The Regional Board meeting on January 12 featured a special panel presentation on the Syrian refugee crisis. Diplomats from Germany, Turkey, and the United Kingdom made up the panel and Regional Board Chair Eric Kingsley moderated.
Kingsley set the stage by outlining ADL’s position on the crisis, one of deep sympathy for the refugees and a call to the US government to do more without compromising issues of safety and security.
Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria have been leaving their homes in search of safety and assistance. The refugees have been fleeing violence, persecution and poverty—traveling at great lengths and great risk to survive. As of September 2015, it is estimated that over 200,000 Syrians have been killed, 7.6 million people have been internally displaced within the country and another 4.1 million have dispersed across the Middle East and Europe.
Turkish Consul General Raife Gülru Gezer said that since the beginning of the conflict, about 2.5 million Syrian refugees, including 960,000 Syrian children, have crossed the border shared between Turkey and Syria. Temporary Protection Centers currently house about 260,000 refugees. German Consul General Hans Jörg Neumann stated that, of the 1.2 million refugees seeking asylum in Germany in 2015, 13.5% were from Syria. They, along with refugees from Iraq and Eritrea, have the best chance of being granted asylum because they are not economic refugees like those from the Balkans and sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Bernadette Greene, Deputy Consul General of the United Kingdom, stressed that the refugee crisis is the biggest challenge that Europe has faced since World War II. Great Britain feels a moral obligation to assist in whatever way it can, both economically and in providing refuge, in trying to mitigate what she termed the “heart-wrenching plight” of the Syrian refugees.
Some of the most important points stressed by all three panelists were:
- Education is key to the integration of the refugee populations in the countries that are harboring them. This education is most important for the children of the refugees as they return back to their homeland or assimilate into their adopted countries.
- An ocean divides Syria from the United States. In contrast, Syrian refugees are “at their doorsteps” and the countries represented on the panel refuse to ignore them. This is not just an European or Middle Eastern crisis, but a world crisis. Consul General Neumann said “no one country can solve this crisis.” Consul General Gezer agreed, stating “We, Europeans, Americans and all humanity must do more….we shouldn’t turn a blind eye to what’s going on.”
- The world community cannot give into fear-mongering, conflating Syrian refugees with terrorists. There is no guarantee that acts of terrorism will not be committed by a small number of individuals using the refugee crisis to infiltrate other countries. However, if the refugees are not given a chance to be given safe haven, educated and assimilated, then they may be more likely to turn to radicalization.
ADL has many resources to help people and families discuss complex issues, like the Syrian refugee crisis, including ADL Table Talk: Refugees, Reactions and World Response, Anti-Muslim Bigotry and Being an Ally and Myths and Facts about Muslim People and Islam.