Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition
Department of Refugee Affairs
July 30, 2021
Seventy years ago, the world was in disarray when the Refugee Convention was born 1951 in the aftermath of the horrors of World War II, when the world pledged to usher in an era of peace and to stop resolving its differences by war.
At the time, the Convention aimed to ensure protection for the refugees’ rights. Thanks to the Convention, millions of lives have been saved.
The survival of the Convention to this day is a testament to the world’s failure to address the root causes of refugee situation. It was hoped that the refugee situation would end and that the UNHCR would cease to exist three years after its establishment. However, the new world order gave way to many problems and disasters as most wars between countries turned into internal conflicts in which dictators wage war against their people. This failure prompted the world to develop the Convention on multiple occasions by establishing the protocols supplementing the Convention. Moreover, many countries and international entities such as the European Union and the Organization of African Unity drafted similar conventions.
Today there are nearly 100 million refugees and displaced persons around the world, about 70 percent of whom came from five countries, chief among them is Syria. It is imperative that the world radically address the causes of refugee situation, especially in view of the attempts by some governments to disregard or circumvent the Convention’s principles, according to Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) stresses the need for the international community to uphold the fundamental principles of protecting refugees and protect them from all types of persecution or repatriation.
The SOC once again calls on the international community to support political transition in Syria and remove the murderous Assad regime as the only way to stop the flow of refugees from Syria and the return of those who have been forced to flee.
