Last week the image of a tiny toddler’s body washed up on a Turkish beach became symbolic of a growing crisis in the Mediterranean. Tens of thousands of people are fleeing Syria for the safety of Europe, but Europeans have mixed feelings about how or whether to receive them. Since January, an estimated 350,000 people have tried to enter Europe, according to the International Organization of Migration.
The reason hundreds of thousands of mostly Syrian refugees are fleeing to the safety of Europe is an even bigger humanitarian crisis – the war in Syria and its spillover into neighboring countries. More than half of Syria’s pre-war population or about 11.6 million people – half of them children – are on the run, displaced within Syria or living in refugee camps or among local communities in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. Most of these families have been displaced multiple times and have since exhausted what little money and supplies they could carry. Competition for jobs and housing can cause tensions, but we have seen communities work together to overcome them. Refugees bring expertise, an entrepreneurial spirit and the drive to create a better life. In the long run they can be a tremendous asset to local economies.
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