Persuasive Essay On Syrian Refugees

A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. In the instance of Syrian refugees, they are fleeing to escape war. Since 2011, there has been war and civil unrest within Syria leaving upwards of 11 million Syrians to be displaced from their homes, fearful for the safety of themselves and their family, and desperately trying to find any means of escape from Syria. Nations worldwide have formulated their own opinions on Syrian refugees and whether they should increase their quota of Syrian refugees. These opinions were formed by weighing the benefits such as helping those who are in dire need of aid, many of which are children and the risks such as the refugees putting

Such benefits and risks are why the question of whether countries should increase their quota of Syrian refugees is controversial. This can be seen in countries such as Germany, Lebanon, Egypt, Sweden, and South Africa, which have taken anywhere from 64,700 to 1.1 million Syrian refugees (CNN, 2015). While other countries have refused to take in any such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and China (CNN, 2015).

One reason countries are not open to increasing their quota of Syrian refugees is that there is a possibility their presence could place a strain on the resources in that nation. This occurred in South Africa after they took in over 1 million asylum-seekers from Syria, which increased the country’s overall population by two percent. BusinessTech a news agency located in South Africa, postulated that as a result of the influx of Syrian refugees has caused the unemployment rate to soar to 26.7%. This translates to more than 5 million in the country of South Africa to be deemed unemployed

These refugee camps are however only an option to 1 in 10 or 10 percent of Syrians who what fleeing their war torn country. Camps can be dangerous and dreadfully overcrowded making it not an ideal place for children and 50 percent of those who are fleeing Syria are children under the age of 18 (MercyCorps, 2016). In another instance an 18 month old boy who was in a Syrian refugee camp in Myrsini, Lechaina, Greece drowned and received no medical attention (Indymedia, 2016). The camp was overcrowded and when he was found drowning and retrieved from the pool, he was barely clinging to life. The people on the camp first asked a women with a catering company for a ride to the hospital and she firmly denied. They then frantically called the paramedics in hopes that they would come, sadly when the paramedics arrived at the Syrian refugee camp they were advised not to enter because, “bad incidents take place at the refugee camps.” Therefore, the young 18 month old toddler was unable to receive treatment and died at the camp according to Indymedia, a Greek news blogging site. Although this sad story was found to be true, the author of this source allowed some of their anger to overshadow the news story which greatly takes away from the article’s credibility. The author relies on appeal to emotion and uses