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Resolution 2047 (2015)
Humanitarian consequences of the actions of the terrorist group known as “Islamic State”
1. One year after the adoption of Resolution 1971 (2014) “Syrian
refugees: how to organise and support international assistance?”,
the Parliamentary Assembly is dismayed to see that the situation
in Syria has become considerably worse, giving rise to an unprecedented
humanitarian crisis.
2. In the year 2014 alone, the conflict set a grim record, with
76 000 people killed, 3 500 of them children, and with thousands
more reported missing, either in prisons or in areas controlled
by the jihadists, throughout the conflict-hit region.
3. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR), approximately 11.5 million people, of whom
4 million are refugees, have fled Syria, and there are around 7.5
million internally displaced persons. One of the consequences of
this conflict is that Syrians have become the largest group of refugees
under the UNHCR’s mandate.
4. The Assembly is deeply concerned about the rise of the terrorist
group known as “Islamic State” (“IS”), which continues to carry
out increasingly frequent war crimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes on
religious grounds and crimes against humanity, aggravating the conflict
and consequently causing a huge influx of refugees to neighbouring
countries.
5. Due to the activities of Da’esh, the so-called “Islamic State”,
in Iraq and Syria, the border between these countries has become
meaningless, transforming the two countries into a single battleground.
As a result, in addition to hundreds of thousands of Syrians, many
Iraqis have also been adversely affected by the atrocities committed
by the terrorist organisation. The United Nations has recently announced
that there are close to 3 million refugees and internally displaced
persons in Iraq, most of whom have been resettled in the camps throughout
the Kurdish region. As an immediate neighbour to the conflict-stricken
areas, Turkey has received more than 200 000 Iraqis, including 20 000
Yezidis and Christians, and built three camps for 37 500 internally displaced
persons inside Iraq.
6. The arrival of huge numbers of Syrian refugees is affecting
on the neighbouring countries’ socio-economic and political life,
giving rise to ever-increasing tensions between the host countries’
nationals and the Syrian refugees.
7. The Assembly would again like to pay tribute to the generosity
of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, which alone have taken
in almost 92% of the refugees, not without effects on these countries’
socio-economic life.
8. It also welcomes the fact that Germany has so far taken in
33 000 persons from Syria through humanitarian programmes, which
is more than one third of those Syrian refugees who have found shelter outside
of the crisis region; the special programme by the German Bundesland
Baden-Württemberg, taking in up to 1 000 women and minors who are
victims of sexual violence; and the Swedish authorities’ decision
to grant permanent resident status to Syrian asylum seekers.
9. The Syrian conflict has resulted in the separation of large
numbers of children from their families and an increase in the number
of unaccompanied minors, so the new generation of Syrians faces
a risk of statelessness. Unaccompanied minors, women and girls represent
a very high percentage of the refugees and find themselves in a
situation which is worse than uncertain, and often dangerous, thus
becoming archetypical victims of all kinds of exploitation and violence.
10. In Jordan and Turkey, for example, 85% of Syrian refugees
live outside camps, often without resources and resort to begging
– adults and children alike – or suffer from exploitation.
11. The situation of internally displaced persons in Syria also
gives cause for increasing concern, particularly in northern Syria,
where attacks by “IS” prevent any assistance from reaching people
who find themselves in a situation of utter destitution, victims
of a medical and humanitarian disaster occurring as a result of
the lack of doctors and medicine and the re-emergence of diseases,
such as polio, tuberculosis, scabies and typhoid.
12. The Assembly notes and condemns the new rise in the numbers
of victims of traffickers, particularly among migrants arriving
via the Mediterranean Sea, and points to the need to put effective
measures in place to combat such trafficking.
13. The Assembly also notes that many countries are not taking
people in as expected or issuing airport transit visas; it repeats
its appeal for international solidarity and asks States, whenever
possible, to grant refugee status. In practice, Syrian refugees
are often sent back or end up in detention centres. But Turkey has taken
in a large number of Syrians and Germany, Sweden and Armenia have
adopted measures to take in a limited number, through resettlement
measures.
14. The Assembly welcomes and supports the UNHCR’s proposal to
put in place a resettlement policy and a humanitarian admission
plan, and it encourages States to introduce such policies to enable
greater numbers of Syrian refugees to be taken in, and particularly
those who are members of the most vulnerable groups.
15. The Assembly reiterates its appeal to all States to show solidarity
and responsibility in the face of this unprecedented humanitarian
crisis, to take all necessary steps to prevent their nationals from
joining the ranks of “IS” and also to join forces in order to start
a peace process in the region.
16. Consequently, the Assembly invites the member States of the
Council of Europe, the observer States with the Council of Europe
and its Parliamentary Assembly and all the States concerned by the
situation of Syrian refugees to:
16.1. increase
the funds allocated to humanitarian organisations, particularly
the UNHCR, and actively support their activities;
16.2. support and make commitments to the setting up, if possible,
of a resettlement and humanitarian admission plan;
16.3. provide temporary and/or international protection to Syrian
refugees, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the
Status of Refugees (1951 Geneva Convention), and allow them to work
during that period, following the example of Turkey;
16.4. activate solidarity mechanisms to share the responsibility
between European Union (EU) member States (the EU directive on temporary
protection (2001/55/EC) is an option);
16.5. offer adequate support to countries such as Italy and
Greece, which are currently experiencing high pressures of refugee
flows, so that they can comfortably receive asylum seekers and process
their asylum applications;
16.6. activate immediately an urgent project for the relocation
of Syrian refugees rescued at sea in Greece and Italy to different
countries across Europe, as recommended by the UNHCR;
16.7. provide legal and safe passage for Syrians wishing to
go to EU member States;
16.8. grant visas for the purposes of study or employment or
for humanitarian or family reasons, particularly to the most vulnerable
groups;
16.9. cease collective expulsions at land and sea borders and
rescind the requirement for an airport transit visa for Syrian nationals;
16.10. ensure that they do not return refugees to countries lacking
appropriate reception and protection capacities;
16.11. provide additional assistance to Syria’s neighbouring
countries and take measures to provide Syrian refugees with all
the resources and supplies they need for subsistence, in terms of
food, medicine, clothing and medical care;
16.12. give special attention to the internally displaced persons
in Syria, who are in a situation which is worse than calamitous
and lack the strict minimum for subsistence;
16.13. continue to implement protection and assistance programmes
for the most vulnerable groups and take appropriate measures to
ensure the safety of the women and children inside camps;
16.14. take action against smugglers in the Mediterranean Basin;
16.15. combat statelessness, safeguarding the future of young
Syrians as far as is possible;
16.16. take measures to facilitate the integration of Syrian
refugees, putting comprehensive integration policies in place;
16.17. put in place training programmes for military and police
personnel;
16.18. prosecute persons responsible for war crimes and crimes
against humanity;
16.19. support the reconstruction of the city of Kobane in order
to prepare the city for the return of refugees.
17. The Assembly also asks States, and particularly those States
which are parties to the conflict, to take all necessary measures
to involve women in the peace process and to comply with international
law by allowing United Nations teams to do their work.