Nearly 60 million people are displaced by war and conflict worldwide. The number has increased sharply as a result of the war in Syria, which has forced 12 million people to flee their homes. The crisis in Syria is the largest humanitarian crisis in our generation.
Refugee crisis in Europe
Every day, men, women and children cross the Mediterranean in search of a saftey. So far this year, 340,000 people have sought protection in Europe, many of them arriving by boat. The majority of those now arriving by boat in Greece are from Syria, where the civil war is now well into its fifth year.
NRC provides assistance to people who have come to Europe across the Mediterranean through our expert deployment roster NORCAP. We also support displaced Syrians in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan.
NRC in Greece, Italy and Macedonia
NRC has deployed emergency personnel to Greece, Italy and Macedonia through our expert deployment roster, NORCAP. These efforts are focused on child protection, as children are especially vulnerable in the chaos that characterises the situation where the refugees and migrants are arriving in the Mediterranean countries and Eastern Europe. Some of our deployed experts also work to ensure that relief efforts for refugees run as efficiently as possible.
The war in Syria
More than four million Syrians have fled their home country, the vast majority of them now living in a neighbouring country. The neighbouring countries’ capacity for hosting refugees has been stretched to the limits, and many Syrians are looking to travel to Europe in search of aid and protection.
In 2014, NRC assisted a total of 1.5 million Syrians inside Syria and in the neighbouring countries:
Syria
More than 7.6 million people are internally displaced inside Syria. Millions more are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
NRC targets areas where the needs are the greatest and where we can access civilians with minimal risk. NRC also works with Syrian partner organisations. Our activities include distributing tents and other emergency aid, reconstructing schools and providing safe water and sanitation systems. In addition, NRC works in camps for internally displaced people in Syria.
Lebanon
More than 1.1 million Syrians have fled to Lebanon, where every fourth inhabitant is now a Syrian refugee. NRC provides Syrian refugees in Lebanon with basic emergency relief, such as shelter, water and sanitation, warm clothing and blankets in the winter, legal aid and education for children and youth.
Iraq
Nearly 250,000 Syrians have fled to Iraq. In addition, 3.2 million Iraqis have been internally displaced by the conflict in the country since January 2014.
NRC is a leading actor in securing shelter for displaced people in the Kurdish region of Iraq, in close cooperation with UN and Kurdish authorities. NRC provides education to children and youth in six camps and runs water and sanitation programmes both inside and outside of camp settings. NRC also works to provide construction support and hand out aid to help displaced Iraqis and Syrians survive the cold winter months.
Jordan
More than 600,000 Syrians have fled to Jordan.
In cooperation with the UN and Jordanian authorities, NRC helps run Zaatari and Azraq refugee camps, which together house over 100,000 Syrian refugees. NRC provides shelter and starter kits to refugees upon arrival, blankets, heaters and winter clothes in the winter and education to children and youth.
NRC also supports Jordanian homeowners who help settle Syrian refugee families and provides legal aid to refugees outside of camps.
