The Implications of Devastating Conditions in Refugee Camps on the European Migration Crisis

Abstract

Th is paper provides a comprehensive overview of the devastating conditions in refugee camps in the Middle-East and their contribution to the European refugee crisis. Th e selection of case studies includes refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, which are the major host countries for Syrian refugees, since the civil war in Syria began in 2011. Every case is analyzed by factors of accommodation, nutrition, and health care. Furthermore, the funding requirements of these camps are also taken into consideration. While Turkey was able to handle the migration movements mainly from Syria much more effi ciently than Lebanon and Jordan, the other countries were completely overwhelmed by the crisis and the international community did not provide suffi cient funding in order to support these two states. Earlier anticipation of the crisis could have prevented the mass migration movement from Syria to Europe, which started mainly in 2015 and remains still one of the major issues in European policy. Th e fi ndings of this article show that providing proper accommodation, nutrition, and health care locally in the respective camps gives people incentives to stay in the region and not fl ee to Europe. In any case, a new development strategy for refugee camps in general is required.