Updated 16 October 2013

Since the upsurge of the conflict in Syria (March 2011), more than 2.1 million Syrians have fled their homes only to take refuge in bordering countries or within Syria itself. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 600,000 people have escaped to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. However, the actual number of Syrian refugees in these countries seems to be much greater than the UNHCR statistics, which only record those officially registered as refugees.

At the end of 2012, a team of journalists under the umbrella of the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) at the European University Institute conducted a number of studies in partnership with local researchers.  The purpose of this study was to ‘paint a broad picture of the worst refugee crisis to affect the region in years’ and to show the ‘repercussions of this refugee crisis for both Syria’s neighbors and the European Union’.  

MPC’S FINDINGS IN LEBANON
(Source:  www.syrianrefugees.eu)

“The United Nations reports that over 200,000 Syrians are registered or awaiting registration as of mid-January 2013. Local NGOs disagree: they estimate that more than 300,000 Syrian refugees are currently in Lebanon.

With a long history of sectarian conflict, Lebanon’s situation has becoming increasingly more volatile as the Syrian civil war unfolds. Hundreds of thousands refugees have crossed the 360 kilometer-long Syrian-Lebanon border. While Lebanese officials attempt to maintain a principle of non-intervention in Syrian affairs to avoid a spillover of conflict, Lebanese NGOs have filled the gap, according to Professor Hala Naufal, author of the MPC Study on Syrian Refugees.

Unlike Jordan, Iraq and Turkey, there are no refugee camps in Lebanon. Instead, about half of the refugees live in rented housing, while the other half are in nomadic camps or hosted by families or local communities. Only in January 2013 did the Lebanese cabinet vote to start registering refugees.”

THE WORLD FEDERATION’S RELIEF ACTIVITIES IN LEBANON
The World Federation is supporting 100 Syrian refugee families in Lebanon. These families, like so many others are devastated, scared and vulnerable. The World Federation has been working with these families to keep them safe, ensure that they have shelter, food, and other basic supplies and services to see them through this dark and difficult time.

PLEASE DONATE:  SYRIAN REFUGEE APPEAL
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