BACKGROUND | Bright Pals

Background of the refugee crisis:

The Syrian civil war has created one of the worst humanitarian crisis in modern times

Since 2011, millions of Syrians have escaped across borders, in what has become the largest displacement crisis in the world.

5.6 million registered refugees, including over 2.5 million children are living in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey¹.

After 10 years of crisis, life is harder than ever for displaced Syrians. As the crisis continues, hope is fading, With the devastating impact of the pandemic and increasing poverty, every day is an emergency for Syrians forced to flee².

13.5 million

displaced Syrians, representing more than half of Syria's total population

6.7 million

Syrian refugees are hosted in 128 countries

80%

of all Syrian refugees are located in neighboring countries, with Turkey hosting more than half (3.6 million)³

The vast majority of Syrian refugees in the neighboring countries live in urban areas, with only 1 out of 20 accommodated in a refugee camp.

In all neighboring countries, life is a daily struggle for more than a million Syrian refugees, who have little or no financial resources¹

Even when kids and young people have access to education, they struggle with adjusting to a new language, different system, are often several years behind their classmates and face pressures to leave school and work.

Effect of the pandemic

In 2020, the situation in all affected countries was further aggravated by the pandemic and the subsequent economic downturn.

Approximately 20.6 million people, including 6.1 million children, need assistance¹.

According to a recent Ipsos survey, both in the United States (47%) and on average across all 26 countries in the study (49%), nearly half of all adults surveyed say their country should be less open to accepting refugees than before the coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak. Amid the pandemic, four in ten Americans (42%, up from 36% last year) and half of all adults globally (49%, up from 40% last year) agree that “we must close our borders to refugees entirely, we can’t accept any at this time⁴.”

Attitudes to refugees

Access to education

In Turkey, about 40% of Syrian children are out of school as a result of poverty, and children being withdrawn from school for child labour and child marriage. Language is also an issue, as is lack of ID cards, not enough teachers, and bullying of refugee children⁵.