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The Syrian tragedy

. Une fillette blessée par une bombe à Damas le 26.10.2012. Galerie de FreeDomhouse. (CC BY 2.0)

Une fillette blessée lors d’un bombardement à Damas le 26.10.2012. Galerie de FreeDomhouse. (CC BY 2.0)

When will this massacre in Syria stop? When will justice finally take place? These questions are essential to answer in the Syrian case as quickly as possible. After more than two years of planned and intentional massacres, every conscious being in the world should feel this real tragedy, and speak up to demand the end of the killing of Syrians now.

In fact, the Syrians are not insects or animals. They are a live nation, and have a great history of prosperity, urbanization and freedom. Naturally, influenced by the butterfly effect of the arabic spring, the Syrian people dared to break the wall of silence, and they went out to ask only for their humanity back, after decades of oppression and humiliation. They demonstrated unarmed for more than one year, accepting all kinds of violence and intimidation peacefully. The right to defend one’s life is what forced them to start pointing their primitive weapons against the regime’s wild troops which were intentionally shooting with the aim to kill, not to intimidate.

History repeats itself often, so I am afraid to reach a point where all of us regret that we did not intervene forcefully to stop this massacre earlier. Look back to early history, and try to remind yourself about all the famous massacres or genocides in the long history of our strange humanity. You will figure out that everything happened due to ignorance and lack of interest or action. Then, what was the conclusion!? It was literally a disaster, a real one! So do we have to reach in Syria the level of Holocaust or the Rwandese genocide to drag the international community’s attention to act? Usually, they offer us the warm speeches and the nice words about the sympathy and the humanitarian help, but it is not enough at all. It needs a strong will and decisive intervention to solve it now. To be honest, I will be always confused and astonished by the different standards that people apply all over world!

The course of events in Syria, and since the beginning of the revolution in particular, has declined, although the situation has not reached the bottom yet. So it is not hard to understand that the events in Syria are expected to get worse, and the whole country is exposed to more destruction. This is highly dangerous, and will lead to a series of painful results in the coming future. Those results will affect the human being who is the most important element in this complicated equation, and will destroy the country’s normal structure, which will make it a real struggle for Syrian society to get back soon to normality after the end of these miserable circumstances. Furthermore, the surrounding region will be badly affected for sure. The area is complex and entangled in a lot of issues: ethnic origins, religions, economy…etc. Also, we have to take into consideration the number of the refugees who fled out to the surrounding countries, and their effect demographically and economically on these countries with time.

In the Syrian case, the international community doesn’t deal with a variation in the viewpoints between the two parties. The story is even more complicated. There is a regime that kills its people, and on the other hand, there are rebellious people seeking freedom and dignity. There is a system that uses all its forces, which were supposed to be at the Syrian’s service, to smash the unarmed people who are still begging for help from the international community, and actually what has been done yet remains minor. Unfortunately, we all know the dark side of history, when the international community neglected many massacres under many pretexts and then was forced to interfere, but it was always so late. This is what it seems will happen in the tragedy in Syria too. What a pity!

Orwa Al-Hussein

Member de la redaction valaisanne de Voix d’Exils




Syrian refugees : the suffering continues

Le foyer d'hébergement pour requérants d'asile La Pinède, à Conthey Valais, sous la neige. Photo: Voix d'Exils

Le foyer d’hébergement pour requérants d’asile La Pinède, à Conthey en Valais, sous la neige. Photo: Voix d’Exils

In the past two years, a lucky number of refugees from Syria were able to escape from the horrific conditions in the war torn nation. Most of the refugees ended up in countries like Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and  some hundreds made it to Europe. In January 2013, Turkey is having 150’000 registered refugees followed closely by Jordan and Lebanon.

In the first week of January 2013, the temperatures of Middle East started to fall, and, in the second week, it started snowing and raining heavily and this has added another stress on the already stressed refugees in camps made out of tents with not proper winter clothing. Images of shaking bare-footed children walking on snow and water in refugee camps give the real conditions and suffering happening to those who have been able to flee the two years old war.

In September of 2012, the United Nation ambassador Angelina Jolie visited a camp in Jordan and the journalist’s cameras that followed her, as a renowned actress and movie director, informed more to the world about the suffering of Syrian refugees. In one of her press briefings, she said “the amount of innocent children that have been reported dead, the amount of innocent children I’ve met here who are wounded and unaccompanied – with their parents being killed and now they’re on their own – it’s impossible to imagine any mother standing by and not stepping up and doing something to prevent this » Such words from someone who visited the camps reflect the situation that needs not only to be aware of but to be acted on.

The Syrian refugees face not only cold and poor housing but also the camps in Turkey near the border with Syria have faced fire outbreaks leading to loss of lives. There are efforts by the United Nation Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Red Cross to provide what they can. Many children, especially those who were injured during the war, still need better medical care and feeding.

A few months ago, when I wrote my impressions on Switzerland, I included the challenges of my first winter and then the proper housing given to refugees. Now, on looking at what is taking place with the unfortunate Syrians, who are sleeping in unheated tents with hardly nothing to cover them, I come to appreciate more the unending efforts of the Swiss towards the refugee care.

In Switzerland, during the first 6 months of 2012, 777 Syrian refugees applied for asylum. In September, 36 refugees arrived in Bern and were granted asylum and resident permits immediately. With changes on Immigration laws in Switzerland, the Syrian Refugees have to be directly recommended by the UNHCR to confirm their vulnerable conditions.

With Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, swearing to continue fighting what he called terrorists, and the rebels also determined to overthrow him, it seems the world is going to continue watching refugees running out of their country to save their lives.

Marcus

Membre de la rédaction valaisanne de Voix d’Exils