...Solving the Syrian Refugee Crisis A Refugee is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as “a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster”. The Syrian refugee crisis has become a consistent cause for concern for the international community, resulting in the highest influx of refugees in Europe since the second world-war. To some people this crisis may seem a relatively new phenomenon, however in actual fact it has been ongoing for the past five years. The war in Syria commenced on the 15th of March 2011, as a result of the conflict between the Syrian government, led by the Al-Assad family and the pursuit of the Syrian people for democracy. In critically analysing the statement ‘Solving the Syrian Refugee Crisis’, a noticeable bias becomes directly apparent in the use of the word ‘solving’. Solving an issue refers to finding an answer to, explanation for, or a way of dealing with a problem. This would suggest there are approaches that could be taken to help the Syrian people. Therefore, this essay will discuss the evolution of the Syrian refugee crisis, current control measures in place, and possible suggestions which I feel would significantly help in resolving this crisis. Since March 2011, the Syrian civil war has inflicted great human casualty with over 240,000 people killed, 7.6 million people internally displaced and approximately half of the pre-war population in need of urgent assistance (Jonson, 2015). The Syrian civil...
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...The Refugee Crisis Essay The meaning of the phrase ´´refugee crisis´´ can be difficult to grasp until all photographs of dead toddlers, desperate families crowded at train stations and children sleeping on sidewalks are seen. Thousands of desperate people are daily fleeing from their home countries because of war, persecution and oppression. Many head for Europe which makes the crisis there grow bigger and appear more acute. The main cause of this crisis by far is the war in Syria as well as civil unrest in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. The refugee crisis is a bleeding wound that must be treated. However it´s easier said that done. The anti-refugee politics in western and several other wealthy countries have increased drastically. The wealthy countries that are best suited to taking in refugees are opposed to the idea and its effects. Several wealthy countries have discouraged refugees and actively worked to prevent them from reaching their shores. The attitude of such countries has contributed to the crisis growing out of control. However in order to solve the refugee crisis, all EU member states must take their fare share of responsibility! EU states must simply stop acting as if the refugee crisis on the Mediterranean is a sole responsibility of Europe´s littoral countries. If the refugee crisis was just a question of money it would probably have been easier to solve, but it is not. It´s rather a question of overcoming anti-refugee policies and right-wing populism...
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...Special Political and Decolonization Berkeley Model United Nations S I X T Y - T H I R D III S E S S I O N Gabby Armato Gloria Cheung Adam Yankelevits Robert Purviance ! ! ! ! ! Table of Contents South Sudan Topic Background Past International Involvement and Attempted Solutions Case Studies 1 | Sudan 2 | China Questions to Consider Works Cited Palestinian Refugees Topic Background Past International Involvement and Attempted Solutions Case Studies 1 | United States 2 | Jordan Questions to Consider Works Cited ! ! 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 6 7 7 8 9 9 9 10 11 ! ! 1 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! South Sudan Topic Background It has been slightly over three years since this fledgling nation seceded from Sudan in July 2011. Now the country is fraught with a major political upheaval, a debilitating famine, a declining economy, and an impending civil war ripe with ethnic tension. The South Sudanese political and social schism erupted after President Salva Kiir began to crackdown on the supporters of his rival, former Vice President Riek Machard. Mr. Machard attempted a coup to overthrow the President shortly after Mr. Kiir dismissed the entirety of his government due to suspicion that they were plotting to overthrow his regime. The conflict boiled over and turned violent between the feuding army factions on December 15th 2013. The political struggle between these two factions quickly escalated into a full-scale ethnic conflict and has created a violent schism within...
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...but also for meeting a wide range of international development goals. Empowered women and girls contribute to the health and productivity of their families, communities, and countries, creating a ripple effect that benefits everyone. The word gender describes the socially-constructed roles and responsibilities that societies consider appropriate for men and women.17 Gender equality means that men and women have equal power and equal opportunities for financial independence, education, and personal development 3 . Women's empowerment is a critical aspect of achieving gender equality. It includes increasing a woman's sense of self-worth, her decision-making power, her access to opportunities and resources, her power and control over her own life inside and outside the home, and her ability to effect change.4 Yet gender issues are not focused on women alone, but on the relationship between men and women in society.5 The actions and attitudes of men and boys play an essential role in achieving gender equality.6 Education is a key area of focus. Although the world is making progress in achieving gender parity in education, girls still make up a higher percentage of out-of-school children than boys.7 Approximately one quarter of girls in the developing world do not attend school.8 Typically, families with limited means who cannot afford costs...
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...Field Visit Report A. Date & Location Date of Visit: 21-22/01/2013 Objectives of the field visit: Location of Visit: New Damietta Methodology: 1. Needs assessment for WFP food distributions 2. Discussion with refugees about main Home visits Individual Meetings Focus Group Discussion protection and assistance needs B. Delegation Name Mr. Wahid Benamor Ms. Mirvette Abedrabbo Ms. Marwa Mostafa Mr. Khaled Chatila I) Title Organisation Head of UNHCR Zamalek Office Community Services Officer Registration Associate Programme Officer UNHCR UNHCR UNHCR WFP Main Findings: Objective 1: Needs Assessment for WFP Food Distribution: 1. Hyper market management is fine with all clauses of WFP draft contract; the Finance manager agreed to sign the contract on Sunday 27th January at WFP office in Cairo. Hyper Finance manager confirmed his readiness to start receiving Syrian Refugees in the store from the 1st of February 2013. 2. Five WFP checklists for the rapid assessment of food security of Syrian asylum seekers in new Damietta have been completed during the mission. Data will be processed and results will be shared with all concerned parties; 3. UNHCR confirmed that the list of Syrian Asylum seekers that they shared with WFP in New Damietta is the final one. Objective 2: Discussion with refugees about main protection and assistance needs: Below are the results from 3 home visits, Individual Interviews and the Focus Group Discussion: 1. The number of families in New Damietta...
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...Military Action in Syria? Syria, a country in the Middle East bordering Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon has experienced growing civil unrest since 2011. The current government, led by Bashar al-Assad, has responded with violence and human rights abuses. In September 2013 the United Nations (UN) (United Nations, 2013) confirmed chemical weapons were used against civilians in Damascus on August 21st. These actions have generated an outcry for intervention. Arguments Some believe taking action is the only way to stop the killing of civilians and end human rights abuses perpetrated by the military. These pro-interventionists conclude Assad continues his oppressive actions because he doesn’t believe anyone will take action to stop him. Assaults on Syrian civilians are documented by many sources. Since January 2011 it is estimated over 100,000 citizens protesting against the Assad regime have been killed by military forces (Table, 2013). A report commissioned by the UN in June 2013 estimated 5,000 were killed each month since July 2012. This number exceeds reported deaths in Iraq at the height of war in 2007. In a September 2011 report many atrocities against children were documented. Over a hundred children were killed in connection with protests, many others reported injured. A group of children in the town of Dara’a, as young as 8, were taken into custody in connection with anti-government graffiti on a schoolhouse wall. These children were still unaccounted...
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...struggles and wars of all kinds. As a result of this never-ending, widespread violence and corruption, we are also living in a world of refugees. According to the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees: a refugee is a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country (Refugee, 2008). The current crisis of refugees around the world is overlooked by average, first world citizens every day. The topic of refugees, besides bringing up obvious issues of human rights, also involves numerous other global issues and raises countless questions. In this paper, we will discuss issues revolving around the history of refugees, refugee warehousing and its alternatives, as well as three individual case studies of current refugee crises around the world and how they connect to other global issues. Refugees were first defined and acknowledged as a legal group in the aftermath of World War II, due to the vast number of people fleeing Eastern Europe (Refugee, 2008). While it is clearly impossible to account for all of the world’s refugees, when this estimate is combined with the staggering number of world wide internally displaced persons (IDPs), or “people forced to flee their homes but who...
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...who are a fifth of all the Muslims. Such oppositions had already been observed in the history of Islamic schism (Lister, 2014). ISIS ideological appeal has worked in its favor to recruit its fighters all over the world. The strategy has also resulted to some supports from Muslim countries such as Pakistan. Nonetheless, the group has unspeakable violence majorly directed to Christians and the Shias. This paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the Islamic State regarding its evolution, modus operandi in terms of its operations and recruitment. The paper then assesses the impacts and threats of the group not only in the Middle East, but also world-wide. Literature Review The Islamic State has made great advances in both Iraq and Syria. It has captured significant cities, military armaments, weapons and oil refineries. With the recent proves that it is capable of being a sub-state actor, the terror group places a critical challenge to the stability of the Middle East and of the world in general (Tucker, 2014). The Islamic State (IS) has a goal to establish a transitional Islamic state...
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...States 1 Caught in a meager, anonymous space outside a drab Arab city, outside a refugee camp, outside the crushing time of one disaster after another, a wedding party stands, surprised, sad, slightly uncomfortable. Palestinians — the telltale mixture of styles and attitudes is so evidently theirs — near Tripoli in northern Lebanon. A few months after this picture was taken their camp was ravaged by intra-Palestinian fighting. Cutting across the wedding party’s path here is the ever-present Mercedes, emblazoned with its extra mark of authenticity, the proud D for Deutschland. A rare luxury in the West, the Mercedes — usually secondhand and smuggled in — is the commonest of cars in the Levant. It has become what horse, mule, and camel were, and then much more. Universal taxi, it is a symbol of modern technology domesticated, of the intrusion of the West into traditional life, of illicit trade. More important, the Mercedes is the all-purpose conveyance, something one uses for everything — funerals, weddings, births, proud display, leaving home, coming home, fixing, stealing, reselling, running away in, hiding in. But because Palestinians have no state of their own to shield them, the Mercedes, its provenance and destination obscure, seems like an intruder, a delegate of the forces that both dislocate and hem them in. “The earth is closing on us, pushing us through the last passage,” writes the poet Mahmoud Darwish. Tripoli, Badawi camp, May 1983. 2 The paradox of mobility...
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...That means that the international legal status of “refugee” is given by the Turkish Republic to those who come from European countries due to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. (UNHCR...
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...4,607 11,084 74 92,301 stores millions of euros in sales countries with sales presence employees A nnual Report 2009 6 14 16 Global Reporting Initiative Indicators Letter from the Chairman Inditex business model 18 IP 53 IC 54 Inditex Commitment 163 Inditex Performance 20 26 28 46 Summary of 2009 financial year Milestones for the year Commercial concepts International presence 56 66 124 136 Customers, shareholders and society Corporate Social Responsibility Human Resources Environmental dimension 4 Inditex Annual Report 2009 164 LD 309 Legal Documentation 167 233 296 303 Economic and financial report Corporate governance report Activities Report Audit and Control Committee Activities Report Nomination And Remuneration Committee 308 Verification of the audit of GRI indicators 5 G lobal Reporting Initiative Indicators in 2002. Using this guide, Inditex With transparency as the fundamental principle in its relationship with society, Inditex has followed the Global Reporting Initiative indicators since it published its first Sustainability Report attempts to provide detailed, organised access to the information on its activity to all its stakeholders. Within the general indicators, specific indicators for the textile and footwear sector have been included, identified in the following way: Specific indicator for the sector Specific indicator comment for the sector 6 Inditex Annual Report...
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...to develop, or to with ease set up a symbolic superiority, a nation’s use of military actions performs an primary function within the definition of that nation’s identification. Whatever the marketed purpose of a war, nonetheless, it is finally a social occasion that regularly allows for the dying and suffering of each warring parties and civilians and for the exploitation of thousands of men and women, children and adults on a grand scale. The chaos and turmoil of wartime seems to carry out the worst qualities in human beings. In an article published in the University of St. Thomas Law Journal it highlights that a major tenet of the laws of war is that “civilians, and women and children in particular, are to be protected from the trials and suffering of war to the fullest extent possible”. Therefore, it is ultimately the task of each military and its members to make sure their behaviors are consistent with the specifications in International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Even though the complete avoidance of civilian deaths and suffering is not realistic, it is the responsibility of an armed force to not intentionally target civilians and to consider operations in terms of the concepts of distinction, military necessity and proportionality. By their very nature and status, civilians are vulnerable to the atrocities of war, but that vulnerability should never be taken advantage of by offering as an excuse the argument that in times of conflict, no one is safe and suffering must be...
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...Armed Conflict in Syria: Background and U.S. Response Jeremy M. Sharp Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs Christopher M. Blanchard Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs September 6, 2013 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RL33487 Armed Conflict in Syria: Background and U.S. Response Summary The popular-uprising-turned-armed-rebellion in Syria is in its third year, and seems poised to continue, with the government and an array of militias locked in a bloody struggle of attrition. Members of Congress and Administration officials are debating options for responding militarily to President Bashar al Asad’s forces’ reported use of chemical weapons in attacks on rebel-held areas and civilians. After the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Asad’s forces used weapons in limited attacks earlier this year, the Obama Administration had signaled a pending expansion of U.S. civilian and military assistance to the opposition. Earlier in the conflict, U.S. officials and many analysts asserted that President Asad and his supporters would be forced from power, but had difficulty articulating how that outcome would take place within the timeframes they set forth. Recent developments suggest that both the opposition and the Asad regime face considerable challenges in their attempts to assert greater control over Syria. Increasingly, analysts have focused on the potential for the regime and its opponents to carve out strongholds and prolong the fighting. Rapid escalation...
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...Food, Nutrition and Poverty Among Asylum-Seekers in North-West Ireland Mary Manandhar, Michelle Share, Sharon Friel, Orla Walsh, Fiona Hardy Combat Poverty Agency Working Paper Series 06/01 ISBN: 1-90548-512-3 May 2006 FOOD, NUTRITION AND POVERTY AMONG ASYLUM-SEEKERS IN NORTH-WEST IRELAND A collaborative study by the Health Service Executive – North Western Area and the Centre for Health Promotion Studies, National University of Ireland, Galway. With funding from Combat Poverty Agency Report authors: M Manandhar, M Share, S Friel, O Walsh and F Hardy (2006) FOOD, NUTRITION AND POVERTY AMONG ASYLUM-SEEKERS IN NORTH-WEST IRELAND Research Team Members HSE Western Area National University of Ireland, Galway (formerly North Western Health Board) Dr Mary Manandhar Senior Research Officer Public Health Department Dr Sharon Friel Lecturer Centre for Health Promotion Studies Ms Michelle Share Senior Research Officer Public Health Department Ms Orla Walsh Researcher Centre for Health Promotion Studies Dr Fiona Hardy Regional Coordinator for Services for Asylum Seekers and Refugees Ms. Theresa Shyrane Community Health Adviser Community Services, County Donegal March 2006 Food, nutrition and poverty among asylum seekers in NW Ireland Manandhar et al. Contents Page List of Tables List of Figures Abstract Executive Summary Introduction 1 1 5 1.1 Rationale and aims of the research 6 ...
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...The Arab – Israeli Conflict: Peace Building Learning Institution Student Name Introduction The Arab-Israeli conflict is not a single conflict especially when analyzing and evaluating movements towards new forms of behavior in a given conflict system (Bar-Siman-Tov, 2013: 1). The United States played in a key role in the encouragement of a creation of a conflict management framework that could be applied. It was realized that there would be a need for a further and deeper learning process to enable conflict resolution (Bar-Siman-Tov, 2013: 1). As an intrastate conflict, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict should be seen above all as a major human problem involving approximately 3 million people who have been systematically deprived of their individual freedoms and right of self-determination through nearly three decades of military occupation (Kaufman, 2012: par 5). The decision to form a truth and reconciliation commission can drastically affect the future of a society recovering from a traumatic past (Coleman, 2013: par 7). He specific conditions of the nation, culture and peoples involved must be considered carefully before deciding to form a truth and reconciliation commission (Coleman, 2013: par 3). Societies emerging from violent conflict or oppressive regime often find it difficult t recover, build a future, and prevent themselves from falling into the conflict trap (Committee, 2011: par 4).The core pillars of transitional justice are truth seeking...
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