World leaders must resolve Syrian conflict
It’s often hard to get our heads around figures past a certain threshold. 30 billion Whatsapp messages sent every day. £90 million for a Premier League footballer. 60 million people displaced by conflict globally. These numbers are so large they mean almost nothing. And why should they? They are vague and distant and have little relation to daily life.
One figure that isn’t hard to get our heads around is five. War in Syria has been ongoing now for five years. That’s longer than World War I and gaining fast on World War II. In those years, a host of vast and ambiguous figures have come pouring out of the now ravaged country; 470,000 people reported dead; 12 million people displaced; and 4.7 million Syrian refugees. These numbers are vast but they can’t be dismissed.
What's more, it’s not just the numbers that sound foreign and confusing.
We have heard new words, places and names repeated on reports and news bulletins. Barrel bombs, ISIS, Daesh, Assad, Kurds, Caliphate, Homs and Aleppo have become part of standard conversation on Syria. Words that can carry as much horror for those who truly know their meaning as the figures they are a part of.
Like so many countries that violently command our attention, western knowledge of Syria was sparse before the conflict. Often described as a beating heart of Arabian culture and character, the Mediterranean state has been all but wiped of its rich and distinct identity.
In its place, a new Syrian identity has emerged among a myriad contradictory and perplexing myths, misinformation and truths. It took Europe and the West too long to sit up and pay attention but, as with many humanitarian crises, time and escalation has forced response. When the number of Syrians arriving on European shores exploded last year, Syrian identity evoked empathy, welcoming hearts and open minds. As numbers continued to swell, this became shrouded in negative stereotypes and fearmongering. What started as another chapter in the Arab Spring has descended into a devastating civil war. Like Yemen, Libya and Egypt before it, the revolt which once brought such hope to millions has left already fragile institutions and societies smouldering. Syrians have seen their homes destroyed, families tortured and killed and their once proud identity go up in smoke.
Syrians fleeing war now find themselves accused of terrorist attacks and of carrying out the atrocities they flee. The response of European states has been mostly characterised by hostility and force. Fences, tear gas, riot police and NATO warships have met refugees seeking sanctuary.
One exception is the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. It can fairly be said that she failed to assemble a sufficient coalition of domestic and international allies before deciding upon her open-borders policy. Without support, she has proven a beacon of hope for refugees fleeing their homeland. European leaders can learn a lot.
European leaders must follow through, and expand upon, commitments to take in more refugees under relocation and resettlement programmes. This would a positive response but by no means a definitive one.
First and foremost, humanitarian supply routes have to be protected. One reality of the Syrian war is that humanitarian organisations working on the ground are no longer just a legitimate target, but a preferred one. While organisations like GOAL act as a barrier to depopulation and control, the bullseye is planted firmly on our supply routes, kitchens and employees.
Secondly, reading the papers and listening to news coverage of the conflict, we would be forgiven for thinking there are no routes to peace. This is simply untrue. Intervention must come from the UN Security Council. Otherwise, people will keep dying.
With imprecise rockets, unguided bombs and mass killings the norm, there is no safety or reality of security in Syria. Over 1 in 10 Syrians has been wounded or killed since the conflict began. Over 330 attacks on medical facilities. Life expectancy has dropped from 71 in 2010 to 55 in 2015.
These numbers are horrific yet here at GOAL, we like to focus on different figures.
With over 400 staff in-country, GOAL has several large scale programmes targeting the most vulnerable people within Syria with food assistance and safe water initiatives. Our current projects have benefitted over two million people in total.
That makes this is the largest programme in our history.
Two million is also a very large figure but for everyone at GOAL, it is familiar and clear. It is a critical part of what we work on every day and we are very proud of it. Figures like this won't end the conflict. That outcome has to come from European leaders alongside the United Nations Security Council.
The ultimate question remains; what number will ultimately define this conflict? The number of deaths? The number of refugees taken in by European countries? The number of years fighting eventually lasts for? Five years is long enough. Any longer and we might not be able to get our heads around it.
- Barry Andrews is CEO of GOAL. www.goalglobal.org