Refugee Camps and Informal Settlements in Lebanon and Turkey During the Syrian Refugee Crisis?”
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Master in Crisis and Security Management Master’s Thesis “To what extent have integration and facilitation policies developed inside refugee camps and informal settlements in Lebanon and Turkey during the Syrian refugee crisis?” Chris Spence - S1948547 Master Thesis – Final version Crisis & Security Management Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs – Leiden University Supervised by: Daan Weggemans Second reader: Bart Schuurman Word count: 24,425 [excl. bibliography and annexes] Date: 9, January 2018 1 Acknowledgments This thesis on the refugee crisis is my final paper of my Master’s programme “Crisis & Security Management” at Leiden University. Writing this thesis took a huge effort and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Daan Weggemans, for the continuous support of my thesis, his patience, feedback and knowledge. The topic of refugees is not his area expertise, but his guidance and encouragement helped me during the process of writing this thesis. I would also like to thank The Hague Peace Projects in The Hague, which through them I was able to be introduced to Osama Mousa, Hiba Hussein and their two colleagues Ali and Aida who work for Syrian Eyes in Lebanon. This organization is a group of Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese who conduct many activities within the Syrian refugee camps in East Lebanon. Finally, I would like to thank my friends, family and in particular my sister Cara for their support and positive energy throughout this past year, which kept me going to the end of my studies. Leiden, January 2018 Chris Spence 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................2 List of Figures and Tables ......................................................................................................4 List of Abbreviations ...............................................................................................................5 1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................6 1.1 Scientific Relevance.........................................................................................7 1.2 Research Question …………….......................................................................9 1.3 Outline of Thesis ………………....................................................................10 2.0 Syrian Civil War and the Refugee crisis ................................................................11 2.1 Syrian Conflict ...............................................................................................11 2.2 Numbers Displaced.........................................................................................12 2.3 Humanitarian Costs.........................................................................................14 2.4 Lebanon ………………..................................................................................15 2.5 Turkey ……………….....................................................................................16 2.5.1 European Union (EU) – Turkey Deal..................................................17 3.0 The Study of Refugees ..............................................................................................19 3.0.1 Refugee vs. Migrant? ..........................................................................19 3.0.2 1951 UN Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol...............................20 3.0.2 Integration and Facilitation Studies......................................................21 4.0 Methodology Framework..........................................................................................24 4.1 Data Collection Methods (Triangulation of Methods).....................................24 4.2 Content and Discourse Analysis ……….........................................................25 4.3 Data Exploitation and Assessment...................................................................26 4.4 Internal / External Validity...............................................................................26 4.5 Limitations and Pitfalls....................................................................................26 5.0 Analysis of the Integration / Facilitation of Refugees.............................................28 5.1 Lebanon............................................................................................................29 5.1.1 Housing - 2011 - Present..................... ................................................31 5.1.2 Education - 2011 - Present...................................................................34 5.1.3 Employment - 2011 - Present...............................................................36 5.1.4 Health - 2011 - Present.........................................................................37 5.2 Turkey..............................................................................................................39 5.2.1 Housing - 2011 - Present..................... ................................................41 5.2.2 Education - 2011 - Present...................................................................43 5.2.3 Employment - 2011 - Present..............................................................45 5.2.4 Health - 2011 - Present........................................................................47 6.0 General Conclusion...................................................................................................50 3 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1.0: Syrian Refugee Crisis–Massive Displacement (Source: Mercy Corps, 2017.13 Figure 2.0: Syrian refugees in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon (Source: UNHCR as quoted in Newss, 2017 ...................................................................................................13 Figure 3.0: Financial Investment for Syrian refugees (Source: UNHCR as quoted in Newss, 2017....................................................................................................14 Figure 4.0: Conceptual Framework and Domains (Ager & Strang, 2008).......................23 Figure 5.0: Data on primary education of Syrian refugees (Source: Newss, 2017).........29 Figure 6.0: Conditions at the Salaam wa Makhaba informal settlement in Lebanon (Limoges, 2017).............................................................................................32 Figure 7.0: Ten Provinces with Highest Number of Registered Syrian refugees (International Crisis Group, 2016b) …………………………………...…....40 Figure 8.0: Map of Ten Provinces with Highest Number of Registered Syrian refugees (International Crisis Group, 2016b) ………………………………………...40 4 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AFAD Turkish Disaster & Emergency Management Authority AI Amnesty International CI Care International EU European Union IDPs Internally Displaced Persons ILO International Labour Organisation IOM International Organisation for Migration IS Islamic State LWPF Law on Work Permits for Foreigners MEHE Ministry of Education and Higher Education MoPH Ministry of Public Health NGOs Non-Governmental Organizations PKK Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) RACE Reaching All Children with Education RRP The Syria Regional Response Plan TECs Temporary Education Centres TL Turkish lira TP Temporary Protection TPID Temporary Protection Identity Card UN United Nations UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund WFP United Nations World Food Programme WHO World Health Organization YPG Kurdish People’s Protection Units 5 1.0 Introduction The Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011, has resulted in over 5.2 million people fleeing the country (UNHCR, 2017). The war has created the worst refugee crisis of the 21st century, and according to United Nations reports, the number of refugees displaced has surpassed the amount of refugees displaced during World War II (McKirdy, 2016; Mercy Corps, 2017; Charles & Denman, 2013: 96; Yenilmez, 2016: 2; Amnesty International, 2015; Yazgan et el., 2015: 185; Chaar & Medjad, 2017). In December 2015, the United Nations refugee agency estimated that for the first time the number of refugees worldwide has passed 20 million, and the number of forced displacement of persons has passed 60 million, breaking all previous records (UNHCR, 2015). With an enormous death toll and the displacement of millions refugess, there seems to be no end in sight as the fighting continues in Syria. With 987,571 Syrian asylum applications made in Europe between April 2001 and September 2017, this crisis has become a dominant topic of debate in most European countries, and news outlets headlines have focused their attention on migration and refugee movements to Europe (Crowe, 2016; UNHCR, 2017). However, there has been less attention put on the massive humanitarian crisis and strain on resources it has created inside Turkey and Lebanon (Warda & Bhabha, 2013:1464). When we look at these numbers seeking asylum in Europe, the numbers are low compared to the millions of refugees seeking safety in Syria’s neighbouring countries (Crowe, 2016). According to UNHCR (2017), as of 28 December 2017, there were 4,421, 789 million Syrian refugees currently seeking safety in Lebanon and Turkey (UNHCR, 2017). Turkey now has the world’s largest population of refugees in the world, hosting 3,424,237 million Syrians (UNHCR, 2017). In Lebanon, there are just under a million Syrian refugees within a total population of 4.5 million people in the country (Ahmad, 2017). Lebanon