The recent G-20 summit in Turkey had as a central part of its discussion the Syrian refugee crisis and the effect of the Paris terrorist attacks on that crisis. This comes at a time when the general consensus is that the crisis has reached a point that is nearly impossible to manage. One humanitarian relief worker writes in the Guardian,
After five years of war, it is hard to imagine that the conditions in Syria could get any worse, but they have. Every time we think we’ve seen it all, the conflict takes another turn and surprises us … They have lived through several years of conflict, but the possibility of a siege is starting to very much wear on them. Intensified fighting and airstrikes in and around Aleppo have cut off the main – and most direct – humanitarian route from the north. We are able to access the city through another route for now, but that road is unreliable and risky. The whole area has been under attack for several days so safe spaces or places for people to go are very limited. Over the past year, we’ve seen a drastic reduction in areas where innocent civilians can be safe from the conflict. From a humanitarian standpoint, we are concerned about the shrinking of safe spaces for civilians.

…

What so often gets lost in media coverage of these issues are the historic dimension, the real challenges to human rights and humanitarian work, and the human dimension outside of a few sensationalistic and soon forgotten images and sound bites. To get some of this sort of information out to the public, I spoke with Mirte Postema, a fellow at the Stanford Human Rights Center of Stanford Law School.

We have heard a lot about this catastrophe. Could you start by telling us about what’s really new about the situation right now and what’s most urgent. Perhaps explain the exact dimensions of the problem?

First of all, I think it’s important to note that the issues regarding refugees and displaced people are not new; there has been a global crisis for decades. But what’s new is that there’s been a huge growth in the number of refugees recently, and they are coming into Europe. It’s a mistake to call it a “European crisis,” though. This is clearly a Syrian crisis that has ramifications in Europe.

The definition of a “refugee” is someone who has been forced to leave his or her country out of fear of being persecuted or because of hostility. And to give you an idea of the magnitude of the refugee crisis: In 2015, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said, based on data from 2014, that there are nearly 60 million displaced people worldwide. Of those 60 million, about 15 million are refugees. This number has increased enormously since 2011, when there were 10.5 million refugees. And according to UNHCR, the Syria crisis has been the main source of that increase of 4.5 million people: 4 million of those are fleeing hostilities in Syria.

The huge increase of refugees coming out of Syria has been really troubling. But at the same time it’s very important to note that the conflict started in 2011—this is not something that happened yesterday. And even before that, there were a lot of refugees in the region, for example, people leaving Iraq and going to Lebanon, going to Jordan, going to Syria as well.

So countries in the region have hosted, and have continued to host, a large number of refugees. In places like Jordan and Lebanon, sometimes 25 to 30 percent of their populations are refugees. So this is a huge displacement of people. And I think the concerning thing is that the situation only seems to be getting worse. There have been huge surges, around mid-2013, and now mid-2015; in the last year over a million people left Syria for Europe. And in January alone over 60,000 people left, so it’s not looking like this is getting any better.

There has been a lot of controversy about nomenclature. Many have asked why is the press calling these people “migrants” and not “refugees.” Can you explain the difference between the two terms? What sorts of legal and policy issues come forth when we speak of one rather than the other?

“Migrant” is a more general term. It’s basically anyone who is leaving his or her country for whatever reason. A refugee is leaving out of fear for their physical well-being. As a consequence, there are protections for refugees—these are people that perhaps don’t want to leave but see no other possibility. The convention that protects refugees is the United Nations Refugee Convention, which was adopted in 1951.

And the U.S. acceded to the Convention, so it’s fully applicable here. The norms of that Convention contain three very important principles. One is non-discrimination–you can’t treat refugees differently. All kinds of provisions that you offer to nationals–such as housing and primary education–you need to offer to people that have forcibly had to leave their country.

Another one is non-penalization: The act of migrating, of leaving your country, should not be punishable. Obviously, we’re seeing things in Europe that are not in accordance of that.

And then there is another one, which is called “non-refoulement.” This means that you cannot send a person back to a country where his or her life may be in danger. It’s absolutely, absolutely prohibited.

Read More