1m Syrian refugees are struggling, says UN

With Turkey’s government-run refugee camps operating at full capacity, more than 1 million Syrian refugees who have flocked to Turkey to escape fighting at home are struggling to survive on their own, according to an Amnesty International report.

Turkey, which hosts half of the 3.2 million refugees who have fled Syria, is shouldering the heaviest burden of what the report calls the world’s worst refugee crisis in a generation.

“In three days in September 2014, Turkey received 130,000 refugees from Syria — more than the entire European Union had in the past three years,” the report said.

It also detailed cases where Turkish border guards have abused — even killed — refugees trying to enter the country.

An estimated 1.6 million Syrian refugees have entered Turkey since the Syrian war began in March 2011.

About 220,000 live in 22 government-run camps that offer food and essential services, the report said. The remaining 1.38 million — more than 85% — are living outside the camps, mostly in communities along the Turkey-Syrian border. An estimated 330,000 live in Istanbul.

So far, Turkey has spent about $4bn (€3.2bn) on Syrian refugees and granted free healthcare to all Syrian refugees in the country.

The report said while Turkey has an open-border policy for Syrian refugees, there are just two fully open crossings along its 900km border.

According to Amnesty, at least 17 people were shot and killed by border guards at unofficial crossing points between December 2013 and August. The report cited 10 other incidents in which 31 people were allegedly beaten by Turkish border guards.

The organisation has shared the information with Turkish authorities.

“Turkey is clearly struggling to meet even the most basic needs of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. The result is that many of those who have made it across the border have been abandoned to a life of destitution,” said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s researcher on Turkey.

The report urged Turkey to radically revise its border practices.

Jordan is hosting 619,000 Syrian refugees and as of October 14, Lebanon had registered 1.13 million, though the number is believed to be far higher.

Of the UN’s funding appeal for $3.74bn to aid Syrians, only 51% has been received, the report said.