#REFUGEES IN MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIES FULL#

Since 2019 the Lebanese lira has lost as much as 98 percent of its value and three quarters of its population have fallen into poverty. In late 2022, the UN refugee agency had to cut cash assistance programs for 1.7 million displaced people in Lebanon, Jordan, and Yemen.Īt the same time, economic crises are straining countries that host refugees. In 2022, the United Nations’ regional response for Syrian refugees had the largest funding shortfall to date, receiving just $2.4 billion out of a total request of more than $6 billion. That strategy is coming under pressure, as states are receiving less international support for hosting refugees and economic crises bite.ĭecades of humanitarian operations in the Middle East have exhausted international donors, and they are scaling back their support in the region amid newer crises, such as the war in Ukraine. Many MENA states now manage refugees based on the priorities of international aid regimes, rather than their needs. However, Jordan has denied access to state services or UN aid to other nationalities of refugees that gain less international attention, such as Sudanese and Somalis. When more than a million Syrians sought refuge in Jordan after the outbreak of conflict in 2011, Jordan linked hosting Syrian refugees with its development goals and secured international development aid.

#REFUGEES IN MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIES FULL#

MENA states’ strategies of managing these migrants have evolved over time, varying between full integration as citizens and exclusion, limiting their access to state services. And with the outbreak of fighting in Sudan, hundreds of thousands of refugees are expected to flee to Egypt and other neighboring countries. At the end of 2022, drought conditions in southern Iraq pushed more than 10,000 people from their homes. And new pressures are making things worse. The prospect of peace agreements solving the problem is slim, as the UN Security Council is growing more polarized. Their displacement is also longer than ever before: The average displacement of a refugee is now two decades, and it is more than a decade for internally displaced people (IDPs). A recent United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees survey found that just 1.1 percent of Syrians had an intention to return to Syria in the coming year. Most refugees have no prospect of returning to their homes, integrating into host communities, or being resettled in a third country. But millions of displaced people across the MENA region are now stuck in limbo. For centuries, diverse communities of displaced migrants from within and without the region have found refuge in MENA states.

Host communities are growing tired of hosting refugees in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). As the pressure rises for displaced populations in the Middle East, international actors need to develop more innovative solutions to help ease the burden on host communities, provide shelter to those fleeing violence or persecution, and cool anti-migrant hostility. The conflict in Ukraine and other new crises are prompting donors to reduce funding for refugees experiencing protracted displacement, leading to the largest shortfalls for international refugee responses to date. Growing fatigue with protracted displacement and biting economic crises are stoking hostility to migrants, and the calming effects of international aid are diminishing. Support for refugees is eroding in the Middle East. He vowed to expel all Syrians within two years, and his team put up posters and distributing flyers stating, “Refugees will return home.” Even though it was unsuccessful, his sudden and stark change in tactics revealed the depth of anti-immigrant sentiment in Turkey. Instead, he claimed that his opponent had allowed 10 million refugees in the country-a number that is multiple times most estimates-and would allow 20 million more to come. In the days leading up to Turkey’s run-off presidential elections, opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu abandoned his message of hope and change as he sought to dislodge President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after more than two decades in office.

Refugees in middle eastern countries