know about Refugees, Council on Foreign Relations (2015)
39. Seth Holmes & Heide Castaneda, Representing the “European Refugee Crisis” in Germany and Beyond: Deservingness and Difference, Life and Death, 43 Am. Ethan. 12, 18 (2016).
40. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 56 (2014).
41. Id. at 8.
42. Id. at 27.
43. Id. at 28.
44. Id. at 4.
45. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 263 (2015).
46. Id. at 262.
47. Id. at 263.
48. United NationsInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, 993 U.N.T.S.
49. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 56 (2014).
50. Id. at 18.
51. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 263 (2015).
52. Id. at 264.
53. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 56 (2014).
54. Id. at 57.
55. Id. at 59.
56. Ahmet İçduygu, Syrian Refugees in Turkey: The Long Road Ahead 8 (2015).
57. Erhan Arslan, Semuhi Sinanoğlu & Irmak Taner, Tackling the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Prospects & Challenges, 15 TPQ. 123, 128 (2016).
58. Id. at 129.
59. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 24 (2014).
60. Id. at 28.
61. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 263 (2015).
62. United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Jul. 28, 1951, Can. T.S. No. 6.
63. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Syrian Refugees: Desperate Just to Go to School, Council on Foreign Relations (2016)
64. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 32 (2014).
65. Id. at 32.
66. Id. at 31.
67. Germany Passes Historic Law on Refugee Integration, The Local, (2016)
68. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 32 (2014).
69. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 26 (2014).
70. Id. at 27.
71. Id. at 26.
72. See Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 263 (2015).
73. Id. at 264.
74. Erhan Arslan, Semuhi Sinanoğlu & Irmak Taner, Tackling the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Prospects & Challenges, 15 TPQ. 123, 128 (2016).
75. Id. at 129.
76. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 26 (2014).
77. Id. at 26.
78. Id. at 27.
79. See Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 263 (2015).
80. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 36 (2014).
81. Id. at 36.
82. Id. at 27.
83. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 263 (2015).
84. Id. at 264.
85. Seth Holmes & Heide Castaneda, Representing the “European Refugee Crisis” in Germany and Beyond: Deservingness and Difference, Life and Death, 43 Am. Ethan. 12, 18 (2016).
86. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 36 (2014).
87. Id. at 36.
88. Victoria Metcalfe-Hough, The Migration Crisis? Facts, Challenges and Possible Solutions 23 (2015).
89. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 258 (2015).
90. Erhan Arslan, Semuhi Sinanoğlu & Irmak Taner, Tackling the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Prospects & Challenges, 15 TPQ. 123, 128 (2016).
91. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 258 (2015).
92. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 36 (2014).
93. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 258 (2015).
94. Erhan Arslan, Semuhi Sinanoğlu & Irmak Taner, Tackling the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Prospects & Challenges, 15 TPQ. 123, 128 (2016).
95. Amnesty International, Struggling to Survive: Refugees from Syria in Turkey 36 (2014).
96. Nicole Ostrand, The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Comparison of Responses by Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 3 J. Migr. Hum. Sec. 255, 264 (2015).