The refugee crisis facing the European Union has become impossible to ignore, but less examined is the fact that a long string of international failures in Syria foreshadowed the chaos unfolding on European shores now. And it started much closer to home.
Over the last five years, Syria's Middle East nighbors have bore the brunt of the Syrian war's devastion, absorbing refugees in numbers European governments would likely find difficult to even imagine. To cope, refugee camps the size of cities have sprouted up in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.
Yet, all these things take funding — money that, after five years, people and governments are simply not giving anymore.
This year, the UNHCR asked for $2.89 billion worth of funding this year for Syria's Humanitarian Response Plan. But so far, just over $915 million has shown up, according to humanitarian aid tracker Financial Tracking Service (FTS).
Here's what that looks like, via Twitter.
#Syria Humanitarian Response Plan is 32% funded $1.97 billion funding gap Via @UNOCHA http://t.co/GhoUuw9WGm pic.twitter.com/A9Z95Mcg6r
— Brendan McDonald (@7piliers) September 15, 2015
It also doesn't stop with Syria. In Iraq, the FTS said UNHCR asked for over $700 million, under $350 million of which has actually shown up. When this happens, services in neighboring countries stop, assistance wears thin and the refugees trying to form a new life next to their own countries run out of options. Europe, however possible, becomes the best possibility available.
These are the consequences slowly taking form every year since the civil war kicked off. Now it's reached Europe, everyone's trying to find solutions. But it's important to remember we shouldn't be surprised — this is a chaos we've been inching closer toward every year humanitarian aid for the region is unmet.
