Nadav Neuman for Aljazeera

Interesting solutions for refugee settlement in Middle East

by Nadav Neuman for Al Jazeera

The civil war in Syria between the Syrian rebels and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has created a large problem in terms of refugees for surrounding nations. Nations such as Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey have had floods of refugees enter their respective countries. According to the United Nations, there are over 2 million Syrian refugees and there are about 4 million Syrians who are internally displaced and even more who need help.

This is where the Office of the High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) comes in. The main issue they have been discussing is the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Nations such as the United States, United Kingdom, France and Canada have come together to form a resolution to provide a short and long term solution to the crisis by providing shelter for refugees in need. In addition, they will reeducate the refugees so that they can learn how to self-sustain themselves. The United States was the leading power in this resolution. Israel was another leading power in a different attempt to resolve the issue, along with Liberia. Israel said: “we need to establish more camps to sufficiently enable the refugees to have places to go when in need. After that, we need to establish better education systems in the camps for the refugees and also better sanitation so that the refugees can improve their lives in the camps.” Israel and Liberia also wanted to begin talks between the Syrian rebels and al-Assad to resolve the issue. Denmark was also part of a different resolution that was on the basis of a “safe initiative” in order to resolve the issue.

One interesting thing to note is that the Syrian rebels were present in this committee representing themselves as a group. They were actively involved in the talks and were extremely interested in what was going to occur regarding the Syrian Refugee Crisis, which directly influences them.

The short and long term goals of how to get refugees to camps safely and efficiently, and then educate them on how to continue to survive is what the UNHCR is trying to accomplish. There are many plausible resolutions that can be passed and they will definitely look to benefit both the refugees and the countries providing the refugees with the settlements.