Refugee Politics In The Middle East: Historical Legacies And Governance Dilemmas
23 May 2019. From 18:30 | Workshop | English | IEMed, BarcelonaBeyond declarations of solidarity and announcements of huge aid to refugees in major international forums, the harsh reality on the ground does not change.
This is due in part to policies at various levels that are divergent, and at times contradictory, by the international community in regards to refugee aid, as evidenced in the Middle East by the large influx of Syrian refugees who has hosted since 2011.
Tamirace Fakhoury points out that the actions of international actors such as the European Union or the United Nations tend to generate unfulfilled expectations that make both refugees and the governments of the host countries suspicious. This would be the case for the European Union, which allocates aid to Syria’s neighboring countries but at the same time develops a political agenda where security and border control prevail while its member states do not comply with minimum refugee reception quotas in their territory that they previously agreed on.
In the case of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Fakhoury says that its reliance on state funding means that it does not have enough funds and has limited room for maneuver. All of this is causing Syria’s neighboring countries to perceive indifference on the part of the international community and start asking refugees to return to their country. And for their part, refugees feel abandoned by the international community and with no prospects for the future.