UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih has called on the international community to pay attention to developments in Syria, as battles continue in the north-east of the country.
Speaking to The National at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Mr Salih said there were positive trends of refugees returning to Syria, but that required continued security.
He spoke of the Syrian civil war, which followed the 2011 uprising against former president Bashar Al Assad’s regime, saying the country “has been a terrible, terrible tragedy ... this conflict should have been contained early on and the world should not have let it go on or allowed it to continue for as long as it endured”.
He also spoke of the “millions of people displaced and tragedies that we have witnessed” in the conflict.
Responding to a question on the fighting between Syrian government troops and the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces, Mr Salih said: “We are where we are today. We have a situation in which the prospect of stability in Syria is real and the restoration of stable order in Syria is real.
“Syrian refugees have gone back and this is a very positive sign. This must be maintained and this must be ongoing, from Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and elsewhere as well.”
Mr Salih then added that “these events that are happening in the north-east now ... the prospect of conflict is really worrisome and we hope that this will be stabilised very soon”.
A four-day ceasefire between government forces and the SDF was announced on Tuesday, but violence has continued.
“Warfare is not the way forward, communal violence is not the way forward and this cannot be allowed, because this sends exactly the wrong signal and Syria’s communities have to come together,” Mr Salih said. He stressed that “the international community must be very much involved to make sure that the situation is stabilised”.
Sudan peace call
Mr Salih, who took on the role of leading the UN refugee agency on January 1, also emphasised the importance of a ceasefire in Sudan, which has been described as the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world.
He visited Kenya and Chad, where millions of Sudanese have taken refuge from the fighting in their homeland, at the end of his first full week in office, to put a spotlight on the war.
“This conflict has been going on for over three years or so, more than 1,000 days,” he said. “Millions of people have been displaced. Countless people have been killed, maimed, women and children have been abused, raped.”
He described it as “truly a humanitarian catastrophe by all accounts”.
Mr Salih called for a “concerted effort to bring about a ceasefire, to bring about a peaceful settlement to this conflict and end this dynamic”.
He made a point to thank the Kenyan and Chadian hosts of Sudanese refugees.
“I am humbled by the hospitality and the accommodation that the host nations – Kenya, Chad – despite limited resources, despite very difficult circumstances, that they’re offering the refugees.”
At a time of polarisation in parts of the world over migrants and refugees, Mr Salih said the actions of neighbouring countries towards Sudanese refugees “are positive signs”. He added that “we, as an international community, really need to be there to facilitate it, to enable these people to make it and also help the host nations to deal with the scale of the crisis”.
He said 70 per cent of the world’s refugees are “in low-income to middle-income countries in the Global South”.
He warned against keeping refugees in a “situation of dependency on international aid for long, long periods of time ... we have to find ways by which self reliance, sustainable models, are there, in which host communities and these refugee communities could be integrated”.
Mr Salih, who was himself once a refugee, said that “nowhere is as sweet as home”. But until refugees can return to their homes, they need full support, he added.
“There is so much that can be done to help these people in a good way, not just throwing handouts for, you know, charity,” he said. “This is not about charity, it is about helping people develop their agency and developing their capabilities.”
Like many UN agencies, UNHCR is facing a funding challenge. Donors pledged more than $1.5 billion for this year so far, which covers only 18 per cent of UNHCR’s projected funding needs.
On the sidelines of the WEF meeting, the UAE’s Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives announced $6 million for health care for one million refugees.
Asked about the US decision to cut funding for humanitarian aid, Mr Salih said: “The United States has been among the most generous nations in terms of helping with the international aid system for years and, even recently, the United States has offered $2 billion to this pool funding the United Nations.
“We are hoping that there will be more ... there are a number of questions being posed by not just the United States, but other donor countries as well, about efficiency, cost effectiveness.”
As the UN works on internal reforms and efficiency, Mr Salih said: “I’m hopeful we will continue to engage with the United States and the US remains an important partner in this regard, and we will be working together on these matters here in Davos.”
