In the middle of this Tragic Humanitarian Crisis

Think of Lebanon – 10,000 refugees every 24 hrs and a quarter of its population are refugees/migrants. But Cameron offers to take 20,000 over 5 years!

Europe is having a refugee/humanitarian crisis not only because of its geographical proximity to the countries from where these refugees and migrants are fleeing from but also because Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey cannot take any more of this enormous burden.

In many ways the whole situation is full of irony because it is the West’s interference for over 25 years in the countries of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya as well as its ambivalence over Syria that has greatly contributed to this humanitarian catastrophe. It is also sad that they are so reluctant to accept their responsibilities especially the USA and the UK.

Cameron under pressure has agreed to accept 20,000 refugees but only from the Syrian camps and over a 5 year period yet in comparison Lebanon at one time was taking in 10,000 every 24 hours. The USA is thinking about taking in a few more thousands! Apparently they are concerned about their country’s security yet we in Europe and the Middle East are in this monumental humanitarian crisis because of the USA's political, military and strategic failure to have thought through all the likely consequences that might happen as a result of their intended interference. 

  

The European Union’s reaction to the crisis has, all too predictably, been chaotic, contradictory, near-hysterical and sometimes mean-spirited; therefore heightening the crisis and highlighting an ugly truth –– that the Union has no mechanism to address these challenges, to minimise suffering and to stem some outright bigotry. This has become more evident in recent days as the United Nations Refugee Agency is urging the adoption of a ‘common strategy’ to replace the existing ‘piecemeal’ approach. The EU, it says, is at a ‘defining moment. It will be fascinating to see how the EU faces up to this ‘defining moment’ in the coming days.

In the West we have been focused on Israel for far too long and that is due to the Governments in the USA and UK supporting it militarily, hardly condemning it on the world stage whilst invariably welcoming its leaders – whatever their warmongering history!

The earliest evidence of civilization in the Lebanon dates back more than 7,000 years this pre- dates recorded history! Those who are interested would do well to read the history of this small country.

Without going back to the times prior to the 15^th century the country was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1516 until 1918. Then after the First World War it was handed to the French who ruled the country until the end of 1946. Its geographical location casts it with two unlikely but troublesome neighbouring countries – Israel and Syria. Yes it certainly does find itself in the middle of a political and military cauldron.

Lebanon is a Parliamentary Democracy and has flourished economically until the civil war 1975-1990. During that conflict its infrastructure was heavily damaged and its national output cut by half. Yet after that period it recovered and again continued to flourish with growth rates the UK have never equalled in my lifetime. The main income earning sectors are tourism, agriculture, commerce and banking. But as with everywhere else after 2008 its economy has been hard hit too.

The recorded population of Lebanon is some 4.46 million with a land area of 10.2 sq. km. So Wales with a population of 3 million is twice as big in area and Scotland with its population of 5.2 million is five times bigger.

What is also fascinating is that the country is the most religiously diverse in the Middle East. Although statistics do vary, broadly it is 54% Muslim – divided equally between Shia and Sunni, 40% Christian – the majority being Maronite Catholic and the next largest Greek Orthodox. There are some 6% Druze and small numbers of Jews, Baha’is and Buddhists.   

That Lebanon is a truly remarkable country is in no doubt and its capacity for survival and recovery rarely has had an equal. Indeed there is talk now of oil having been discovered which could transform significantly its economy in the future – watch this space now for the courting of its Government by the super powers!

But this is the key point I wish to emphasise for the last four years, it has absorbed at least a quarter of its population in refugees. At one point, Lebanon was absorbing 10,000 refugees/migrants’ every 24 hours.  Over 1.1 million came from Syria, some half a million from Palestine and a few from Iraq. But by January of this year the country could not cope with anymore. Refugees are to be seen everywhere, camped in fields, lay-byes, beaches, building sites and so on. So the boundary has been closed to all but the most urgent cases. Jordan also is in the same predicament. Hence the refugee/ migration flow is coming Europe’s way.

Although it is only now that European governments’ are struggling to reach common ground over what to do about this humanitarian crisis, it has in fact been under way for some years previous. But so long as Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan acted as buffers to any move into Europe those governments and the EU were not over bothered that some 4 million Syrians had fled to those three countries. They were in reality sleep walking into a crisis.

This humanitarian crisis is far from over because should the Syrian conflict descend the country into even further horrendous chaos then the refugee/migration problem will deepen further. There are eight million Syrians that are internally displaced so with a worsening crisis there are potentially millions of refugees and economic migrants from that country alone lining up to get into Europe.