The Weekend Read: Syria, and the difference UK Aid can make

 Last weekend I travelled to the Syria Border to see for myself how British help is making a difference to the lives of thousands of Syrian Refugees. I went to the Nizip refugee camp. There are 17,000 refugees there. This is just a fraction of the 600,000 Syrians sheltering in Southern Turkey, who have fled the brutality of Assad. They are only able to survive with the support of the Turkish government, and the international aid that is given by many countries, not least Britain.


My trip lasted 4 days. My primary reason to go was to take part in a social action project, distribute warm weather clothing to the refugees for the winter snows that are coming to the region and also see what happens to the money that British people spend on international aid. It was one of the most humbling and disturbing visits I have ever experienced.

Nizip is on a famous site in Turkey, right on the bank of the River Euphrates; the camp has around 11,000 Syrians in tents, and just under 6,000 in containers. The camps have been in existence for around a year, and cater to Syrians fleeing Aleppo, Homs, and all of Northern Syria. Half of the 17,000 people there are children. I was able to see for myself the difference the British food aid was making in the shops that exist on the camp.

Indeed, Britain has provided over £500 million of aid to the Syrian Refugee crisis – the second biggest in the world after the USA. It is money well spent and it is getting to the right people. Life does go on even in the camp: I went round many of the classrooms that exist on the camp, as the Syrians try to provide education for their children. I met Suleiman, a former engineer in Homs, who was now a teacher of Year 6 and 7 children in the camp. He spoke movingly of the family members he had lost, his desire to return one day to his homeland, and the difficulties of teaching in the camp. I sat in on a primary school class and distributed presents from Playdo to sports equipment.

While in Nizip I also met representatives of the host Turkish Aid organisations, UNICEF, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and separately spoke to the Syrian opposition leaders and military commanders. The background to this visit is the upcoming Geneva II peace negotiations, beginning in Switzerland on 22 January, where the international community will be doing all it can to bring about a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Syria. The objective is a transitional government, which will allow the Syrian people to cross the border 20 miles south of the Nizip camp and go home.

Last year, most commentators believed that the Assad regime was finished, and that the fighting would soon be over. No one thinks so now. The refugee crisis in Syria has seen over 2 million people displaced: what I saw in Southern Turkey is a fraction of the consequences of the Assad conflict. The sheer number of displaced Syrians is impossible to compute: TV can show us families huddling in the snows; it can transmit pictures of injured children; it can broadcast footage of rubble. But it can’t convey the sheer vastness of what is going on.

So this week in the House of Commons I have raised with the Foreign Secretary the urgent need to take all steps necessary to enable Syrian refugees to return to their homeland, both diplomatically through the Geneva II peace negotiations, and ultimately through the provision of safe havens. In the meantime, we have to do all that we can to ensure the safe passage of aid to the Syrians both in, and outside, their homeland.

One final thing was clear to me, by reason of this weekend: British people are saving lives, making a difference, and allowing the Syrians a chance to live. We should be very proud of our action and our humanitarian support. This is giving the world the chance to develop a diplomatic solution which will ultimately allow the Syrians to go back to their homeland.

Humanitarian support for Syria will need safe passage

I spent last weekend on the Turkish / Syria border where I went to the Nizip refugee camp; the experience moved me in many ways, and I was pleased to be able to help provide warm weather clothing and equipment for the schoolkids there; I have since then called for humanitarian organisations to be able to access the worst hit parts of the war torn country. I believe it is now absolutely vital that the EU and the UN ensure the safe passage for humanitarian organisations to reach people in Syria who are in desperate need and find it impossible to get access to aid. I have seen for myself the challenges they are facing in this most desperate part of the world.

The Government has already rightly committed £500 million to help those affected by the conflict. This is the UK’s largest ever response to any humanitarian crisis. It will provide support including food, medical care and relief items for over a million people including those affected by the fighting in Syria and to refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. I am particularly concerned by the plight of the many children caught up in this monstrous conflict. Over 50% of the refugees are under 18, that is almost unimaginable. I went as part of an EU-wide delegation and have raised questions in the House of Commons on how the Government is ensuring aid gets to those refugees who need it most. The fundamental mission now must be to secure a deal on the safe transit of aid to those who need it most, that is what I believe will make the biggest difference to the many innocent people caught up in this horrendous conflict.

I spoke on Monday, in the House of Commons:
"Last night, I returned from a four-day trip with the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists to the Nizip 2 refugee camp, just inside the Turkish border. Turkey’s amazing humanitarian action and our aid programme—its provision of food, in particular—should be complimented. While I was there, I met representatives of UNICEF, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, AFAD and, separately, Syrian opposition leaders and military commanders, as well as dozens of refugees, whom we are helping with winter clothing and a social action project. All the Syrians I met want their country back and are desperate to return home. I urge the Foreign Secretary to take all steps necessary to enable Syrian refugees to return to their homeland, both diplomatically through Geneva II, and ultimately through the provision of safe havens."

Responding the Foreign Secretary, William Hague MP, said: "I applaud what my hon. Friend and other colleagues have done in going to assist the people in that region, and I do not doubt at all the sincerity of the message that he brings back, which is that people want to be able to go to their homes in peace. That again underlines the urgency of the political process that we are beginning next week. It is a formidably difficult process, but it is right to start and to try a political process; that is the only sustainable hope of peace. He can be assured that we will give every effort to that."