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The IUP Journal of International Relations

Life of Syrian Refugees: From Syrian Civil War to the Jordan Compact - A Case Study of Zaatari Camp

Article Details

Pub. Date	: Oct, 2021
Product Name	: The IUP Journal of International Relations
Product Type	: Article
Product Code	: IJIR21021
Author Name	:Jogita Rajbongshi* and Madhumati Deshpande**
Availability	: YES
Subject/Domain	: Arts & Humanities
Download Format	: PDF Format
No. of Pages	: 18

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Abstract

The Syrian refugee crisis is the largest humanitarian crisis of our generation. The Civil War had left a lot of families seeking refuge in other countries to escape the dreadful fate that awaited them. The neighboring countries, as a goodwill gesture, started accommodating this huge influx of people, however, they found it difficult to cope with the expanding strain on their own economies. Syria's neighbor Jordan, today, hosts the largest Syrian refugee camp in the world, the Zaatari camp. Over the last few years, the refugees in Zaatari camp have encountered several non-overlapping sets of multidimensional problems, which has made the system evolve in unprecedented ways. The paper addresses the changes that have occurred in Zaatari camp starting from the advent of refugees in the camps to the newly established Jordan Compact. This paper tries to accumulate all scattered data together and highlight how despite all the efforts by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), refugees live a vulnerable life with their condition worse than that of prisoners.

There is no greater sorrow on earth, than the loss of one's native land.

Euripides

Introduction

One of the most daunting challenges that the non-Muslims, particularly the Hindus and Sikhs, have faced is the assimilating tendency of the overwhelmingly Muslim population of the Afghan society. The social construct of the Afghan as necessarily a Muslim person has somewhat limited the prospects of these minority religious groups. It is in the economic, social and political realm that the people hailing from the non-Muslim groups have faced social as well as the political discrimination in Afghanistan. Startlingly, Hindus and Muslims have adopted the Afghan culture, majorly that of the Pashtuns, as they have lived in the Pashtun-dominated areas. However, the narrowing religious freedom and the lack of social support for their culture has caused the exodus of these people. The onset of the Civil War, followed by the Mujahideen rule in Afghanistan aggravated the situation for them. The heinous violence inflicted upon the minority groups led to the psychological torment and perpetual fear of physical insecurity. The illegal confiscation of their property, torturous killings and forceful disappearance robbed Hindus and Sikhs of the minimum subsistence required for the survival. Therefore, it was the period of the Civil War and Mujahideen rule which put the lives and security of non-Muslims in jeopardy.