Böll.Global 8 | Syria: What hasn‛t been lost yet

The humanitarian situation in Syria continues to be devastating. The whole country is plagued by COVID, with neither containment nor vaccination strategy at hand. The banking crisis in neighbouring Lebanon has triggered a deep economic and financial crisis in Syria too. The United Nations estimates that already today, over 80% of Syrians depend on humanitarian aid.

The conditions, precarious at best, are in danger of deteriorating further. On 21 July, the UN mandate on transborder aid will expire, and Russia has made it clear that it‛s not interested in an extension. Above all, this will have grave consequences for the two to three million people living in the rebel province of Idlib.

Politically, there has been no improvement either. According to a number of estimates, up to now, over 130,000 people have been "disappeared" in Syria. Arbitrary arrest, inhuman prisons and torture are everywhere, and armed groups are ruling different parts of the country without mercy. Whole cities have been depopulated and a return of the displaced is currently out of the question.

Nevertheless, Denmark has broken with the European consensus that, under current conditions, refugees may not be sent back, as the situation in Syria is highly insecure; Germany‛s Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer, also seems to be contemplating deportations to what is a war zone.

The eighth episode of Böll.Global will discuss the current humanitarian and political situation in Syria with a number of experts, touching on issues such as the expiration of the UN mandate for transborder aid, as well as the Danish reassessment of the security situation that seems to have the backing of Germany‛s interior minister, and which would result in deportations to Syria.

However, we will also highlight some potential positive developments, discussing how to de-escalate the situation and looking into what Syrians would like German and European politicians to do.

The eighth episode of Böll.Global aims to widen the scope of our conversations, adding current and developing global issues and contexts – without losing track of the consequences of the pandemic, which are still prevalent. On top of that, we will, from now on, complement the analyses provided by our office directors with insights from international experts working for our partner organisations and from the sphere of politics and civil society in general.

Barbara Unmüßig, President, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, in conversation with

• Dr. Haid Haid, Consulting Associate Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House
• Dr. Bente Scheller, Director Middle East and North Africa at the Heinrich Böll Foundation
• Omid Nouripour, foreign-policy spokesperson for the parliamentary group of Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen
   

Contact: Michael Alvarez, alvarez@boell.de
 

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