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Syria Crisis Appeal

A million refugees urgently need shelter, food and water

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Syria Crisis Appeal – questions and answers

More information about the Syria crisis, Oxfam's work with refugees and families fleeing violence and our support for a peaceful and negotiated resolution to the conflict.

  • How is Oxfam responding to the Syria crisis?

    Plans are underway to scale up Oxfam's response to meet the rising needs in Lebanon and Jordan of up to 120,000 people. We are also exploring options to support local organisations inside Syria.

    Lebanon
     Since the beginning of the year, we have been helping thousands of refugees who have fled Syria cope with the cold winter weather. Oxfam and its local partners have been distributing warm clothes, mattresses, blankets, heaters, rugs, kitchen utensils, hygiene kits and plastic sheets for weather proofing.

    We are assessing the feasibility of a longer term response to provide refugees with water, sanitation and hygiene, emergency food security and livelihoods support.

    Jordan
     We are building toilets, showers, and laundry areas for 10,750 people in part of Zaatari camp. We will also be helping to build a new water system supplying water to all 90,000 residents of Zaatari camp. We will be constructing a water tower and a mechanism for monitoring the quality of the water.

  • How many refugees are there?

    The total number of registered refugees and individuals awaiting registration has now reached more than one million. The growing exodus is a sign of the ferocity of the violence in Syria. Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt are host countries, with the greatest numbers hosted in Lebanon and Jordan.

    These countries are to be commended for keeping their borders open and continuing to provide assistance for the refugees, despite severely strained resources. Host countries, who have kept their borders open, have been incredibly generous. But we are fast-approaching a tipping point where the crisis could overwhelm the capacity of host countries to manage the situation.

  • What are the conditions like for refugees and displaced families?

    In January, the region recorded some of its most extreme winter weather conditions in two decades, with heavy rain and snowstorms sending temperatures plummeting to below zero.

    This was a difficult time for many fleeing Syria, since they were staying in makeshift, unheated buildings such as garages and sheds, unfinished buildings and self-built tents in informal settlements.

    Many families have no money to pay for electricity or heating. Children - the youngest and most vulnerable - have coughs and colds. Many have bronchial and respiratory infections triggered by the cold. Diarrhoea is also common.

    In Lebanon, around half of refugees are living with host families or relatives, while the rest are renting accommodation. Many landlords have taken advantage of the desperation of the refugees and rental prices have doubled and even trebled. As a result, many people are sheltering in garages, wooden shelters, and in tented settlements.

    Other issues include overcrowding and lack of privacy, which particularly affects women.

  • Why have you launched an appeal?

    The refugee crisis is spiralling out of control, with more than one million refugees fleeing into neighbouring countries. Oxfam is expanding its response in Lebanon and Jordan to meet increasing needs.

    The public has been generous in supporting our humanitarian work in the past and we hope that people will help us bolster our response to this deepening crisis.

  • Why are you not helping people inside Syria?

    Oxfam is not currently present inside Syria. At the moment, we are focusing on scaling up our response in Lebanon and Jordan, but we are actively exploring working in Syria. We have met potential local partners that we might work with in Syria to mount a response. Currently, there are serious access and security challenges to working in Syria, so our entry would need to be well planned and coordinated. Official authorisation applied for in October to work inside Syria has not yet been granted.

  • What should be done about the crisis in Syria?

    Oxfam is deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria as a result of the violence. We join other organisations in calling on the Syrian authorities and others involved in the conflict to end the fighting and violence, ensure the safe evacuation of the wounded, permit safe passage to those who wish to leave and to allow for the delivery of much needed humanitarian assistance to all affected areas.

    We support the current EU arms embargo for Syria, which ensures as few weapons go into the country as possible. However, we are concerned at the recent weakening of the arms embargo, which allows the supply of greater non-lethal support and technical assistance.

  • Should there be a military intervention to stop the violence?

    Oxfam is a humanitarian organisation not a security expert. The violence on all sides so far has had a devastating impact on civilians. We support the efforts of the joint UN/Arab League envoy Brahimi to secure a peaceful and negotiated resolution of the conflict without further violence.

More information

Syria crisis overview

Syria crisis photo gallery

Syria videos

Latest Syria blogs

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