Syrian Displacement Research Articles

The Other Side of the Border

Abstract In the wake of the Syrian uprising in 2011, Syrian dissidents in Lebanon cultivated their revolutionary commitment with the support of Lebanese communities. This political solidarity morphed into humanitarian care toward wounded and displaced Syrians in response to the emergency created by the war. With the mutations of the war in Syria and the collapse of the revolution as a political project, these solidarities were reconfigured to tackle the everyday hardship of displacement. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Lebanon (2014–2019), the article retraces the manifold incarnations of revolutionary solidarity in Lebanon and their relation to the other side of the border. By moving away from hospitality, the article rethinks the Syrian displacement in Lebanon through the concept of solidarity and its spatial and temporal intricacies.

Beyond rights-based social protection for refugees

The use of social protection measures has garnered increasing attention in recent years from academics and policymakers aspiring to unite the humanitarian origins and development ambitions of displacement governance regimes. Much of this attention has been focused on establishing and strengthening national systems of social protection provision. Analysis of policy approaches to social protection has become increasingly detailed, but typically does not extend beyond formal rights-based provision. This article seeks to address the paucity of literature on how refugees strategise around access to social assistance beyond Northern-mandated approaches. We review existing research on Syrian displacement in Lebanon to interrogate assumptions that refugees automatically seek institutionalised assistance. Drawing on postcolonial literature, we explore why modalities of social and humanitarian assistance offered through a rights-based approach represent only a partial mapping of the social protection that refugees avail themselves of. In doing so, we signal a move beyond the narrow and restrictive binary of formal/informal and attempt to consider the range of social protection opportunities from the perspective of refugees. Though unequal, we argue that both national systems of social protection provision and alternative approaches identified by displaced people are currently necessary, although a language of rights is only applicable to the former. Ultimately, greater coordination between the two is required. In conclusion, this article describes directions for future research aimed at a holistic understanding of how social protection is accessed in displacement and a more explicit interrogation of the impact of social protection measures in displacement settings.

Displacement as Heterotopic Space: The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Jordan

ABSTRACT The idea of a sovereign territorial order dominates representations of space in International Relations through ubiquitous dichotomies such as international/domestic, inside/outside, and citizen/foreigner. Yet, phenomena of forced displacement question the perceptiveness of these binaries justifying an enquiry into the possibility of different accounts of the type of space that displacement constitutes. This essay revisits critically the Foucauldian concept of heterotopic space and proposes its redefinition. It then uses the revised concept for the reconstruction of the Syrian displacement crisis in Jordan. The objective is to show the validity of heterotopic space as a concept to represent the site that states, refugees, and international organisations constitute through their interactions in displacement response. The argument is that interpreting displacement as heterotopic space allows for a more credible representation of this phenomenon that supplants the assumptions of sovereign territoriality. This leads to an interpretation of displacement as an ‘other-space’ in its own capacity, thus offering an account that differs from displacement as liminality or as an exception to the territorial order.

Developing a sexual and reproductive health educational intervention for adolescent Syrian refugee girls: Challenges and lessons learned.

In Lebanon, a country with the highest per capita refugee population in the world, roughly one in four persons is forcibly displaced. Early marriage is highly prevalent among Syrian refugees in Lebanon and qualitative studies suggest an unmet need for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services in this community. Adolescent Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon are a vulnerable population at risk of negative SRH outcomes related to early sexual debut, which occurs primarily in the context of early marriage. Despite this need, cultural norms and gender roles generally restrict adolescent girls' access to SRH resources. To address this need for comprehensive sexuality education, our team developed a novel, rights-based, peer-led, adolescent SRH educational curriculum that is specific to the context of Syrian displacement in Lebanon. This curriculum was developed to be administered as part of Project Amenah, a community-based, multi-component intervention that aims to reduce early marriage and improve SRH among adolescent Syrian refugee girls displaced in Lebanon. The curriculum, which features eight discreet age-appropriate units, is based on extensive formative work conducted in this community, as well as adaptations of early marriage programs implemented in low-resource settings elsewhere. Topics covered include, but are not limited to, gender and human rights, communication, negotiation and decision-making, reproductive anatomy, puberty and menstruation, sexually transmitted infections, family planning and modern contraception, and adolescent pregnancy. We encountered several challenges when developing this curriculum, including those related to community acceptability, varying levels of literacy levels among participants, and limited engagement with married adolescents, who may experience mobility restrictions that preclude their participation. We recommend that investigators developing adolescent SRH interventions in similar settings utilize a behavior-determinant-intervention logic model to guide their study design, elucidate community priorities and capacity by conducting preliminary qualitative work and assembling a community advisory board, and follow a peer-led model, which has shown to be effective for adolescent SRH interventions.

Syrian Refugees’ Homemaking in Gaziantep: Uncertainty, Legality and Temporality

ABSTRACT Temporary protection has long been formulated and debated in policy circles as a practical interim response for large-scale refugee movements, awaiting durable solutions. This article critically engages with the top-down formulations of temporary protection by focusing on one of its latest and most comprehensive application in Turkey for Syrian refugees since 2011. The conceptual framework adopts a bottom-up approach in questioning how Syrian refugees interpret, conceive, and shape the category of temporary protection. By building upon empirical work conducted in the city of Gaziantep, which has become one of the important sites of refuge for Syrian refugees, and a hub for protection activities since the beginning of the Syrian displacement, this article uncovers Syrian refugees’ urges and attempts of “homemaking” in Turkey as a crucial aspect of understanding the dynamics of temporary protection. The article unpacks the interplay between the inherent uncertainties of the Turkish temporary protection regime, the legality of its Syrian beneficiaries, and homemaking practices of Syrian refugees during their protracted displacement. It concludes that it is only through a bottom-up understanding of the many dimensions of temporary protection—and its impacts on the refugees—that a truly workable framework will emerge, that focuses on protection rather than temporality.

When do refugees return home? Evidence from Syrian displacement in Mashreq

This paper provides an empirical analysis of refugee returns to Syria. Since 2011, about 5.6 million Syrians – more than a quarter of the country’s pre-conflict population – have been registered as refugees. By mid-2018, only about 1.8 percent of them had returned to Syria voluntarily. This paper compiles a novel data set with administrative data for 2 million refugees, existing and new household surveys, a new conflict-events database, and nightlights data for Syria to analyze the correlates of these returns. A reduction in conflict intensity and an increase in luminosity in Syria increase the likelihood of spontaneous return. Moreover, the patterns of who returns and when differ between high and low conflict areas of Syria. Finally, we show there is a positive association between better conditions faced by refugees in exile and the likelihood of return to Syria.

Progress of migration scholarship over 60 years of International Migration

Progress of migration scholarship over 60 years of <i>International Migration</i>

Syrian Displacement, Gender and Boundary-Making in the Turkish Borderlands

This article presents a reflexive ethnographic analysis of ‘refugee lives’ and borders and boundary-making in the Turkish borderlands. Since 2011, the humanitarian crisis as a result of the Syrian civil war, and the arrival at the European border zones of refugees crossing the Mediterranean, have occupied the news outlets of the world. Today the European Union and Turkey look for permanent ‘solutions’ and emphasize ‘integration’ as a durable response to forced migration. This essay explores reflexive dimensions of long-term-fieldwork with Syrian refugees at the Turkey-Syria border through an analysis of ethnographic encounters and the politics of belonging and place-making. Borders are often contested spaces that complicate the researcher’s positionality, which oscillates between a politically engaged subject position and the ‘stranger’ who encounters the ‘other’ and must negotiate her space. By examining the Turkish-Syrian border and Syrian refugees’ experiences in the border city of Antakya, this article offers a critical lens to view the identity and politics of the researcher and embodied geopolitics.

Entrepreneurial Systems of Syrian Refugees as Stimulators of Host Economy: Case of Ouzaii (Lebanon)

Abstract This article investigates the impact of the Syrian displacement on the economic and urban transformation in Ouzaii, a major informal settlement in the southern suburbs of Beirut that is characterised by a complex socio-political structure. It explores the potential of “entrepreneurial systems” that emerge when Syrian refugees become part of the host community and its economy. These systems include Syrian refugees as either part of the lower labour force, business owners, or entrepreneurs. The article locates these entrepreneurial systems within the spatial networks and investigates how Syrian refugees create opportunities for themselves and the host community given the specificity of the market that is subject to legal setups and mediated by the political party of Hezbollah. It uses the construct of “mixed embeddedness” by Kloosterman et al. and the notion of “quiet encroachment” by Asef Bayat to understand how the Syrian refugees were able to infiltrate into Ouzaii’s economy and become part of the “entrepreneurial systems” that stimulate the economic cycle and revitalise the urban space.

Migration Struggles along the Humanitarian Border: Syrian Displacement in Lebanon and Ways to Travel to Europe

This article explores migration struggles along Europe’s humanitarian border in the context of Syrian displacement in Lebanon. Based on ethnographic field research it traces how humanitarian government is negotiated, appropriated and resisted in the daily struggles of individuals seeking to leave the region towards Europe. In this respect it sheds light on Syrian activism in Lebanon’s humanitarian sector, strategies to get a place in a humanitarian admission programme, projects to leave the country towards Europe and decisions to stay in Lebanon. The article shows how the arbitrariness of humanitarian government is not limited to institutions or campsites but penetrates as a ruling logic the everyday of social life and contributes to zones where access to human rights is not a given, but a daily struggle.

Healing Trauma through Sport and Play? Debating Universal and Contextual Childhoods during Syrian Displacement in Lebanon

Focusing on the 2011–2014 forced migration of Syrian refugee children into northern Lebanon, this article examines the child protection strategies of two international and one local NGOs (non-governmental organisations) in the Tripoli Governorate. It explores the psychosocial care programmes and play activities that are meant to heal and integrate the refugee children. It shows how programmes for crisis-affected childhood and the sport-for-development formula predominantly remain universalised models, failing to incorporate local specificities despite increasing campaigns to promote contextualisation approaches.

The impact of externalized migration governance on Turkey: technocratic migration governance and the production of differentiated legal status

The article highlights international dimensions of the emergence and transformation of migration policies in Turkey from the early 2000s onwards, including the context of the Syrian displacement, which made Turkey the top refugee hosting country in the world. While the transformation of migration governance in Turkey has widely been discussed, the effects of externalization on Turkey have remained focused on foreign policy and Turkey-EU relations. Only recently has the research explored the socio-legal implications of migration governance in terms of the emergence of categorizations leading to differentiated inclusion of migrant groups. The article establishes the historical and conceptual link between technocratic responses to externalization dynamics and the emergence of differentiated legal status. The article argues that measures of externalization brought a technocratic approach to migration governance. As a result, the complex, controversial aspects of the externalization process, such as the production of differentiated legal statuses amongst migrant communities with protection needs, have so far been overshadowed.

Syrian Bodies, Sonic Ruptures

My audiography of the Syrian migrant crisis aims to disrupt expulsionary discourses in the West, particularly those that project Syrian bodies as undesirable. As Europe and the United States continue to contest the arrival of ‘others’ in spaces themselves contingent on the presence of out-of-place bodies, my audiographic work seeks to reorient our sensory relationship to the undesirable bodies that traverse and inhabit these spaces. The work is composed of three continuous movements: Revolution (Syria), Migration (transport hubs and routes), and Resettlement (Chicago). Together, these movements juxtapose field recordings of protests worldwide and public spaces crossed by migrants with sound media accessed by Syrian migrants via mobile phones. At once audio documentary and sound composition, my work makes audible the spatialized and embodied sensibilities of Syrian displacement in a work that critiques the resurgence of anti-immigrant sentiment and politics in the West.

TB control in humanitarian emergencies: Lessons from the Syria displacement crisis

The TB care for communities in emergency contexts satellite session at the 2017 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health discussed the impact of the Syrian displacement crisis on regional tuberculosis (TB) control. At the session, representatives of the affected countries and of international organizations reviewed the epidemiologic impact of Syrian displacement on regional TB control, as well as challenges and successes seen in TB control during this displacement. This discussion offered several lessons for TB control in other humanitarian emergencies. TB control in humanitarian emergencies requires increasing awareness of TB symptoms and services among healthcare workers and the affected populations. It also requires performing standardized symptom screening at borders or registration, while leveraging more widely available radiographic and diagnostic tools to find cases in high-burden settings that may be missed using symptom screening alone. Additionally, treatment completion rates can be maintained and improved through dedication of sufficient resources and innovative strategies to keep mobile populations on treatment. Finally, sustained commitment, including funding, from the international humanitarian community is necessary to improve TB control, and ultimately end TB, both in the Syria crisis and other humanitarian emergencies worldwide.

The Repercussions of the Syrian crisis on Tourism in Lebanon

ABSTRACT Lebanon is characterised by a touristic industry, making of it the highest touristic destination in the Arab world before 1975, the year in which Lebanon's civil war has erupted, a war from which Lebanon still suffers until now. Moreover, Lebanon suffers from internal political conflicts and the repercussions of the geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, the latest of which is the Syrian war. While the crises in Lebanon prevail- from political, security, economic, social to even environmental - Lebanese policymakers are still seeking to make out of Lebanon a country considered as a touristic one, and are working on achieving a sustainable touristic development. In this context, this study tackles the crisis that Lebanon is experiencing as a result of forced Syrian displacement into its territory, and sheds light on its negative and positive effects on Lebanese tourism. The study also aims to determine the effectiveness of sustainable tourism development in times of crisis, based on the study of Lebanese touristic data during a specific period of time.

“Standoffish” Policy-making: Inaction and Change in the Lebanese Response to the Syrian Displacement Crisis

With the largest refugee population per capita in the world, Lebanon now officially hosts at least 1.1 million Syrian refugees. Until late 2014, the Lebanese government maintained de facto open borders and little to no regulation of Syrians within its borders. This period has largely been understood as one of state absence: referred to broadly as a “policy of no-policy.” This paper looks at the way in which state inaction played a major role in structuring the responses that did emerge, both “below” and “above” the state, from local authorities and international agencies. I shed light on how indirect measures taken by the central government facilitated and encouraged greater local autonomy in governing the refugee presence. This, in turn, further decentralized and fragmented the current set of responses to the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon and legitimized discretionary action by municipal authorities.

Rethinking Borders: The Dynamics of Syrian Displacement to Lebanon

Borders and territoriality are key components of modern forms of statehood, yet their relevance appears to be challenged by interstate movements of peoples. This essay proposes a reconceptualization of borders as “thin borders” to develop an analytical framework of the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon going beyond a conventional understanding of Westphalian statehood. Looking at historical and contemporary events, the analysis highlights several transborder dynamics influencing the process of refugees’ displacement from Syria to Lebanon. It then illustrates the complex nature of borders as multilayered entities regulating the flow of people from Syria to Lebanon in a way that transcends the idea of national territoriality.

Syrians Displaced by Civil Conflict: What Are the Implications from International Law?

The Syrian civil conflict has caused approximately 2.7 million Syrians to leave their country since 2011, and double that many are expected to have fled Syria by the end of 2015. The Syrian displacement of what will be the refugee aspect of the crisis that has received very little attention: that is, the implications of international law at the international, regional and domestic level affecting the rights and status of the refugees flooding out of Syria. As it is described in this paper, countries currently hosting the vast majority of the refugee flow out of Syria are stretched to the limits of their resources. Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Turkey have huge refugee population pre-dating the Syrian Influx. Many if not most, of these preexisting refugee groups live in desperate conditions, and host countries cannot meet all the refugees’ assistance and protection needs.

الاتجاهات الوالدية في التنشئة الاجتماعية وعلاقتها بالتكيف الاجتماعي لأبناء الأسر العراقية المهجَّرة في مخيمات النزوح السورية

Abstract The research aims to identify trends in parental socialization among a sample of children in the Syrian displacement camps. And the level of social adjustment for them. The differences between the responses of the research sample on a scale trends in parental socialization depending on the research variables (length of stay in the camp, the educational level of the father, the educational level of the mother). The differences between the responses of the research sample on the social adjustment scale depending on the research variables (length of stay in the camp, the educational level of the father, the educational level of the mother). The displacement camps. The researcher used measure of trends in parental socialization and scale of social adjustment, and adopted Find the descriptive and analytical approach. The study concluded the following results: o There is a positive correlation statistically significant differences between the scores of children of displaced families in the Syrian displacement camps on a scale trends in parental socialization and their scores on the social adjustment scale. o There were statistically significant differences between the averages of individual differences Answers research sample on a scale of parental socialization trends in variable depending on the level of education of the father and the mother in favor of the children who had their parents' level of education of the owners college degree or higher. o There were statistically significant differences between the averages of individual differences Answers sample search on the social adjustment scale depending on the variable length of stay in the camp for the benefit of children who live with their families for some time (two years). o There were statistically significant differences between the averages of individual differences Answers sample search on the social adjustment scale variable depending on the level of education of the father and the mother in favor of the children who had the educational level of their parents (college degree or higher).

Precarity in Exile: The Legal Status of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

Lebanon has had an ambiguous approach to the more than one million Syrians seeking protection in the country since 2011. The country is neither party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, nor does it have any national legislation dealing with refugees. In October 2014, Lebanon’s Council of Ministers adopted the first comprehensive policy on Syrian displacement, one explicit goal of which is to decrease the number of Syrians in Lebanon by reducing access to territory and encouraging return to Syria. This ambition is currently being implemented through the December 2014 General Security Office new set of entry requirements for Syrians and new rules for Syrian nationals already in Lebanon applying for and renewing their residency permits. Building on 10 months of fieldwork in Lebanon, this article explores the legal status of Syrian refugees in Lebanon in light of the recent regulatory changes. It argues that these leave many refugees in a deeply precarious legal position, with an overwhelming majority of Syrian refugees present in Lebanon without legal status. In essence, this article argues that Syrians in Lebanon are left with two options: they either leave the country or stay and accept exploitation.