Hosting Syrian refugees: What works best?

Abstract

We conducted a study to provide an overview of the situation of Syrian refugees and other non-citizens living in host countries, as well as to summarize a series of policies and legislation towards refugees. We explored the cases of: (1) Turkey, which is one of the main destinations for Syrians fleeing the crisis in their home country; (2) Germany and United Kingdom, high-income countries where the public sentiment about refugees has changed/shifted overtime; (3) Greece and Italy, countries that share a close border with countries from where there are large refugee influxes; and (4) Canada and Australia, which do not share borders with countries from which there is a significant refugee influx and have had some success with integrating migrants and refugees. Our review of refugee policies suggests that successful resettlement of Syrian refugees was mainly due to political commitment coupled with an incredible public support and community engagement, including private sponsorship of refugees. Successful social and economic policies to deal with the refugee crisis demand a combined effort in terms of planning, implementing, monitoring, and assessing initiatives. Most importantly, record keeping and sharing data with stakeholders need to be improved. This is a joint complaint by non-profit organizations and academic institutions.