Strategic considerations and justification Sample Clauses

Strategic considerations and justification. 2.1. Context analysis 6.1 million Syrians are internally displaced in the country, with 2.98 million living in hard-to-reach and besieged areas. Of the 5.5 million Syrian refugees worldwide, the vast majority reside in neighbouring countries (Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq). While Turkey hosts the most Syrian refugees, Lebanon and Jordan host the largest number of Syrian refugees per capita. Development challenges in the region has been exacerbated by the refugee crisis. Hard-won development gains have been rolled back and prospects for stability, peace and prosperity compromised. Trade has been disrupted, and there is declining investor and consumer confidence. In particular Jordan, Lebanon, and Northern Iraq face limited and structurally unbalanced growth, heavy burdens on inadequate public services, and high unemployment rates both among host populations and refugees, and particularly among youth and women. According to ILO data, 17 % and 39 % of youths in Lebanon and Jordan respectively are unemployed. As duration of the displacement lengthens, the depletion of refugees’ assets and resources over time results in a detrimental reliance on negative coping strategies and risk-laden attempts to earn incomes, for example in unsafe, exploitative employment without legal permit. Social cohesion in displacement affected communities is slowly eroding in many places, and refugees continue to rely on the support of the international community to meet their basic needs as job creation and refugee employment through the compacts and bilateral programs are slow to show impact. Due to the multitude and magnitude of the challenges resulting from the regional refugee situation, host governments continue to struggle. A particular challenge is that the governments lack political, social, economic and operational analytical evidence to inform further decisions of adjustments towards a whole of government approach. The deeper understanding of what a comprehensive long-term approach to protracted displacement entails remains nascent. Prospects for durable solutions are not on the immediate horizon for most refugees. Local integration as a durable solution is not an option being considered by host governments in Jordan, Lebanon, and Northern Iraq. To some extent, the political space exists for temporary economic empowerment until voluntary return can take place. Available resettlement spaces in third countries remain insignificant compared to the numbers of refugee...

Strategic considerations and justification. In the 8th year of the protracted crisis situation, the protection needs are increasing while the protection space in host countries narrows. The situation is exacerbated by the depletion of refugees’ resources; continued economic downturn and competition for jobs leading to negative coping mechanisms; the continued burden on services, and fatigue of host governments and host communities. Some protection risks are similar across host communities, while others are context and country specific. The protection issues faced by women and girls and men and boys have different manifestations, and legal barriers impede protection for example from SGBV including child marriage Most refugees live in vulnerable urban areas and as a result host communities and national actors are more directly interacting with refugees than if they were living in camp settings. These interactions increase the need for national actors to recognise and respond to refugee protection needs and deliver adequate protection services and redress mechanisms, and for refugees to understand their rights and obligations. With the close daily interactions, the potential for building social cohesion as well as the opposite – i.e. for communities to engage in conflicts that could turn violent is also heightened. In 2016, 17 per cent of the Syrian refugee households were headed by women, and for nearly every indicator of vulnerability, female-headed households fared worse than their male counterparts. Particularly female headed households often have to let their children engage in child labour to support their families. Although all countries in the Middle East and North Africa have signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child and programmes are underway in most countries to make sure that their national legislation is aligned with the provisions of the Convention, children, both vulnerable refugee and host community children, continue to be involved in labour, to be married off at an early age, to be recruited by armed forces and groups, and to be subjected to violence. Sexual and Gender Based Violence is rampant across the region and both women and girls as well as men and boys are victims. Women and girls bear the brunt of such violence in MENA as elsewhere, but recently have the atrocities of the Syrian Government and ISIL been highlighted noting their systematic use of murder, rape or other forms of sexual violence, torture and other inhumane acts.19 Services to treat survivors overall are l...