Saturday, September 24, 2016

A monumental humanitarian catastrophe is underway in Syria and the Obama Administration has failed to stop it.

.

This week at the United Nations General Assembly Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama failed to secure an agreement from Russia and Syria to allow much needed aid for stranded Syrians in the middle of the civil war.


As the death toll of women and children continues to rise into the hundreds of thousands, it seems the much touted diplomacy policy of the president has failed.  


Is Trump campaign open to new Syrian policies?

As new Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway securely takes control of the Trump campaign organization and final preparations are underway for the first presidential debate it seems there is a very dramatic change in the demeanor and responses from Trump on the campaign trail.


Kellyanne and Ivanka Trump, the candidate's daughter and most trusted advisor, seem to have convinced her father to make the changes necessary to be competitive in the final push.  With the polls still nearly dead even there is an intensity of the news media to find a fatal flaw in Trump but it does not seem to bother the Trump leaders.

The Coltons Point Times has noted the influence of Ivanka Trump throughout the campaign and look for her and her husband, Jared Kushner, along with her brothers Eric and Donald Junior, to play prominent roles in the campaign.


Does this signal a Trump policy shift?


Never will the time be better for Trump to immerse himself in the Middle East catastrophe and address the tragic Syrian Refugee problems resulting from the Syrian civil war.  The most current estimate of displaced refugees from Syria now exceeds 5 million with no end in sight.


With Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama failing time after time to get humanitarian relief to the refugees in Syria, especially in the city of Aleppo, never has the need for a new Syrian initiative by responsible American parties been more needed.


Syrian Resettlement Program is desperately needed, built around an international coalition of nations led by the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France, England, Japan, and Middle East nations, to establish a real no fly zone in the Northwest region of Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping must be key partners and both are having significant difficulties with the Obama administration and the floundering US foreign policy.


This new initiative must halt all hostile acts against any Syrian civilians in the area with severe consequences for violations. Adoption of a no fly zone must be part of the coalition building and will prevent Russian, Syrian, and even American planes from illegal bombing of civilian sites. Members must include President Assad of Syria.


The coalition must be built around the USRussia, and China as critical partners.  This no fly zone will become the first redevelopment zone in Syria and will serve as the model for further initiatives.  Prohibited are any actions against civilians by ISIS, rebel forces, or the Syrian government.


In addition, Trump should call for the establishment of International Trade Zones in America's most distressed cities for manufacturing and other activities to support and supply the materials to rebuild the Syrian cities.  Trump can expect the creation of tens of thousands of jobs and the generation of millions of dollars in foreign trade to result from this humanitarian effort to restore Syria to its rightful place in history.


Once elected President, in addition to ordering the implementation of The Syrian Resettlement Program, Trump can create a Syrian Resettlement Commission of American business executives to work with Syrian and Middle East specialists on plans to redevelop the cities.  Of course, Trump could also encouraged President Obama to launch the peace program sooner in order to get control of the refugee disaster.


This multi-faceted initiative could provide immediate relief to the crushing burden of the refugee crisis and the need to press forward with a resettlement plan to return them to their native country and homes.  Calling a return home for the refugees the most humanitarian program possible, Trump could also speed up the processing of Muslim refugees by resettling them in their home country.


With over half the people of Syria currently displaced, the world demands a solution that helps keep the people in their native environment.  By initiating this plan, Trump could demonstrate the senseless deaths of refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea will end and the crushing financial burden on other Middle East and European nations will ease.


Trump has expressed concern in the past that Syrian President Assad has been killing Syrians to protect his throne, and such a new Trump initiative could finally force Assad to address the Syrian civil war and the dire consequences.  If he attacks his own civilians, he becomes our enemy.




Syria's refugee crisis in numbers
3 February 2016, 19:02 UTC

Refugees in the region

More than 4.5 million refugees from Syria are in just five countries TurkeyLebanonJordanIraq and Egypt:
  • Turkey hosts 2.5 million refugees from Syria, more than any other country worldwide
  • Lebanon hosts approximately 1.1 million refugees from Syria which amounts to around one in five people in the country
  • Jordan hosts approximately 635,324 refugees from Syria, which amounts to about 10% of the population
  • Iraq where 3.9 million people are already internally displaced hosts 245,022 refugees from Syria
  • Egypt hosts 117,658 refugees from Syria
The UN’s 2015 humanitarian appeal for Syrian refugees was just 61% funded by the end of the year.

Funding shortages mean that the most vulnerable Syrian refugees in Lebanon receive just $21.60 per person month or around US $0.70 cents a day for food assistance, well below the UN poverty line of US $1.90

86% of Syrian refugees in urban areas in Jordan are living below the local poverty line.

Conflict in Syria

According to the UN around 250,000 people have been killed and 13.5 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria

More than 50% of Syria’s population is currently displaced

One-in-every-two of those crossing the Mediterranean this year – half a million people – were Syrians escaping the conflict in their country


International Resettlement

In total, 162,151 resettlement places have been offered globally since the start of the Syria crisis, which equates to a mere 3.6% of the total population of Syrian refugees in LebanonJordanIraqEgypt and Turkey.

At least 450,000 people in the five main host countries - or 10% - are in need of resettlement according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.

Amnesty International is calling for at least 10% of Syria’s most vulnerable refugees to be offered resettlement or other forms of admission by the end of 2016.
.

No comments: