‘Syrian refugees in dire need of humanitarian aid’

TEHRAN, Jan. 24 (MNA) – In an interview to Mehr News, Secretary General of NRC Jan Egeland has described the state of Syrian refugees as alarming, urging international community to contribute more to aid the displaced. The lives of many Syrian refugees in the Middle East are endangered by storms, snow and freezing cold weather, and all the winterization programs the NRC has undertaken so far do not seem to be sufficient to help the displaced. In an interview to Mehr News, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland calls on all nations that can influence the course of the current crisis in Syria to step forward and aid the war-stricken displaced in any way they can. The humanitarian situation in Syria has been dubbed ‘the worst refugee crisis in the world’ by international aid organizations. How do you assess the situation? More than 11 million people are displaced by the crisis in Syria. It is the worst displacement crisis in this generation. Many of the internally displaced receive only sporadic or no assistance. It is an extraordinary crisis and it demands that everyone make an extraordinary effort. Unfortunately what we are witnessing is rather a collapse of international solidarity – the international community has not been able to step up to the challenge. The humanitarian appeals were only 55% funded last year. As a result, many refugees and displaced are not receiving the necessary assistance. More than anything we need all nations that can influence the parties to resolve the conflict to demand that the attacks on and the abuse of the civilian population be stopped and the parties sit down without preconditions and negotiate a political end to the war. One first step could be the ‘freeze’ on the use of all heavy weapons in and around Aleppo so we humanitarians can get access to the civilian population. Iran can for example do more to put pressure on the government in Damascus where you have influence. The Persian Gulf countries, the US and Turkey can do more to influence the armed opposition groups. How are Syria’s immediate neighbors Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq dealing with the influx of Syrian refugees into their country? Will the strain of the crisis become too much for these countries’ infrastructure and public services to handle? Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq have generously received more than 3.8 million Syrian refugees – they should be praised for the effort, in the same way as Iran should be praised for its response to the Afghan protracted displacement. Refugees have the right to protection, and these rights need to be respected. However, we need to realize that the neighbouring countries cannot be left to deal with the crisis alone. Their capacity is stretched beyond limits. Faced with limited international support and huge strains on their economies, the neighbouring countries are now increasing the entry restrictions for Syrian refugees and people are being turned back at the borders. We all need to ask these countries what support they need, so that they can continue to keep their borders open. Just because we happen to share no borders with Syria, this does not free any of us from responsibility. Innocent people are dying, including sick vulnerable children unable to get treatment. It has been said the humanitarian aid alone is not enough to save all the displaced and aid organizations are calling on wealthy governments to step in. How do you predict their response will be? What is the scope of the aid needed to tackle these challenges? Most of the funding for the humanitarian assistance would need to come from wealthy governments. They urgently need to scale up their support. There is a need for 8.4 billion dollars for assistance inside Syria and neighbouring countries in 2015. Last year only 55% of the appeals were funded. If wealthy governments do not understand the seriousness of the situation and what is expected of them, we fear their response will continue to remain inadequate and the consequences will be fatal. In addition, there is a need to work for political solutions and to ensure that humanitarian organizations are able to access people in need in all parts of Syria. That we have not been able to provide more support to the civilians inside Syria after nearly four years of war, is a historic betrayal. I have seen the effective humanitarian work of Iranian institutions in many disaster situations. We need Iran to help us negotiate unhindered access to all those civilians that are in areas besieged by Syrian government forces. We ask others to put pressure on armed opposition groups that also hinder humanitarian access. Syrian refugees have been abandoned by the international community; The Persian Gulf states, as well as Russia and China, have not offered to take a single refugee from Syria so far. What is your assessment of the situation? UNHCR projects that up to 377,000 refugees would currently qualify for resettlement. These are vulnerable refugees who may benefit from protection and assistance outside of the region. European countries and the US need to welcome more Syrian refugees, but also states that have not offered resettlement to any Syrian refugees so far need to contribute. Which international organizations are expected to take measures to aid Syrian refugees? All countries need to do more. We expect the UN Security Council to work towards a peaceful solution to the conflict and to take measures to ensure humanitarian access to people in need inside Syria. The latest resolutions about unhindered access to assist those in need are steps in the right direction, now these need to be implemented. To achieve this, it is especially important that all countries with influence in the region work closely together. How many staff and how much budget by your organization are dedicated to helping Syrian refugees and the displaced? NCR spent about 100 million USD on helping Syrian refugees, displaced and host communities in 2014 and we have a similar budget for next year. We have about 1,300 employees working on the Syria response – out of a total of 5,000 employees worldwide. How can people and civil society offer their help to the Syrian refugees in need? The best way to help is to support trusted organizations working in the region. There is an urgent need for more funding to ensure that families in need can get a safe place to stay, food, water and education. In addition, we need to demand more from our governments – we should ask them to scale up the humanitarian assistance and work for peaceful solutions to the conflict. Jan Egeland is Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Norway’s largest humanitarian NGO with more than 5,000 employees. He is responsible for the organization’s activities in more than 20 countries. As UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from 2003 to 2006, Egeland helped reform the global humanitarian response system and organized the international response to the Asian Tsunami, and crises from Darfur to the Democratic Republic of Congo and to Lebanon. In 2006, Time magazine named him one of the 100 “people who shape our world.” (Interview by Marjohn Sheikhi)