Sarah-Jane Bennison. Aberdeenshire EAL Service from IOM UN
Migration presentation 20.01.20
The Experiences of Refugees from Syria (Jan 2020)
Contents:
1. History
2. Refugees
3. Resettlement
4. What is Culture Shock
1. History
After five decades of the same ruling party people were seeing
their freedoms gradually eroded. The “Arab Spring” in 2011 led to
protests in Syria in March 2011. The Syrian government responded
with a crackdown and violence, which lead to conflict. Since the
conflict began 6.3 million people have been internally displaced
(45 of the population). 5 million have fled the country and half a
million have died.
The remaining population suffer from decreased water
availability, reduced electricity coverage, damaged housing (20
destroyed or damaged), reduced access to hospitals (40 of hospitals
are not functioning and doctors have been forcefully moved or
arrested), half a million children uneducated (25% of schools have
been destroyed, damaged or repurposed), high unemployment and
increased poverty and further outbreaks of violence leading to
trauma. Trauma leads to anger, domestic violence and mental health
issues.
Syria used to be self-sufficient in electricity and the standard
of living was equal to that of Western countries in the cities. Now
there are many deaths from preventable diseases; polio is coming
back after having been eliminated. 80% of the population are living
in poverty, there is 68% unemployment and a regression of skills in
the work force.
From 1970 to 2009 there had been considerable improvements in
health indicators although overall investment was still relatively
low (3% GDP compared to 9% in UK) and quality uneven. Rural areas
were neglected.
In cities there was public and private health care. The private
health care was very affordable. Syrians were used to having
appointments on the same day they called and they had direct access
to specialists and pharmacists, not needing to go through a GP. 90%
of medications were produced locally.
However it was not common to have early childcare as in the UK
and there was limited mental health care. Mental health issues and
disability were taboo subjects. There were only two hospitals in
Syria that dealt with mental health and they were only for most
serious cases. Depression was disregarded or unrecognised. People
found solutions in religion or traditional medicine. The language
Syrians use to describe depression describes physical pain and is
therefore easy to misinterpret.
2. Refugees
There are 2,715,789 Syrian refugees in Turkey, 1,067,785 in
Lebanon, 639,740 in Jordan, a large number in Iraq and smaller
numbers in Egypt and Libya. Many other refugees have travelled to
other European countries illegally.
Conditions in neighbouring countries
The refugees in the countries surrounding Syria (around 50
million) are housed in UN refugee camps or in the towns and cities
in any accommodation they can find, even building shanty towns on
the outskirts of some cities.
The majority of refugees are living in unofficial accommodation
and are not registered as refugees. This puts enormous pressure on
the communities they are living in. In Lebanon in order to work the
refuges need a visa and a Lebanese sponsor. In other countries they
are forbidden to work. Over all the rate of employment of refugees
is very low.
In Turkey if the children are able to get into school they will
be educated in Turkish. In the other countries the education is in
Arabic. The majority of children are not attending school.
The families are living in overcrowded accommodation with no
privacy. Access to housing, health support, work and education are
all at the discrimination of the local authorities. The families
experience bullying or are made to pay more than the locals to
access these services.
Vulnerability of women
Girls and women are often victims of sexual violence in. The
refugee community has adapted to protect them by becoming more
conservative. Girls and women always have a family escort when they
go out, they do not go out at night and they dress more
conservatively. Often girls are pressed into early marriage to
protect them.
Specific needs
2014 figures from HelpAge International and Handicap
International show that there are hidden victims among the
refugees. Of the refugees surveyed around 11% have physical
impairments, 7% suffer from chronic conditions and 1% from injuries
sustained from the fighting, individual attack or accident. There
is a crossover between these groups so that, for instance, 1 % of
these suffer from all three and 7% of these have a physical
impairment and suffer from chronic conditions. Overall people over
50 are more affected by these issues than younger people.
On top of this the challenges and experiences of the refugees
have taken a toll on mental health. The following figures show the
percentage of refugees surveyed who suffer from psychological
distress: 29% have cognitive difficulties (of these 10% have no
other conditions), 27% have behavioural difficulties (of these 17%
have no other conditions), 28% have relationship difficulties (of
these 20% have no other conditions) and 52% have emotional
difficulties (of these 31% have no other conditions).
Refugee Camps and other accomodation
Jordan has one of the world’s largest refugee camps. Where there
were originally tents there are now buildings, streets and
electricity. There has been proper planning with infrastructure,
shops schools and health centres. In these camps 50% of the
population are children.
In Lebanon there are no refugee camps. Shanty towns have been
built with no planning. The Refugees have to rent land to build a
shelter on. These shelters are built of anything that can be found;
plastic sheeting, bits of wood, corrugated iron, cardboard. There
are no services such as electricity and water. 20% of the
population of Lebanon are refugees.
Those refuges who live in urban settlements often have only one
room for an extended family. The room may be a room in a house, a
garage, a cellar or a shed. These will be rented and all services
have to be paid for.
3. Resettlement
The UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency) registers all refugees
and gives aid and support wherever they are.
· Assists repatriation when the situation allows. This is always
voluntary.
· Assists local integration
· Organises resettlement for the most vulnerable families (this
is not a right).
Only a small number of refugees are resettled. Families are
selected according to their vulnerability. Their background is
carefully checked to make sure there are no potential security
issues for the receiving country. The family can choose not to be
resettled but they can’t necessarily choose the country they are
resettled in. However reunification is possible as the officials
try to reunite families where members have previously been
resettled especially if this will support the refugees. In the UK
the Home Office has the final say on each case.
The IOM (International Organisation for Migration) is the agency
that organises the resettlement once a family has been
selected.
The refugees receive three main types of pre-departure
services:
· Health assessments
· Movement services: documentation, flight booking etc
· Pre-departure (cultural) orientation.
Medical Health Assessments
These happen at screening locations in the Middle East and North
Africa.
Medical processing includes:
· Pre-examination
· Diagnostics
· Medical history
· Physical examination
· Electronic data sharing
Most refugees have no medical paperwork with them. Each person’s
Health Assessment is sent to the Home Office.
Movement Services
· Visas
· Travel documents
· IOM bags (essential equipment and information)
· Arrangement of all travel-related services
· Escorts (for the UK these are mandatory; they travel with the
refugees from entering the airport to their destination)
· Handover to local authorities
Cultural Orientation
Pre departure the IOM deliver a 10 hour course, over three days,
to help the refugees build a foundation for integration.
The content of the course is set by the Home Office and
covers:
· an introduction to the UK including politics, gender roles,
geography and the weather
· pre departure and travel briefing
· Employment; how to find employment, organisations that can
help
· Housing; different types of housing
· Benefits
· Education; parental involvement and what to expect
· The law
· The National Health Service
· Cultural adaption; cultural norms (like queuing)
· What to expect in the first weeks after arrival
The course is delivered by IOM by trainers who are Syrian and
have been refugees themselves. These are men and women. They teach
through discussing real situations. People are free to ask
questions. The questions are usually about education, finding work
and family reunification.
They talk about myths of Western culture and what they see in
the media.
Information the refugees are given:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/welcome-a-guide-for-new-refugees
Published in Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Kurdish Sorani, Farsi,
Pushto, Punjabi, Tigrinua, Urdu, Vietnamese, Chinese
(https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2018/01/new-scots-refugee-integration-strategy-2018-2022/documents/00530097-pdf/00530097-pdf/govscot%3Adocument/00530097.pdf)
Arriving in the UK
On arrival into the designated UK airport, IOM officially hand
over responsibility and documentation to Local Authority Refugee
Resettlement Teams. Resettlement support is normally provided
by councils but is funded by the Home Office. The focus for
teams is to ensure that refugee families have a functioning level
of self sufficiency within 12 months of arrival.
4. What is Culture Shock?
“A state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an
individual who is suddenly exposed to a new, strange or foreign
social and cultural environment.” (dictionary.com)
Culture shock causes stress in all areas of life. This is
limiting. The tools for survival that have been learnt during a
person’s life may not work in a new environment.
Symptoms of culture shock:
· anger
· irritability
· intense homesickness
· loss of motivation
· withdrawal
· excessive amounts of time spent on insular activities such as
sleeping or watching TV
· feeling helpless or hopeless
· suicidal
· bored
· anxious
· having panic attacks
· loss of self confidence
· compulsive behaviour
As noted earlier mental health issues are hard for Syrians to
talk about or even recognise so this needs to be dealt with very
sensitively. It is better to find a fellow Syrian, who has had a
good experience of mental health support, to talk to about
depression to a new arrival.
Stages of cultural adjustment:
There are 3 phases:
· In the first phase everything is new, exciting and
different.
· In the next phase people begin to be frustrated that they
cannot carry on their lives as they used to. They become annoyed
with the everyday differences and then gradually adjust to these
more trivial problems. Whilst adjusting to everyday life, more
fundamental problems need confronting such as cultural and personal
issues.
· Finally a person learns to live in a different way and find
different solutions to their difficulties.
This journey of ups and downs runs alongside the normal ups and
downs of life everybody experiences but will tend to exaggerate
them. The period of adjustment takes a different length of time for
each individual but will take at least a year. Children tend to
adapt more quickly.
The length of time it takes for this adjustment is affected by
how the new arrival is treated by the individuals they meet. If
they have positive experiences then the adjustment is likely to be
easier.
Most Syrian families adapt very quickly to new customs and
cultures, so we should always take time to find out what works best
each individual family, and not make homogenous cultural
assumptions.
Further reading:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/17/world/americas/syrian-refugees-canada.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/25/world/canada/syrian-refugees.html
Ager and Strang Framework for Integration (commissioned by the
Home Office)
www.migrationscotland.org.uk/ager-and-strang-2008-understanding-integration-conceptual-framework#
http://www.migrationscotland.org.uk/
https://www.scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk/
https://www.local.gov.uk/syrian-refugee-resettlement-guide-local-authorities
https://local.gov.uk/resettling-refugees-support-after-first-year-guide-local-authorities
The original presentation was by Ahmad al-Rashid
[email protected] and Huda Abu Kassem [email protected] from
IOM