Committee: UN General Assembly Third Committee

Agenda: Protection of Syrian Refugees and the Internally Displaced

Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Name: Nishtha Bhakta

Since 2011, Syria’s been facing an uprising where the common man is fighting
against Bashar Al- Assad’s government whose forces responded with violent
crackdowns. The immensity of the conflict has not only destroyed the social,
economic and political condition of the country, but it has led to a high loss of human
life and massive population displacement both within and outside of Syria. It has
been almost four years into the armed conflict, still the end remains unknown. Many
Syrian refugees have abandoned their lands and are being displaced from their
homes to neighbouring countries. An increasing number of Syrian refugees are also
fleeing across to Turkey, overwhelming host communities and creating new cultural
tensions. The risks on the journey to the border are as high as staying. Families walk
for miles through the night to avoid being shot at night by snipers or being caught by
soldiers who abduct young men to fight for the regime. Most of the host families are
struggling on meagre incomes and do not have the room or finances to support their
family as the crisis drags on. Families are often seen living in rooms with no heat or
running water, in abandoned chicken coops and storage sheds. The UN estimates
over 7.6 billion people have been internally displaced, with one family being
displaced in every sixty seconds. Basic necessities like medical care and food are
sparse. An UN commission of inquiry, after its investigation gathered evidence that
those on both sides of the conflict have committed war crimes such as murder,
torture and rape. Government and rebel forces both have also been accused by
investigators of creating civilian suffering, such as blocking access to food, water and
health services. The chemical attacks on civilians also caused international outrage
and many leaders demanded a strong response. USA and France had earlier
doubted on use of chemical weapons by Assad’s government on civilians and when
evidence was found that it was Assad’s government behind these attacks, the
American and French governments discussed the need to dismantle these weapons.
On the other hand, Russia has strong ties with President Assad's government and
has helped Syria in the past by supplying weapons. Russia, Iran and China have
also sent 90,000 troops to Syria to quiet down the agitated rebels. Also, there is
another problem which is leading to the economic ruin of the country, that is, both
the Syrian government and the rebel groups also have to fight back against the ISIL.
The ISIL has marked its territory almost over half of Syria’s land.

With neither side able to end this conflict, UN had long ago concluded that only a
political solution could end this in Syria. However, numerous attempts by the Arab
League and the UN to introduce peace reforms have failed. But does that mean the
UN has backed off from the fight and is not helping? In fact UN has set up a
peacekeeping mission in Syria, UNSMIS (United Nations Supervision Mission in
Syria), as a result of the Security Council resolution 2043. Besides that the UNHCR
is providing the affected locals and the refugees with humanitarian aid and also
helps the most liable refugees with urgently needed relief. By helping refugees in the
surrounding region, UNHCR hopes to reduce the number of desperate Syrians
resorting to smugglers and falling prey to traffickers to reach safely elsewhere. The
European Union, the Commission and Member States, is the largest donor since the
start of the crisis, with more than €2 billion donated. This comprises €1.09 billion
from Member States, and more than €515 million from the Commission's
humanitarian aid budget. In kind assistance has also been provided to Turkey and
Jordan through the activation of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, which led
to the delivery of ambulances, blankets, heaters and other items. €461 million has
been mobilised through other non-humanitarian EU instruments (for education,
support to host communities and local societies) Provision of humanitarian aid
funded by the Commission is channelled through professional humanitarian
organizations in accordance with humanitarian principles. The implementing partners
are UN agencies, The Red Crescent movement and International non-governmental
organizations. Aid is provided to all those in need, irrespective of their creed or
political affiliation. The European Union has also contributed significant funds to help
getting rid of Syria’s chemical weapons and is constantly maintaining pressure on
the country so that its chemical weapon programme is dismantled.

Being a charter member, United Kingdom also has the fifth largest economy in the
world. Unlike Russia, United Kingdom has always been a big critic of Bashar Al-
Assad’s government and full heartedly support the rebel forces because in today’s
world everyone desires for democracy and what the rebels are fighting is to let free
elections take place in Syria which has a legitimate point. On 18 August 2011, in a
joint statement, David Cameron, along with Nicholas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel
also demanded Assad step down, which called for an end to violence. The people
have not been given much military support by any other country and the unarmed
civilians are being targeted by snipers, the deadly sarin gas (due to chemical attacks
on them) and are also being tortured by troops sent from country’s that support
Assad’s government. Furthermore, The ISIL is also constantly torturing civilians.
More than recently, the ISIL uploaded a video of them torturing a young Syrian boy.
The acts of the ISIL are adding more chaos to the conflict. The United Kingdom also
provided £800 million to help those affected by the conflict making it UK’s largest
response to any crisis and this funding has provided medical care, food and relief
items to the refugees. Also the DFID Syria response team is co-ordinating with UK’s
humanitarian aid. But on the other hand, Cameron did make huge commitments
about welcoming 10,000 Syrian refugees, but United Kingdom only accepted people
in the low 100s. Somehow United Kingdom is not able to take the moral
responsibility of the refugees.

United Kingdom suggests that the following measures will help to tranquillize the
situation in Syria and will also make more humanitarian aid available to the Syrian
refugees without fail:
 The international community (particularly the European Union and the US) must
fully fund the UNHCR and organizations such as Red Cross and UNICEF
working for Syrian refugees.

 The refugees should be provided protection and the resources should be made
easily accessible to them. They should not be treated in a turgid manner. Added
to this, it should also be ensured that families are not separated during border
crossing.
 A council should be set by UN to ensure that no country is providing any military
action in the scenario
 The conflict can only come to an end through a political decision. There should
be a negotiated agreement between both the sides with the involvement of
countries that are providing any military or political support to them.
 Refugee areas in Jordon, Lebanon and other places need establishment of
schools so as the refugee children have access to education.
 It must be ensured that the refugee camps are located away from conflicted
areas under influence of terrorist organization and the pre existing ones should
be offered more protection through military aid. Protection should be enhanced
at the refugee camps to prevent the area from being conflicted.
 Borders should be open to all refugees escaping the conflict. For instance, The
Jordanian authorities have strictly restricted any informal border crossing, leaving
2500 Syrians stranded between the borders of Syria and Jordon. The
government of Jordon has helped Syria the most during this crisis and also
cannot be blamed, because since the beginning of the crisis, most of the Syrian
refugees have fled to Jordon and all the refugee camps in Jordon are falling
short of resources. The condition of the people in Za’atri refugee camp is not
very good with minimum resources to survive on. Egypt has also closed gates
and has stopped any informal border crossing. It is suggested that the Europian
countries (which have resettled relatively a small number of refugees), should
take the liable refugees and resettle them.