We’re not turning away from this.
When I saw the video of five-year old Omran being lifted from the rubble in Aleppo Syria, and put in an ambulance I felt, like thousands of others, an overwhelming uselessness.
If you haven’t seen the video, shot by media activist Mustafa al Sarouq, please watch it before continuing to read this article. You don’t have to imagine Omran is your son or your nephew, you don’t have to imagine that he is anyone but himself.
https://twitter.com/Sophiemcneill/status/766003327930949632
Omran is a child trapped in a war that has been going on for five years, his whole life. The situation in Syria is complicated but when did ‘it’s complicated’ become an excuse for us not to care, not to act?
When did we as a nation decide that the land and sea between us and them is one of unaccountability.
Syria is dying and we are watching.
According to sources obtained by CNN, the Russians, in support of President Assad’s regime, have been consistently bombing medical centers in Aleppo, Syria’s second city. Aleppo has been cut off from water and supplies since July. The UN’s special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has been brought to a point of frustration as the Russians will not honour a ceasefire and there is no way for the children of the city to be evacuated, for medical supplies to be brought in or for the 250,000 civilians trapped in the contested zones to escape.
Earlier this month, 15 of the last 35 remaining doctors in Aleppo wrote a letter to President Barack Obama to ask, once more, for assistance from the west.
In the letter, the Syrian doctors wrote “what pains us most, as doctors, is choosing who will live and who will die. Young children are sometimes brought into our emergency rooms so badly injured that we have to prioritise those with better chances, or simply don’t have the equipment to help them. Two weeks ago, four newborn babies gasping for air suffocated to death after a blast cut the oxygen supply to their incubators. Gasping for air, their lives ended before they had really begun.”
Obama and the US military however have been determined not to get pulled into Syria’s chaotic civil war. The apparent apathy of the US has drawn criticism from their own ranks.
We as a European nation have ignored Syria for years, we ignored them when the war broke out in 2011, we ignored them when they cried for help and protection against the Russians, we ignored them when they were drowning in the sea, we ignored them when they, against all odds, made it to Europe as refugees, we ignored their right to protection and human dignity on our shores and when we couldn’t ignore them anymore, we detained them in camps.
These camps are akin to prisons where, according to a recent UNICEF report, children experience sexual exploitation, violence and forced labour on a daily basis. Sexual violence is a constant threat, including the sexual exploitation and rape of boys, and rape and forced prostitution of girls.
The deprivation and horror of these camps however is still preferable to Syrians than the war zone that is their home.
These are the choices for Syrian children. It’s so heartbreaking ? And #WeCantSayWeDidntKnow #SaveSyria pic.twitter.com/FEq72lUg8f
— Jasmina (@JasminaOnline) August 18, 2016
The response of the European Union member states to the conflict in Syria has not been one of compassion or empathy. The only cohesive response had been the militarisation of EU borders and containment of people. These policies have directly caused the deaths of thousands of people who have drowned or suffocated in the backs of lorries, as they try to escape to a life that is not only about avoiding death.
We have seen so many images and videos in the last five years that should have made us furious enough to act, that should have shamed world leaders into action. The situation however has only gotten worse.
What will it take to make us care enough?
Source; BBC
The average life expectancy in Syria has dropped by two decades since the war began. More than 250,000 people have been killed and more than 1 million injured, according to the United Nations. Millions more have been driven from their homes, including more than 4.8 million who have fled the country as refugees.
This is a war that has attracted limited international assistance, partly because of the dangers of operating on the ground in Syria. As a result civilians have suffered greatly.
At present the UN has suspended its talks in trying to get humanitarian aid into the city, seeing their attempts as ‘futile’. Not even the 48-hour ceasefire needed by the UN to bring relief can be agreed upon.
As a result food is being strictly rationed, as is medication and basic supplies.
There is some hope on the ground in Syria, a group called the White Helmets work full-time bringing aid and assistance to both sides in the war.
The White Helmets risk their lives daily, rushing to the scenes of air-strikes and violence to help their people.
Nomination 4 @NobelPrize = recognition of bravery of all Syr civilians and rescue workers worldwide pic.twitter.com/RjfyW95yLQ
— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) July 29, 2016
Speaking to aljazeera.com one of the White Helmets spoke of their work saying, “our unarmed and neutral rescue workers have saved more than 60,000 people from the attacks in Syria, but there are many we cannot reach. There are children trapped in rubble we cannot hear”.
The White Helmets have been nominated for a nobel peace prize for their heroic work. You can vote for them here and donate to the here.
Khaled Omar. Killed today in Aleppo. A true hero. pic.twitter.com/1i0vNC3Wv1
— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) August 11, 2016
It is difficult to know what we can do, hashtags and prayers are no longer enough. It is a time for action. The Irish government has no real role on the ground in Syria and the likelihood that we will continue to witness these moments of pure despair is heart-breaking.
The disconnect that exists in our compassion, between this small boy, and the migrants that are stuck in camps trying to get refugee status in Europe and in Ireland is, however, something we can focus on.
Speaking on the migrant crisis earlier this year Minister Frances Fitzgerald stated, “as a nation, we naturally empathise with people fleeing war and persecution who seek to find a safe haven for themselves and for their families. We see them as human beings. Not just numbers”.
Our official policy of Céad Míle Fáilte, however, falls short of the reality. Last September, under two EU directives, Ireland voluntarily agreed to take in 4000 migrants. Ten months later and just 311 refugees have arrived.
The people trying to gain refugee status in Ireland are not the enemy, they are not threats to us, they are Omran and his parents, they should be welcomed not suspected.
This is where we can act and this is where we can help.
By changing our attitudes and realising that Syrian refugees are not economic migrants as is so often cited, but men, women and children who have escaped a kind of hell only to find themselves in European purgatory.
The Irish Refugee Council has a detailed page on the ways we can directly help and it’s a good place to start.
*Main image via Mustafa al Sarouq/CNN
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