Brief description of the emergency and impact
The Syrian civil war is now going into its fifth year with no signs of an end. The number of civilian casialities and internally displaced are drastically increasing driving thousands to join the millions who have already fled to neighboring countries who struggle to cope with this large influx of people. Syria: According to UNOCHA data as of October, 2015 there are 13.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, 4.2 million people have fled the country and 6.5 million people are internally displaced by violence. As the conflict in Syria enters its fifth year, a political solution is still to be found. Human rights violations and abuses continue to occur in the context of widespread insecurity and in disregard of international law, including international humanitarian law, and human rights law. More than half of all Syrians have been forced to leave their homes, often multiple times, making Syria the largest displacement crisis globally. According to the Syria 2015 SRP the Syrian economy has contracted by an estimated 40 per cent since 2011, leading to the majority of Syrians losing their livelihoods.
Humanitarian access to people in need in Syria remains constrained by shifting frontlines, administrative and bureaucratic hurdles, violence along access routes and general safety and security concerns, especially in areas under the control of terrorist groups listed in United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2170 and 2178. It is increasingly difficult for Syrians to find safety, including by seeking asylum. These difficulties have resulted in a marked decline in the number of newly arriving registered refugees and in their ability to access international protection.
In Lebanon, 1,078,338 UNHCR registered refugees have settled wherever they found houses or could set up shelters often outnumbering the locals of that area, with additional 52,000 Syrian/Palestinian refugees squeezed mostly into the Palestinian camps and their surroundings. This heavy presence of the refugees put great pressure on the area's infrastructure while the government and NGOs struggled to provide the most basic of needs. With time, the initial hospitable reception has grown into intolerance, resentment with conflict and hatred growing as the locals and refugees struggle to deal with inflation of rental, overcrowding of schools and competition over jobs. The youth live in unstable conditions vulnerable to exploitation and struggling with their schooling in a foreign language following a new educational system. A new problem has emerged which is illegal immigration through dangerous means arranged by a greedy and unscrupulous mafia. Thousands have immigrated into the unknown while hundreds died along the way.
Jordan: Civil war in Syria has caused a refugee crisis in Jordan, raising the latter’s population by 8%, while constituting around 20% of its population. UNHCR says Jordan has 630,776 registered Syrian refugees (2 November 2015). Authorities estimate the number of Syrians in Jordan at around 1.5 million, hence, the remaining Syrians resided in Jordan are not registered as refugees. Around 87% of the refugees opted to reside in host communities while 18% are resided in camps (Zaatari: 79,284 refugees, and Azraq camp: 26,820 refugees) as of November 2015. It does not look like refugees will be able to return to Syria any time soon, no matter how hard life in Jordan becomes. For Jordanians, the highly visible presence of many thousands of refugees living in their midst – mostly in urban areas, has raised fears over competition for resources and opportunities. Yet, the influx hit the most vulnerable people in their country hardest.
Why is an ACT response needed?
ACT Alliance members have provided humanitarian support from the onset of the crisis back in March 2011. Their decades-long experience in the region enables them to reach out to the communities and to address adequately the most urgent needs according to humanitarian principles.
National and international response
Over the past few years, the total number of poor households of Syrian refugees has steadily increased. Accordingly, there is an imminent need to move these vulnerable communities towards resilience and sustainability. The Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan 2015-2016 (3RP) as well as the recent Jordan Resilience Plan 2016 (JRP) drafting process highlighted that the response to the Syrian crisis has mostly been in the form of emergency relief, without adequate attention on how to build on the situation in a way that strengthens the country’s infrastructure and capacity to manage such emergencies efficiently. The continuous and increasing Syrian refugees’ influx stirs the need not only for emergency response but also resilience based approach to protect life and dignity. Although the Governments’ response to the crisis has been backed by national and international agencies, there is growing acknowledgment that current-life saving, humanitarian funding, and programming are neither sustainable nor sufficient, and should be complemented by a more development oriented approach to build national resilience and sustain the level and quality of services provided.
ACT JSL members are also active members of various UN-led sector working groups related to the Syrian refugee crisis. Membership in these working groups has resulted in access to multiple NGOs.
ACT Alliance response
ACT members in the region coordinate the humanitarian response in the ACT Jordan/Syria/Lebanon (JSL) Forum. Members have carried out their own detailed needs assessments and response in various sectors, which include but are not limited to food, NFI, psychosocial support, persons with disabilities (PWDs), education, shelter, home repairs, hygiene, and health.
It is anticipated that the full appeal will be released on 14th of December, 2015.