Who Rescues the Rescuers: UN Humanitarian Agencies in Crisis

Faced by a staggering multiplicity of humanitarian crises ranging from Syria and Yemen to Iraq and South Sudan, the humanitarian community is in a crisis of its own. But more funding can make a big difference. It will not fix Syria, but it will allow UNHCR to maintain more refugee facilities and provide people with security and better overall living conditions, especially seeing that the war in Syria rages on and some camps like Zaatari are gradually evolving into permanent settlements.

As EU leaders find themselves hard-pressed to implement a quota system to resettle refugees flooding to the Union’s borders, the search for long-term sustainable solutions to the crisis continues. On September 14^th, British Prime Minister David Cameron visited a camp run by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in eastern Lebanon just a stone’s throw away from the Syrian border. He subsequently announced Britain would offer more support to Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan bearing the brunt of the Syrian civil war, as well as donate a further $152m to UNCHR and the World Food Program (WFP). On September 23^rd, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made an unorthodox announcement of his own. Hungary proposed that the 28 EU member countries create a special fund to ameliorate living conditions in the overpopulated refugee camps around Syria.

It appears that these proposals have not fallen on deaf ears. In the early hours of the morning on September 24^th, EU leaders pledged to donate at least another $1bn to UN humanitarian agencies and provide additional support to refugee-hosting countries. The EU agenda is grounded in national security concerns that aim to bolster European border security by funding humanitarian efforts while also discouraging refugees from braving the perilous way to Europe. And yet, this initiative should be seen through for broader reasons, too, as it offers a chance to address one of the root causes of mass migration towards Europe’s shores.

According to Eurostat, in 2014 the world had over 14 million refugees. The root of the refugee problem is conflict. Violence and war cause people to flee their homes and search for safety elsewhere. The most recent flashpoint in the refugee crisis has been the civil war in Syria, which has produced over 3 million refugees and displaced over 6.5 million inside the country itself. Syrians normally flee to Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, where they form a hefty demographic. In early 2015 there were 622,000 Syrian refugees registered in Jordan, over 1.1 million in Lebanon, and another million in Turkey. 

In these countries refugees stay in rented housing, with the local communities, in informal tented settlements or makeshift UN-run camps. The camps are supposed to provide refugees with protection, counseling, schooling, basic food, and water. And yet, the living conditions in these camps are rarely anything other than dehumanizing. The infamous Zaatari camp, a veritable tent city and one of the biggest camps hosting over 85,000, is located in the middle of the scorching Jordanian desert. With strictly limited food and water, poor access to healthcare, rising lawlessness and insecurity, staying there is a measure of last resort.

Those refugees living outside of the camps are barely faring any better, likewise faced with insecurity and resentment. In Lebanon, a country of only 4.5 million, Syrian refugees form a quarter of its overall population, in addition to another 450,000 Palestinian refugees living in the country. It is now the country with the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world, which puts a colossal strain on communal infrastructure. Not only are water, electricity, and waste management systems breaking down, but also refugees are resented and targeted in attacks. As a result, Syrian youth are becoming increasingly disaffected and radicalized, forming bonds with radical elements in Palestinian refugee camps and falling victim to extremist propaganda. Add this to the general Lebanese political paralysis, deep sectarian divisions, the disintegration of the armed forces, as well as looming ISIS presence at its borders, and you have got a ticking time bomb on your hands. All things considered, it is unsurprising that refugees leave their host countries and choose the long walk to Europe.

But why is the situation so dire? Largely because the UN agencies charged with maintaining the camps and caring for the refugees remain severely underfunded and on the brink of bankruptcy. With more and more people displaced on a daily basis with every year, the budget of UNCHR only continues to shrink. Antònio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees, has recently said that his agency’s income in 2015 would be 10% less than in 2014. Even though member states pay the UN its regular budget, agencies like UNHCR or UNICEF have to survive on voluntary donations that are often tied to particular projects and cannot be spent on projects and crises as they inevitably arise. The statistics of the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Activities (OCHA) shows that out of the $19.52bn required for the 2015 response plan only $8.08bn have been raised so far. According to the Guardian, the Syria regional response plan lacks 65% of the required $1.3bn, while the World Food Program has recently had to cut rations to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.

Faced by a staggering multiplicity of humanitarian crises ranging from Syria and Yemen to Iraq and South Sudan, the humanitarian community is in a crisis of its own. But more funding can make a big difference. It will not fix Syria, but it will allow UNHCR to maintain more refugee facilities and provide people with security and better overall living conditions, especially seeing that the war in Syria rages on and some camps like Zaatari are gradually evolving into permanent settlements.

The EU pledges to UN humanitarian agencies have been long overdue and should be fulfilled to the fullest extent. Lest we forget the tragic irony that the UNHCR was founded to help displaced Europeans in the first place.