JSIS 495: Task Force - Winter 2019: Task Force C

After over seven years of civil war, the conflict in Syria is slowly coming to an end, leaving over 12 million people injured, displaced or dead: almost half of the country’s original population. Over 5 million Syrians are homeless in their own country, where the physical, economic and medical infrastructure is largely destroyed. Another 6.5 million are refugees in the neighboring countries of Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. And approximately half a million have sought asylum in Europe or other parts of the Middle East. Struggling under the immense burden of caring for millions of Syrian refugees for the past seven years, many Middle Eastern host countries are eager to send the Syrians back home. But Syria cannot even house or feed the people that have remained in the country. And many of the refugees, whose families fought against Assad, fear retaliation if they return. This task force will examine the complex legal, economic, physical, medical and social challenges of reconstructing Syria to accommodate the next flood of refugees—back home.