I was eight years old when I learned that ‘we’ are guests in Syria, the country where I spent 34 years of my life before I moved to Europe and became a recognised citizen of the Netherlands. The story traces back to the year 1948, when both my grandparents were forcibly eradicated from their home in Wadi Salib, a neighbourhood in the heart of Haifa city in Palestine, my country of origin. At the time, my grandparents, like other Palestinians, were told that it was a temporary situation, and that...
Seven years into the war, Syria has seen over 400,000 casualties and more than 5 million refugees. Those still in the country suffer from chemical attacks and brutalities from all belligerent actors, with no end in sight. The question after so many years of bloodshed: isn’t it time for the UN to step in? The political answer – coming from Moscow – is a resounding ‘No’, which would likely be echoed by the other permanent members of the Security Council (P5), albeit for different reasons. The prac...
In the weeks approaching the one-year anniversary of the death of Alan Kurdi, another picture — again of a child in crisis — drew the world’s attention back to the heavy toll of insecurity for some of the most vulnerable populations. In contrast to the picture of Alan Kurdi, which inspired a call for more inclusive humanitarian responses in the face of escalating flight, the images of five-year-old Omran Daqneesh, dazed and dust-covered in an ambulance after a Russian airstrike in Aleppo, have p...
Fatai Adegboye is one of our many part-time PhD fellows who also works for another UN body — in this case the World Food Programme (WFP) in Damascus, Syria. He came to Maastricht for our unique PhD Dual Career Training Programme in Governance and Policy Analysis (GPAC²). The questions are posed by course leader Dr. Mindel van de Laar. ••• Can you describe your daily work in Damascus? FA: I am a Business Support Manager at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Syria Country Office....
At the outset of the 2011 Syrian revolution, Syrian women played an active role in protests and grassroots mobilisation. They played leadership roles in local committees. They organised and participated in demonstrations and sit-ins. However, with the militarisation of the uprising, women have been sidelined and their voices marginalised in military and political decisions. ...
In early September 2015, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade & Development Cooperation together with the State Secretary for Security & Justice sent a letter to their House of Representatives about the European asylum system. The letter, says Dr. Katie Kuschminder, proposes a new policy based around three points: 1) That asylum seekers should be processed by UNHCR within their region; 2) That asylum seekers who reach the Netherlands can be sent back to a ‘region of safety’; 3) That some...
Refugees are set to make up a third of Lebanon’s population by late 2014. But the UN’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is massively underfunded in the country, forcing it to do more with less. In this blog post, MPP Master’s student Alessandro Pezzano shares his first experiences from the field and gives an early insight into his research theme: the use of technology to improve aid effectiveness. Stuck at Istanbul airport, waiting for my transfer to Beirut, I receive an alarming text: t...
Will Syria break apart along sectarian lines? What are the origins of the conflict? What are the pros and cons of a US-led intervention? How is the war impacting individual lives? These were among the questions of a panel debate on the Syrian civil crisis at Maastricht University in October 2013. Panellists included Drs. Zina Nimeh and Lutz Krebs of UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance, as well as the former director of The Netherlands Institute in Damascus. Read the review by Diego Salama....