Daily Times

The death, destruction and suffering inflicted by a four-year-long civil war in Syria have now reached a breaking point. More than 250,000 people have been killed and about a million have been seriously injured. Not a single city has been spared from bombings either by forces loyal to the Assad regime or by the rebel army. About four million people have left the country and taken shelter at refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey and another four million have become internally displaced. Half of the population displaced or taking refuge in neighbouring countries is teenagers. The population displaced and population turned refugees combined make half of Syria’s total population. The remaining populations are not at peace either; their loyalties are questioned by both sides. Many of them are harassed, imprisoned, tortured and then set free. They are not sure whether they will see the next sunrise.
As the crisis unfolded the international community responded with great generosity. The refugees were provided food, shelter and healthcare. Children were provided with elementary education. People hoped that the crisis would end sooner rather than later; they would return home and rebuild their lives. Their hopes were not unfounded. The UN initiated mediation first led by former Secretary General Kofi Anan and then by former Algerian diplomat Lakder Ibrahimi, who made an inexorable search for peace and put in place the framework for a peace deal. However, the peace talks collapsed largely due to the intransigence of the Assad government. It was not prepared for power sharing let alone abdication of power. The overconfident rebel leaders also convoluted the peace initiative. Consequently, the country is now falling apart.
The emergence of Islamic State (IS) in mid-2014 added another dimension to the civil war. It unleashed horrendous brutality, destroyed ancient heritage in Palmyra and brought a large territory of central Iraq and southern Syria under its control. IS’s ruthlessness generated another wave of displacement and thousands joined the refugees in neighbouring countries. The civil war now has several fronts with multiple actors. The Syrian army, backed by Iranian troops, is fighting against rebel forces and IS. The rebels, aided by the Arabs and Gulf States, and supported by US air strikes, are chasing the Syrian army and IS forces. In Iraq, the government and army, aided by Iranian troops and militia with US air support, has been trying to regain the territory lost to IS. The US is spending over nine million dollars a day in the warfare in Syria and Iraq. The Pentagon has deployed over 3,000 military advisers in Iraq to train and guide the Iraqi army against IS. US military advisers are apparently cooperating with Iranian militias in Iraq while it is at war against the same in Syria. Russian troops are reportedly expanding the airfields, assisting the Syrian army against the US-led coalition’s offensives.
As the civil war has prolonged donor generosity has declined with the surge of the refugees in these camps. Twice in the recent past, the World Food Programme — the UN’s food agency — slashed food assistance and even suspended the delivery of food rations to refugees due to a deficit in funding. Its funding situation still remains precarious.
Refugee camps, regardless of how well arranged, cannot be a substitute for homes. Nonetheless, refugees have to put up with the ‘camp life’. The hardships inflicted by harsh winters, hot summers, restriction of movement, inadequate healthcare, disruption in food rations and the pain of leaving behind lifelong earnings make people desperate enough to try anything different. This is why refugees in the thousands have decided to undertake extraordinarily dangerous journeys in quest of unknown destinations. These were not excursions, not river cruises; there were absolutely no joys in these voyages.
As the crisis intensified unscrupulous human traffickers began transporting refugees in small and ill-equipped boats to European coasts. The boats were susceptible to storms and strong waves at sea. Many boats capsized and over 2,700 migrants drowned in the Aegean Sea. Aylan, a two-year-old Syrian boy, was one recent victim. His body was washed up on shore in Turkey. The footage of Aylan’s motionless body with his face down in the sand received wide publicity. People, especially in Europe, were moved by the tragedy. They urged their governments to do more for the Syrian refugees.
Chancellor Angela Merkel asked European Union (EU) countries to share the burden and pledged to accept 800,000 Syrian refugees in Germany. More than 50,000 refugees have already moved into Germany and more are on the way. This is not the first time Germany has rushed to help the people uprooted from their countries of origin. During the Cold War it accepted 13 million people who had fled from East European countries to avoid persecution. Germany provided asylum to over 250,000 people displaced during the Balkan War. Austria, France, Sweden, Finland and Poland have now agreed to accept refugees fleeing from the conflict zone. British Prime Minister Cameron, after a long hesitation, announced that the UK would accept 20,000 in five years.
The ambivalent attitude of the US and Canadian governments is despicable. The conscience of the leaders of these countries has not moved for even the greatest humanitarian catastrophe since World War II. President Obama’s decision to accept 10,000 refugees is ridiculous. Following a humiliating defeat in the Vietnam War the US accepted 190,000 refugees from Indo-China and during the Balkan crisis 180,000 people were granted asylum. Washington’s response to the present crisis is incongruous with its de-rigueur of immigrant hospitality. Obama’s attribution that “someone else’s civil war spills far beyond Syria’s border” marks a distortion of history. The Syrian crisis would not have lasted long had Iraq not been subjected to unjust US-led invasion 12 years ago.
Aid agencies estimate that another million refugees might be on the move. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban led the countries opposed to granting asylum to refugees as he believed the influx of Muslim migrants would threaten the Christian trait in Europe. But Europeans, in general, have stood above religious divides and welcomed the migrants. The EU, in its meeting held on Monday, decided to allocate 40,000 people stranded in Italy amongst the member countries and pledged funding for the resettlement of families. EU leaders, however, remained undecided on earlier allocation of 120,000 refugees amongst the member states.
The egregious indifference of leaders in the Muslim world has been disconcerting. Oil rich Gulf States and Saudi Arabia could have come forward with resources to avoid disruption of food assistance to the refugees in the camps. During King Salman’s visit to Washington last week the Four Seasons luxury hotel was exclusively reserved, costing many hundreds of thousands, paying scant attention to the worst humanitarian crisis next door. The Gulf States and Saudi Arabia could have provided all Syrian refugees temporary shelter on their soil. Sadly, the kings and sheikhs have different priorities. Amazingly, notwithstanding the unforgivable apathy of Muslim rulers, Martin Schulz, the president of European parliament, did not apportion blame but instead acknowledged, “It is the intergovernmental decision-making process within the EU jealously guarded by national capitals that has once again proven its ineffectiveness.” Angela Merkel has set a paradigm to world leaders on how compassionately a politician can respond to a humanitarian crisis.
This crisis will not end any time soon, at least until a political solution is worked out. The UN and the EU can jointly design a peace plan. The people of Syria and Iraq have suffered too much for too long. They deserve peace.

The writer is a former official of the United Nations