Humanitarian Response to Syrian Crisis Unsustainable, Political Solution Critical

Swedish MP Ulrika Karlsson engages with Syrian refugee children at the Zaatri camp. ©IPU

Time is of the essence in finding a negotiated political solution to the Syrian crisis, an IPU mission assessing the impact of the refugee influx in Jordan has found, arguing that the humanitarian response to the fallout of the conflict is both insufficient and unsustainable.

The mission composed of MPs from around the world and IPU Secretary General Anders B. Johnsson, witnessed the plight of Syrian refugees in Jordan and their impact on their host country. The aim of the mission, ending Friday 28th June, is to mobilize parliamentary action on the growing Syrian refugee and humanitarian crisis.

Jordan is sheltering about 500,000 of the 1.6 million Syrian refugees, and as a result has seen its population increase by 6 per cent since the exodus from the Syrian conflict began.  

The mission met Syrian refugees and humanitarian officials at Zaatri camp. Built in a year, it is currently hosting 120,000 people, making it Jordan’s fifth largest city. The IPU mission also had detailed briefings with Jordanian leaders including Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, Interior Minister Hussein Majali and the Speakers of both houses of the Jordanian parliament.

“We are truly impressed by the efforts to mitigate the enormous human suffering evident here,” said Andi Anzhar Cakra Wijaya Indonesian MP and President of IPU’s Committee to Promote Respect for International Humanitarian Law. “The mission has been equally struck by the scale of Jordan’s generosity, despite the many economic challenges the country is facing and the huge strain on resources for its own people.”

Access to water, health, education and other services as well as infrastructure have been stretched beyond the limit.  In northern Jordan, new health clinics, hospitals and schools are urgently needed.

“The scale of needs here are so great for both refugees and Jordanians that the situation is rapidly getting out of hand. Instability is a real concern. Time is running out. Jordan and other countries hosting Syrian refugees need the whole world to stand up and be counted in their response, not just traditional donors,” said Anders B. Johnsson, IPU Secretary General.

In its initial findings, the IPU mission underscored the urgent need to inject the necessary means to alleviate the human suffering and to find innovative financial and human resourcing to tackle the crisis in the mid to long-term. This included the use of non-Jordanian doctors to treat refugees and so lessen the strain on Jordan’s health system.

Nevertheless, the IPU mission remained concerned about the sustainability of an international and national humanitarian response given the long drawn out nature of the Syrian conflict.

Also concerned about refugee children not attending school, in some cases for two years, the mission stressed the importance of child refugees receiving an all-round education. Learning about the rights and duties of citizenship and the equal treatment of men and women would be critical to the future of a peaceful and democratic Syria.

The mission will now report full findings to all parliaments in the coming days and weeks and urge them to take action to ensure concrete support is provided from countries around the globe.

Some of the MPs on the mission have also declared their intention to mobilize funding or political action in their parliament to end the suffering of the refugees and lessen the strain on the countries sheltering them.