Influx Of Syrian Refugees Research Articles

Migration Shocks and Housing: Short-Run Impact of the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Jordan

This paper investigates the impact of migration shocks on housing conditions and rental prices for the local population. The identification comes from the regional variation in the large influx of Syrian refugees to Jordan in the wake of the Syrian conflict which started in 2011. Combining detailed household-level surveys with information on where Syrian refugees are concentrated, we employ a difference-in-difference approach and show that the influx had negative impacts on housing quality and increased the rents paid by local households. Residential mobility also increased in response to the flow of refugees, and this could have acted as a channel through which housing quality decreased and may have attenuated the impact on rents. The effects are more pronounced among poorer and less-educated households, those who are arguably in competition with refugees for housing.

Through a girl’s eyes: Social ontologies of citizen identity among Jordanian and refugee students in Jordan’s double-shift secondary schools

Jordan, along with Lebanon, has the greatest influx of Syrian refugees in the world. To address the issue of overcrowding in schools, a double-shift system operates in Jordan, whereby Jordanian students receive schooling in the morning; and Syrian and other refugee students, in the afternoon. The purpose of this article is to examine the social ontological perspectives of 92 Arab female youth (Jordanian and Arab refugee) through analysis of their views on citizen identity and the citizenship discourse promoted in 3 all-girl double-shift secondary schools in Amman. The youths’ ontologies are informed by a complex set of identity markers; namely, nationality, religion, culture, ethnicity (Arabness), gender, and developmental stage (youth). The study reveals that youth ontological security is rooted in Arab heritage, Islamic identity, and the state’s emphasis on preservation of peace over student reactions to contemporary political crises in the Middle East. This empirically grounded, qualitative scholarship serves as a call for more youth studies on citizen identity in the Arab world.

Coinvolgere i giovani delle comunità ospitanti per comprendere come costruiscono l’influenza dei social media sul ricollocamento dei profughi siriani

It is often difficult for youth to recognize and share their construct systems let alone to discuss how these systems guide their thoughts and behaviours. The purpose of this methodological article is two-fold: firstly, it aims to present and detail four interview techniques we adapted from Personal Construct Psychology, to use in a physically co-located or in an online approach, with 42 participants between 16 and 24 years-old from a variety of North American and European countries affected by the Syrian refugee influx; secondly it presents a five-step approach to data analysis, with the aim to develop an in-depth understanding of the participants’ construct systems. Our objective was to explore how this youth construed online interactions about the Syrian refugee crisis and how they anticipated the influence of social media content on the resettlement of Syrian refugees in host countries.

A review of maternal mortality trends in Lebanon, 2010-2018.

Lebanon invested in the prevention of maternal mortality after the civil war, which left a deficient vital registration system leading to unreliable estimates of maternal mortality ratio (MMR). Starting in 2004, the Ministry of Public Health integrated reproductive health into primary health care and established a national notification system of maternal and neonatal deaths. From 1990 to 2013, Lebanon achieved an annual change in MMR of -7.5%, which was the highest rate of reduction in the region and met the requirements of Millennium Development Goal 5. For the period 2010-2018, data collected through the national notification system indicate an MMR of 14.9, which is below the officially reported MMR of 23. Since the influx of Syrian refugees, Lebanon has experienced a rise in the number of live births with a slightly increasing trend in MMR, especially in regions with the highest concentration of refugees. Causes of maternal mortality in Lebanon align with the three-delays model, pointing to deficiencies in the quality of maternity care. More efforts are needed toward strengthening the national notification system to include cases that occur outside hospitals, identifying near-miss cases, reinforcing the emergency response system, and engaging with all stakeholders to improve quality of care.

Impact of the Syrian crisis on the socio-spatial transformation of Eastern Amman, Jordan

Amman, the capital of Jordan, has been subjected to incremental spatial transformation under the pressure of the emerging migration of various refugees since the beginning of the Syrian conflict (2011–present). Only 17% of the Syrian refugee influx to Jordan resides in camps. Amman hosts 28% of non-camp refugees (NCRs) who are living in urban areas and creating multiple forms of urban settlements. Diverse forms of NCR settlements are emerging extensively in Eastern Amman districts. These settlements are contributing to new morphological structures and leading to a gradual spatial change—socially and physically. This research intends to contribute to the increasing amount of available data by improving the understanding of the socio-spatial patterns of Syrian NCR settlements and providing insights, forecasts, and recommendations regarding this pressing issue on the basis of overall trends. Comprehensively contextualized areas in Amman were mapped, and after considering specific site-selection criteria, Jubilee Neighborhood was selected. Jubilee was built by the government in 1985 for low-income Jordanian families. This study aims to unravel one layer of the complex multilayered Amman City. It intends to explore and describe the urban forms of NCR settlements in Jubilee Neighborhood as a case study by interrelating spatial, social, and physical concepts. In addition, this study extensively uses rigorous qualitative and traditional methods. The outcome of this study is a comprehensive and descriptive spatial analysis that can provide socio-spatial interpretations and recommend urban response policies to cope with the future spatial transformation of urban forms.

Syrian refugee influx and the rise of far-right rhetoric: a quasi-experimental investigation

ABSTRACT The shockwaves of Syrian refugee influx are coupled with the phenomenal rise of the far-right parties in Europe. There are studies explaining the electoral upsurge of far-right parties responding to the immigration crisis, however, there has not been a study investigating how fierce the far-right rhetoric has become. This question situates European politics in a post-Syrian conflict scenario in which a conflict and subsequent immigration from far away has framed the polarization in Europe. Using the Comparative Manifesto Project's dataset, which measures percentages of sentences allocated to issues, we tested whether Syrian refugee influx has casually increased the far-right rhetoric (e.g. ‘negative mention of internationalism’ and ‘negative mention of multiculturalism’). Using propensity score matching of countries based on Consumer Price Index and Industrial Production Index, top refugee-receiving European countries are considered as the treatment group and other countries as the control group. The findings reveal that, the Syrian refugee influx has causally increased the far-right rhetoric in general, regardless of the electoral success. To test whether there is any scientific basis of the far-right rhetoric that refugees increase crime, it is found that there was no significant increase in crime rates among the treatment and the control countries..

AB’nin Suriye Krizine Bakışı: Türkiye Bir Ortak mı?

The article aims to analyze the European Union (EU)’s approach to the Syrian crisis and to evaluate the role it attributes to Turkey. The EU’s approach staggered between supporting transition in Syria to a post-Assad regime and the need to protect itself against spill-over effects of the conflict. Two issues emerged as urgent priorities that determined the EU’s approach to the conflict. One of them was to control the outpouring of refugees fleeing war and oppression in Syria and the other was to deal with the growing threat of terrorism, mainly the ISIL threat. The influx of Syrian refugees through the Aegean and Balkan route to the EU surged in the summer of 2015 leading to practical and political problems for EU countries. In the meantime, ISIL related terror attacks in the EU created a major security problem and led several Member States to bring back border controls in the Schengen area. The EU turned to Turkey and sought Turkey’s cooperation in controlling the refugee flow and also keeping away the ISIL threat. The article looks at cooperation between Turkey and the EU and also points of contention that created hurdles in this cooperation.

Challenges and agency: principals responding to the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanese public schools

ABSTRACT Since 2011, an influx of Syrian refugees has put a massive strain on Lebanon’s educational public system, which was already stretched before the humanitarian crisis. In an already stressful profession, this unprecedented crisis is testing the limits of principals’ management and leadership capacities. Our qualitative study explores how principals are making sense of and navigating the Syrian refugee student crisis at their schools. Principals are dealing with four general types of challenges: spatial, socio-emotional, cultural, and academic. The findings show that principals are struggling to create a stable educational environment. Instead of focusing on leadership and academic performance, principals in double-shift schools spend most of their time ‘putting out fires,’ resolving urgent issues, and attending to basic needs that typically are taken for granted in other schools. Impacts of the obstacles faced and opportunities for future research are discussed.

The impact of refugees on employment and wages in Jordan

Starting in 2011, the Syrian conflict caused a large influx of refugees into Jordan. In 2015, there were an estimated 1.3 million Syrians in a country with just 6.6 million Jordanians. This paper investigates the impact of the Syrian refugee influx on the Jordanian labor market. Panel data from 2010 to 2016 combined with information on where the refugee influx was concentrated allow us to identify the impact of refugees on Jordanians’ labor market outcomes. Overall, we find that Jordanians living in areas with a high concentration of refugees have had no worse labor market outcomes than Jordanians with less exposure to the refugee influx.

Conflicts and Relative Deprivation in Ein El Hilweh: Palestinian Refugees in the Shadow of the Syrian Civil War

Abstract About 450,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon today. With the arrival of over 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon since the Syrian civil war started in 2011, Palestinians were no longer the largest refugee group in Lebanon, and many newcomers settled in Palestinian refugee camps. Previous research has considered how recipient societies relate to refugees; this study analyses inter-group competition and conflict among refugees from different countries by analysing Palestinians’ perceptions of refugee camp life and attitudes towards Syrian refugees. Focus-group interviews were conducted in the largest camp in Lebanon, Ein El Hilweh. Respondents experienced relative deprivation due to the influx of Syrian refugees, who were accused of taking Palestinian jobs and increasing poverty. Respondents complained of increasing violence and social problems (e.g. radicalization and drug use) due to the demographic changes. Especially women experienced that their freedom of movement had become limited in the camp but found it difficult to consider migration. Increasing desperation had also weakened Palestinian resistance identity and trust in resistance organizations.

Syrian Children in Turkey: A Model of Action for National Pediatric Societies.

* Abbreviations: IPA — : International Pediatric Association IPAF — : International Pediatric Association Foundation NGO — : nongovernmental organization TNPS — : Turkish National Pediatric Society The Syrian Civil War, which has been ongoing since March 2011, has forced nearly 11 million people from their homes. Of those remaining in Syria, 13.5 million people, including ∼6 million children, need humanitarian assistance as a result of having fled their homes, enduring hostilities, and experiencing limited access to food, health care, and other basic needs.1 Furthermore, >3.4 million Syrians have fled to Turkey since the start of the conflict. The Turkish government gave an immediate response with an open-door policy and offered temporary protection status. Currently, 9% of the refugee population are living in 26 temporary protection shelters, and the remaining 91% have integrated into the communities in cities across the country. Half of the Syrian refugees are living in the following 4 major cities: Istanbul and 3 other cities near the border (Hatay, Sanliurfa, and Gaziantep). In some provinces near the Syrian border, the percentage of Syrian refugees has reached 50% of the current total population of the province.2,3 The influx of Syrian refugees has increased the burden on the health care system. … Address correspondence to Elif N. Ozmert, MD, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, 06100 Sihhiye, Ankara, Turkey. E-mail: nozmert{at}hacettepe.edu.tr

Vaccination coverage in Lebanon following the Syrian crisis: results from the district-based immunization coverage evaluation survey 2016

BackgroundFollowing the Syrian crisis, a substantial influx of Syrian refugees into Lebanon posed new challenges to optimal vaccination coverage for all children residing in the country. In 2016, the district-based immunization coverage evaluation survey (CES) assessed routine immunization coverage at the district level in Lebanon among children aged 12–59 months.MethodsA cross-sectional multistage cluster survey was conducted in all of Lebanon (with the exception of the Nabatieh district) using the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) methodology adapted to the local context. A survey questionnaire consisting of closed and open-ended questions concerning demographic information and the child’s immunization status was administered to collect immunization status information.ResultsAmong surveyed children aged 12–59 months, irrespective of nationality, vaccination coverage at the national level for any recommended last dose was below the targeted 95%. Generally, vaccination coverage levels increased with age and were higher among Lebanese than Syrian children. However, large variations were revealed when coverage rates were analyzed at the district level. Vaccination was significantly associated with nationality, age, mother’s educational status and the place of vaccination. Common reasons for undervaccination included the child’s illness at the time of vaccine administration, vaccination fees, lack of awareness or a doctor’s advice not to vaccinate during campaigns.ConclusionsSubstantial variability exists in vaccination coverage among children aged 12–59 months residing in different districts in Lebanon. Immunization coverage reached 90% or above only for the first doses of polio and pentavalent vaccines. A considerable dropout rate from the first dose of any vaccine is observed. Efforts to optimize coverage levels should include increased vaccination initiatives targeting both refugee children and children from vulnerable host communities, increased cooperation between public and private vaccine providers, improved training for vaccine providers to adhere to complete vaccine administration recommendations, and increased awareness among caregivers.

Linkage of Municipal Solid Waste Management and Peacebuilding: A Case Study in Northern Jordan Affected by Syrian Refugee Influx

Linkage of Municipal Solid Waste Management and Peacebuilding: A Case Study in Northern Jordan Affected by Syrian Refugee Influx

An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of Syrian Refugees on the Turkish Labor Market

We examine the effects of the recent influx of Syrian refugees on the Turkish labor market. Exploiting this natural experiment, we estimated the causal impacts of involuntary migration on labor market outcomes. We selected the five refugee-hosting regions with the highest number of refugees as treatment regions and four comparable regions with a low refugee-to-population ratio as control regions. Using a difference-in-differences estimation, we found that informal Turkish workers in the refugee-hosting regions were about 4% more likely to leave their job than workers in regions that did not widely host refugees. Such negative impacts on labor market outcomes became larger in 2014–2015 compared with 2012–2013. Furthermore, while females and older workers withdrew themselves from the labor market, males and younger workers become unemployed after the refugee influx.

Syrian Refugees in Turkey and Integration Problem Ahead

In this study, the Syrian refugees’ integration problems are examined, and the main challenges such as learning the tongue, finding jobs, housing, education, and vulnerability to abuse are analyzed. Moreover, some measures for social integration were proposed. Because of the civil war that broke out in Syria in 2011, many Syrians had to leave their homes and find shelter in neighboring countries. Turkey applied an open door policy from the beginning and received an influx of Syrian refugees and asylum seekers. Turkey is now de facto home to over 3.5 million registered Syrians, along with non-registered ones. Refugee influx has initially been regarded as temporary and Syrian refugees are seen as “guests.” Especially after the influx in 2014–2015, however, the positive emotions began gradually fading and some started to pronounce refugees as “overstaying guests.” Eventually, perspectives have shifted from short-term protection and humanitarian assistance to longer-term social and economic integration of Syrian refugees. Long-term integration and settlement of the refugees necessitate a comprehensive, unified, and rigorous approach. It also requires greater cooperation between policymakers, practitioners, and civil society organizations in different areas such as employment, education, and health. In addition, it calls robust international cooperation and support.

Navigating State, Religion and Gender: A Case Study of ABAAD’s Gender Activism in Lebanon

This article examines the work of ABAAD so as to explore the complexities of doing gender activism in a country ruled by both the state and religious law. The work of this non-faith, non-political organisation allows for such an exploration within postcolonial settings where religious law has tremendous influence. In keeping with the scholarly debate on how contestations around gender and sexuality often play out where religious and secular matters intersect, we find it both relevant and important to consider the responses of ABAAD’s gender activism in the context of Lebanon. We draw on the case of ABAAD to explore how “transformational approaches” propose to achieve gender equality and prevent gender-based violence through transforming patriarchal structures. We demonstrate that such “transformational approaches” require active yet careful engagement with religion through long-term dialogue and exchange. In the wake of the influx of Syrian refugees into Lebanon, interventions tend to focus on responding to the increase in gender-based violence in refugee communities. While such responses are urgent, necessary and important, we argue that they also include a shift from “transformational approaches” to “gendered humanitarianisms,” which can hinder change in underlying discriminatory structures.

Impact of the Syrian refugee influx on Turkish native workers: An ethnic enclave approach

Turkey received about 2.7 million Syrian refugees between 2011 and 2015. This paper examines the causal impact of this influx on the Turkish natives' labor market outcomes using the micro level annual Household Labor Force Surveys. The migration impact is analyzed in two distinct categories considering the motives behind the migration decision. The initial migration to the border regions is defined as the primary migration and a standard difference in differences strategy is employed to estimate the labor market impacts in those regions since the initial flow to the border regions was completely exogenous. The migration from the primary regions towards the inner regions, on the other hand, is subject to endogenous selection. Hence, I defined it as the secondary migration and developed an instrumental variables estimation method to address the selection bias following the Card (2009)'s ethnic enclave approach. I found statistically significant negative employment and wage effects on the low-skilled and less-experienced individuals in the primary migration analysis. The decline in the wages of informal workers is the main contributor of the negative wage effects. Secondary migration has no impact on the employment but there are statistically significant negative wage effects on the low-skilled and less-experienced workers.

Assessing the Civil Society’s Role in Refugee Integration in Turkey: NGO-R as a New Typology

AbstractAfter the Syrian refugee influx in Turkey, the aspect of civil society in integration needs further clarification and categorization. Therefore, in this study, we aim to develop a general typology of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that are active in immigration and immigration-related areas (NGO-R; non-governmental organizations—refugees). Our findings show that NGO-Rs play crucial roles in helping the refugees to access the rights provided by state, in integrating them into society at the local level by creating new social spaces and in sending humanitarian aid to the people of concern in Syria. Additionally, we claim that the refugee crisis facilitated the opportunities both for active citizenship as demanded and for new mobilization to manage the humanitarian and integration assistance towards the Syrians. Lastly, our fieldwork shows that religious and belief motives are the main factors playing a large part in the creation and maintenance of the NGO-R activities and refugee community organizations (RCOs) can have a distinctive integrative function by preferring to stay outside the mainstream channels.

A Synopsis of the Jordanian Governance System in the Management of the Syrian Refugee Crisis

ABSTRACTThe number of refugees all over the world has steadily increased – reaching around 65.6 million by the end of 2017 – which requires that international laws legalize and institutionalize their existence, define the roles and responsibilities of receiving states, and ensure sufficient humanitarian, social and economic support for vulnerable forcibly displaced people (UNHCR 2017). Yet, receiving states are varied in their legal maneuvers, institutional schemes and polices approaches to handle the sudden inflow of refugees. This article reviews key legal bases for dealing with the influx of Syrian refugees in Jordan. It outlines an institutional framework for managing the sudden influx of refugees by considering the main entities that share the responsibility for managing humanitarian entrants. This paper describes the Jordanian policies used to respond to the Syrian refugee crisis. It also discusses the conditions that led to the formulation of these policies, and triggered the acceptance of the refugee policies in the national framework aimed at alleviating refugees’ suffering and softening the repercussions of their entry on host communities.

Syrian Refugees’ Children Instructional Challenges and Solutions in Jordan: Teachers’ and Parents’ Perspectives

As a neighboring country to Syria, Jordan received a large influx of Syrian refugees whose children’s education has been a huge challenge to the Jordaninan educational system. The present qualitative study investigates the educational challenges Syrian refugee children faced with possible solutions to overcome them. Therefore, a conveniently selected sample of twenty four participants (twelve Syrian refugee teachers and twelve Syrian refugee parents) filled out an open questionnaire on Syrian refugee students’ instructional challenges, the reasons for such challenges and the solutions to surmount them. The major challenges, according to Syrian refugees’ teachers, revolved around lack of achievement among refugee children, lack of devotion to school learning responsibilities, insufficient refugee teacher training, refugee children’s behavioral difficulties and overcrowded classrooms. According to Syrian refugee parents, most of these challenges encompassed deterioration in instructional achievement, lack of school assignments, carelessness to achieve well in Match and English, lack of high qualifications among refugee parents, difference in interest in French in Syria and English in Jordan, violent behaviors among refugee children because of the war situation and absence of one of their parents. Other challenges included vague attitudes towards learning, lack of concentration in exams, quick irritation, stubbornness, negative attitude toward schooling, mis-behaviors by classmates and difference between school and home instruction. Most of the reasons for such challenges belonged to the war condition and the psychological traumas and social circumstances of refugee children. Recommended proposals embodied strengthening school/parents communication, training refugee teachers and tackling refugee children’s psychological problems.