The Struggle Continues - Syrian Refugees Pre- and Post-Migration
Syrian sniper on top of a building in a destroyed city. The New York Times, September 18, 2016. Fair use.
The 2011 Syrian uprising against the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad began as a non-violent movement, but quickly transformed into a lethal civil war.1 This uprising has displaced 6.6 million Syrians.2 The displaced populations migrated to multiple different cities around the world where they continue to face challenges such as cultural integration issues, loss of family members and experiences of discrimination, along with their long-lasting traumas of having experienced war. Syrian civilians experienced distressing events during the war. For instance, soldiers at government check points stopped civilians, many of whom were arrested, as they moved from one place to another.3 There are also cases of people being arrested and tortured like the Syrian couple who explained, “a lot of arrests and kidnappings were happening. They were taking civilians depending on their living area, so if they’re from this area, no matter if they’re an adult, woman, child they still get arrested.”4 Other systemic changes during the heat of the uprising included little to no access to healthcare or food, and the use of chemical weapons, physical and sexual violence, bombings, and massacres.5 Syrian civilians reported systematic killing of families in their city: “[they] choose a family, and just kill all of them. And they started with the child to the mother, to the dad. . .so they didn’t just kill the mom and dad, they killed them like five times, because they killed their children before them.”6
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