Syrian refugees running for life

Mohd Siddiqur Rahman :
We all might have known that there was a great uproar in whole of Europe following the recent exodus of Syrian refugees towards Europe that captured the headlines of the global news in previous month of September, 2015. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR), 430,000 Syrians have requested asylum in Europe. These numbers may not be overwhelming while 4 million Syrian refugees have taken shelter in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey since the conflict began in 2011. The UNCHR reveals that 5 countries – Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt-house 95 percent of Syria’s 4.1 million registered refugees. Many more unregistered are believed to be in these countries. Two members of the security council – Russia and China have accepted no Syrian refugees, then who sheltered this overwhelming influx of refugees could be seen at a glance as per the following:
Countries registered the most Syrian refugees – Turkey: 1.9 million, Lebanon: 1.1 million, Jordan:629,000 , Iraq: 249,000, Egypt:132,000. Gulf states have permitted hundreds of thousands of refugees on visas,(500,000 in Saudi Arabia alone) but technically not registered them as refugees.
Syrian Asylum applications by European country : Germany: 108,897. Serbia: 77,196 : Sweden: 64685 Hungary : 54,125 Austria: 20,946 Netherlands: 15,254 Bulgaria: 15,197 Denmark: 12,277 Switzerland :8,683 United Kingdom:7,196 France: 6,895 Belgium:6,334 Spain: 5,554
Acceptance by the Non – European West : Australia: 4,500 (pledged to accept 12000 more) Canada: 2,400( pledged to accept 10,000 more) United States : 1,600 ( Has pledged to accept more 10,000)
Pledges to accept Syrians from South America : Venezuela ‘s President Nicolas Maduro has said his country will accept 20,000 Syrians. President of Brazil -Dilma Rousseff said her country welcomes refugees with open arms. The country already has accepted 7,000 Syrians.
More than half of Syria’s 22 million citizens have been displaced, 7.6 million are internally displaced,4.5 million have fled the country, 250,000 have been killed. ( As per UNCHR data as of Sept. 17,2015 )
What we have noticed above is obviously the consequences of civil war and conflict between the government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Syrian opposition forces and ISIS. The UN Refugee Agency estimates that more than 4 million people, half of whom are children have fled to the neighboring countries. On the whole, this is indeed one of the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. It is gratifying to note that most rich countries of the world could not remain impervious to the destruction unleashed by the Syrian civil war that began since 2011. UNO, UNCHR, many humanitarian organizations, institutions and concerned agencies and most rich and neighboring countries came up to meet their obligations .
Displaced from home, when the Syrians are running for their lives and trying frantically to enter different countries of the world, it is not rarity that they encounter multiple difficulties on their way that are very hard to exaggerate. They are hoaxed in many ways. Perpetrators are taking advantage of their vulnerable condition. Hundreds of refugees met watery grave as the overcrowded boats sank into the Mediterranean or Aegean seas while crossing. Locked vans and packed up vehicles caused deaths to many other refugees. Two very sad episodes, in particular, like rescue of drowned body of 3-year old toddler from the sand of a beach resort in Bordum, Turkey and follow up photos and write up detailing on Aylan’s pitiable father who also lost his wife and 5 -year old son due to drowning of boat have been able to draw the World’s attention.
The next development we observed that hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, the victims of war in desperation , ventured on a longer journey to be in Europe before winter weather looking for their future . They had to cross impassable road, got to find out new routes to by pass Hungary and hike through Croatia and Austria to head for Germany . Following this large convergence, German and French leaders presented proposals to require each European Union nation to take a designated number of refugees. We convey our thanks and gratitude to the European leaders for their kind and positive conclusion.
As informed, Refugee Council USA (RCUSA),a coalition of U.S.-based organizations dedicated to refugee protection and welcome ,wrote a letter to President Barack Obama on Sept.9 urging the US to increase the number of refugees to resettle to 200,000 for FY 16, with 100,000 of them being Syrian . Thousands of Americans signed a petition calling on the Obama administration to resettle at least 65,000 Syrians by 2016. President Obama announced on Sept.10 that the U.S. would accept 10,000 Syrians in the 2016 fiscal year .
In Sept. 15 conference call with journalists, Mercy Corps, Care USA, the Syrian Community Network International Rescue committee, Save the Children ,Oxfam America and other international aid groups called on the Obama administration to do more . As reported they urged the US to accept at least 100,000 Syrian refugees and take a stronger role in diplomatic efforts to end the country’s devastating civil war.
The US administration has spent 4.1 billion dollar on humanitarian aid since the Syrian civil war began aiming to keep the refugees in the region . According to a Sept.12 Washington Post article, local refugee resettlement agencies already are preparing to welcome larger number of Syrian refugees who will be flown here from refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey after they are processed by UN officials. An estimated 145,000 Syrian Americans already live in US, and officials will try to send refugees to live near friends and family . Further it is awesome that concerned citizens of America reported to have started raising funds and preparing to welcome Syrian refugees. Given the scale of the crises , many churches, mosques and communities in the U.S. are willing to sponsor and resettle them . These great responses and awareness to the crises ,in the U.S. and the world community at large, are mainly the attributions of many columnists, writers and media hypes who presented the real pictures on time. We convey our gratitude to them.
Nevertheless, we the common people of the world are happy at all resolutions and actions undertaken by all concerned to resolving the crises but could not be happy at the news : the Russian and American air strike still continues over the lands of Syria and Iraq producing more and more refugees and devastations in the region . Again the hopeless refugees will be leaving the Middle East risking their lives into many other countries. The UNO and the big powers should address the roots of the crisis and offer the people in the Middle East hope and opportunities for a safer, better future in their own countries. The world is tired of waiting for squabbling leaders to sit down, talk to each other and take some more initiative to end the deadly conflicts. Finally, we urge the world leaders to stop sending weapons to the region and, instead, hold a summit for peace in the Middle East.

(Mohd Siddiqur Rahman, now based at New York, is ex Country Manager of Biman, in Frankfurt, Germany )