http://www.worldfinance.

com/infrastructure-investment/governmentpolicy/refugees-are-an-economic-benefit-not-burden-to-europe
https://fee.org/articles/4-selfish-reasons-to-take-in-syrian-refugees/
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/09/world/welcome-syrian-refugees-countries/
http://www.care-international.org/home-page/emergency-response/spotlight-syrianrefugees
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/germany-online-universityrefugees_us_56338223e4b00aa54a4dcb4b

After the Paris attacks, many have noted that refugees pose little
risk to the United States. Since the refugee program began in 1980,
refugees have notcommitted any acts of terrorism in the United
States.
If you include all humanitarian admissions under the Office of
Refugee Resettlement asylees, refugees, and others since
1980, there have been just two terrorists out of 7.5 million, and
these two came as children and grew up in America, not abroad. It
took Americans less than 6 hours on any given day last year to
kill more people than all US refugees and asylees have ever killed
through terrorism. Moreover, no Syrian refugee has ever been
charged with even aiding or attempting terrorism.
The threat is clearly minute. But there is obviously always some risk
in accepting new people into any country. People of all religions and
all nationalities carry some risk, so many have asked why we would
accept even the slightest risk after the Paris attacks.
We could argue that the humanitarian benefits to the refugees
themselves should be enough. We should accept refugees because
failure to do so would be abandoning our moral obligations. But
since some dismiss the humanitarian argument as being
insubstantial, here are four non-humanitarian reasons to take in
refugees.
1. Accepting refugees is necessary to defeat ISIS.

As of this summer, American airstrikes had killed nearly 15,000

Islamic State militants, yet every fighter killed has been replaced by
new recruits drawn by a constant stream of battlefield propaganda.
This means that the propaganda war is as important as the ground
war.
The US is losing the propaganda war, and so it is losing the actual
war. ISIS appears to be recruiting 1,000 new fighters every month
and has held essentially same territory since the US began bombing.
If the US announced that it was turning away all Syrian refugees,
ISIS would immediately incorporate this decision into its recruitment
campaign.
Rejecting Muslim refugees who ISIS has condemned as traitors
and apostates would seemingly confirm its narrative that the
West rejects Muslims. In fact, ISIS has specifically said its
attacks are intended to:
compel the Crusaders to actively destroy the grayzone themselves
Muslims in the West will quickly find themselves between one of two
choices, they either apostatize or they [emigrate] to the Islamic
State and thereby escape persecution from the Crusader
governments and citizens.
In other words, ISISs strategy is to goad the West into turning
against Muslims, driving people back to its caliphate. Forcing
refugees back toward Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who refugees
say that they are fleeing, would play into ISISs hands and actively
aid the recruitment that has already proven to be instrumental to
their success.
2. Refugee camps help terrorists recruit.
Its not just propaganda either. The existence of squalid refugees
camps near the theater of conflict aids terrorist recruitment. A 2013
study in International Interactions found that large numbers of

refugees placed in countries that have had historic conflicts with the
refugees country of origin increases the risk of terrorism.
As my colleague Josh Hampson has written, As the Middle East has
long had interstate rivalry and conflict, moving refugees as far from
the areas of conflict as possible must be strongly considered.
Ann Speckhard of Georgetown University, a psychiatrist who has
studied terrorist psychology, adds, Experience from many conflict
zones teaches us that the longer these refugees are left to languish
in despair in camps the more prone they become to radicalization.
3. Refugees can be national security assets.
Refugees can also contribute to the fight against the Islamic State in
highly valuable ways. During the Iraq War, for example, 50,000
Iraqis aided the US by being interpreters or informants. Cutting off
refugees would abandon our commitment to them.
US intelligence officials have complained for years about their lack
of intelligence on ISIS. One official told the LA Times in 2014 that
Syria was a black hole. Patrick Eddington, a former-CIA intelligence
officer, calls Syrian refugees the single best source of information
on life inside ISIS controlled territory.
Yet if we abandon our allies in Iraq, who will provide the intelligence
we need in Syria? Who will risk their lives if they know that the US
will never hold up its commitment to them? Betsy Fisher of the
International Refugee Assistance Project told Politico this week that
without the promise of receiving help in return to their services, I
dont think any rational person would help us.
4. Refugees are an economic benefit.
Kalena Cortes of Texas A&M University has demonstrated that
refugees had labor market outcomes that exceeded non-refugee
immigrants. The study found that refugees that arrived between

1975 and 1980 mainly Cubans and Vietnamese earned 20%

more, worked 4% more hours, and improved their English skills by
11% relative to economic immigrants.
Cortes explains that lacking the option of emigrating back to their
homeland, refugee immigrants have a longer time horizon in the
host country, and hence, may be more inclined to invest in countryspecific human capital. Syrian immigrants even hadhigher average
earnings last year than native-born Americans.
Other studies have come to similarly positive conclusions about the
refugees effect on native-born Americans. Giovanni Peri of UC
Davis teamed up with Mette Foged of the University of Copenhagen
to study the effect of 80,000 Iraqi, Bosnian, and Somalian refugees
in Denmark. They found that the less-skilled refugees pushed the
less educated native workers to pursue more complex and less
manual-intensive occupations. Areas with refugees saw faster wage
growth than areas without them. These conclusions are the same as
those for US citizens in Miami who witnessed a massive influx of
Cuban asylees in the 1980s.
Refugees have also helped rebuild and grow many communities
around the country. As a Fiscal Policy Institute report from this year
shows, small business owners have restored areas in Detroit,
Minneapolis, Nashville, Philadelphia, and other US cities. After an
influx of refugees and immigrants into Minneapolis, for example,
foreign residents opened more than 5,000 new businesses. In
Philadelphia, the number is more than 13,000. Most of these new
businesses opened in poorer areas, revitalizing the cities
neighborhoods. Refugees are economic stimulus.
Obviously, denying people the opportunity to escape persecution is
inhumane, so our moral impulses should be reason enough to
accept a very small risk on behalf of Syrian refugees who have
experienced unfathomable horrors.

Yet even if some Americans are unmoved by their plight, there are
many other sound reasons to welcome refugees into the United
States. This would prove to be a life-changing benefit to not only
Syrian refugees escaping unspeakable strife, but to all
Americans whatever their values.

CARE is working with host country governments, the United Nations, and
international and local organizations to help refugees and host communities meet
their most urgent needs and protect their dignity. CARE is providing life-saving and
education services to Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen, Turkey,
Greece and the Balkans. CARE is an impartial and neutral organization. Our
support to families affected by the crisis in Syria is based on humanitarian needs
alone, no matter which religion, political affiliation or ethnicity people belong to.

CARE in Jordan
Syrian refugees in Jordan: 657,000
CARE set up refugee centres in East Amman, Zarqa, Irbid and Mafraq, as well as
providing community services in the Azraq refugee camp. CARE is also partnering
with two community-based organisations in Azraq town. CARE volunteers, who are
refugees themselves, assist in organizing and preparing distributions of relief
supplies. We provide emergency cash assistance to pay for basic living costs,
including rent, food, health services and essential household items. CARE also
assists with vital information on how refugees can access further health, legal and
social support.
In addition, we are providing psychosocial assistance to women, men and children
helping them to cope with their experience of violence, flight and
loss of family and friends. CARE has helped families in Jordan to cope during the
cold winter, distributing cash to buy heaters, blankets and fuel refills to refugees. As
host communities have also been severely impacted by increased accommodation
and living costs, CARE works with most vulnerable host families to address their
needs.

CARE Jordan focuses on supporting refugees in urban areas of Jordan. In addition,

CARE partners with UNHCR and other agencies to provide vital services in Azraq
refugee camp, which since May 2016 has reached full capacity with hosting more
than 50,000 people. CARE offers information to refugees as they arrive in the camp
and runs community centres with a variety of recreational and psychosocial
activities for women, men and children. The centres also serve as the main point of
contact where refugees can report complaints or feedback. CARE also identifies
community representatives and organizes refugee committees giving them a voice
in camp decision making.
Read here our factsheet about CARE's work in the Azraq camp.

CARE in Lebanon
Syrian refugees in Lebanon: over 1 million
In Lebanon, CARE meets refugees most basic and pressing needs, mainly providing
water, sanitation and hygiene assistance as well as non-food items and cash
assistance in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and Northern Governorates.
This includes the improvement of drainage systems, distribution of sanitary items,
and the provision of hygiene sessions. CARE also works with municipalities to
improve water supply and sanitation infrastructure for refugees as well as for host
communities. Previously, CARE has distributed clothes vouchers to Syrian refugee
children living in informal tented settlements and collective centres in Mount
Lebanon. CARE in Lebanon has developed an urban specific community based
approach to improve the living conditions of vulnerable refugee and host
communities. The Neighborhood Approach focuses on improvements to whole
buildings and streets, communal spaces, rather than solely rehabilitation of
individual family units.
In the winter, CARE has helped families in both Mount and North Lebanon regions to
prepare for and cope with the cold winter, distributing cash for heaters and fuel,
blankets and floor mats.
Read here our factsheet about CARE's work in the Lebanon.

CARE in Turkey
Syrian refugees in Turkey: 2.7 million

Following the huge influx of Syrian refugees in fall 2014, CARE immediately began
assessing needs and coordinating with Turkish authorities and other organizations
to support refugees with food, safe drinking water and hygiene items. Months later,
massive humanitarian needs have not changed.
CARE is responding with much-needed cash assistance, hygiene promotion, dignity
kits for women and the elderly, and establishing community groups that address
protection issues, including psychosocial needs, early marriage, and gender-based
violence. CARE is doing its best to meet the most pressing needs of urban refugees
in the border towns of southern Turkey. However, the great number of refugees in
the country - the biggest registered in any single country - highlights the
significant gaps between needs and response that still persist, including meeting
basic food and nutrition needs, health, protection, water safety and hygiene.

CARE in Egypt
Syrian refugees in Egypt: 117,000+
CARE raises awareness among the refugees of sexual exploitation and other forms
of gender-based violence to protect them from any form of abuse and raise
awareness for legal regulations in Egypt in regards
to violence. CARE also offers legal assistance to individual cases.
In collaboration with different partners and specialists CARE empowers family
members to oppose harmful practice and conducts special sessions on child abuse
for children and parents.
CARE also assists refugees coping with their trauma through psychosocial programs
and phone helplines for women and men who have faced gender-based violence.
Psychosocial support can be in the form of therapy sessions and support groups as
well as through creative approaches such as arts therapy, drama and sports
activities.

CARE in Yemen
Estimated number of Syrian refugees and asylum seekers in Yemen: Up to
30,000
CARE Yemen has been supporting vulnerable displaced Syrians through the
provision of enhanced emergency protection, shelter and non-food items. CARE
Yemen aims to contribute to the better identification of

the needs of displaced Syrians in Yemen, providing humanitarian actors with a

detailed analysis of the number of Syrians in need of lifesaving assistance and how
to best address their needs. CARE Yemen seeks
to refer critical cases of displaced Syrians to specialised protection services.
CARE is also providing vulnerable and newly displaced Syrians with rent support
and emergency non-food items.

CARE in the Balkans

Estimated number of refugees and asylum seekers in the Balkans: 541,500
In 2015, more than 579,500 refugees and migrants were registered as passing
through the Western Balkan Route and between January 1 st and 18th of February
2016 97,400 refugees and migrants were estimated to have entered Croatia, and
87,600 people arrived in Serbia. The number of refugees currently stationed in the
area is large as many are still waiting to cross the border into Europe.
CARE is responding by distributing food packages, as well as warm clothes,
raincoats and shoes for in preparation for winter. CARE is also providing basic
hygiene items. CARE has been supporting the deployment of volunteers to one-stop
centers for refugees as well as providing interpreters and information services and
capacity building in the centers.

CARE in Greece
Estimated number of refugees and asylum seekers in the Greece: 52,500
Since the beginning of 2016 until May, there have been 157,100 arrivals by sea in
Greece (being 49 percent from Syria), compared to 856,000 arrivals in 2015. CARE
supports the humanitarian response in Greece by working with partner
organizations to distribute relief items such as cash vouchers for food as well as
emergency kits, which include basic hygiene items for women, infants and elderly.

Kiron University, which launched with its first students this October, has turned its utopian vision
into reality using only the power of online donations and a rapidly expanding team of around 100
volunteers.

The campaign, which ends Friday, asked for 120,000, but has so far raised 233,557
(about $250,000).
Based in Berlin, Germany, the university runs all of its courses online and students have to
submit proof of their refugee status in order to enroll.
Currently in a test stage limited to 1,200 students, the university has plans to provide free
higher education for all refugees who are able to gain access to the internet via computer,
tablet or smart phone, wherever they are in the world.
How does it work

Markus Kressler, a co-founder of Kiron, told CNN how the project came about: "The vision
came from meeting with and speaking to refugees from Syria last year in Istanbul, just
before the massive migration into Europe happened.
"They were clearly a good class of people, who wanted to learn and contribute to society."
He added: "One big barrier for displaced people is that they cannot enroll in normal
universities because they do not have access to the proper paperwork. Another barrier is
high fees.
"We developed Kiron to be the ideal university for refugees, so, we removed both of these
barriers. The other thing we do is to make sure that all our courses are accessible online, so
students can continue their courses wherever they end up."
Markus Kressler, Co-Founder of Kiron
The two points are connected: it is only possible to educate students so cheaply by relying
on online courses produced by other universities.
Kiron uses courses put online by existing universities -- including Harvard, Yale, Cambridge
and MIT -- to provide courses in engineering, computer science, business administration,

architecture and intercultural studies. The courses are certified by the European Credit
Transfer System, making each degree program internationally recognized.
However, that's not to say Kiron does not have input in its degree programs. The university
produces its own learning materials, third-party content and e-learning technology.

Europe migrant crisis: More came last month than in '14

The innovative education technology at the heart of the Kiron project is largely down to Juan
David Mendieta, Head of Technology at Kiron University, and his team of volunteer
developers, who are based in Brussels.
"A bank has kindly given us the sponsorship for an office in Brussels," Mendieta told CNN.
"The location is ideal because of the proximity to the European Parliament and NGOs."
The university also provides special language courses, laptops, internet access and even
psychological counseling for its students.
The students

Kashif Kazmi, a refugee from Pakistan and student of Kiron, told CNN: "Being a part of
Kiron has been wonderful for me. I feel like I am now really starting to integrate with society.
As it is hard for refugees to find work immediately in a new country, many have nothing to
do all day.
"Kiron University allows you to help yourself. It makes you want to contribute and shows you
how this is possible."
Kazmi entered Germany in late July. A minority Shiite Muslim, he fled his country -- and left
his family behind -- after high school because of the threat of the Pakistani Taliban.
Kashif Kazmi, student spokesperson for Kiron University
Unable to provide documents proving he'd graduated from high school, and without much
money, Kiron was Kazmi's only hope for higher education. He now plans to study
mechanical engineering in Berlin, his new home.

"One of the great things about Kiron is that the courses our flexible. This means that
students are able to do paid work, whilst studying. I am currently looking for a job, so that I
can do this," Kazmi said.
Degree courses at the university will typically last three years, as is the norm in Europe.
The first two years will be completed online, but in their third year, students will have the
chance to study on campus at established universities.
The initial 1200 places at Kiron were filled four months before the start of term. The
university hopes to welcome 10,000 students next year.
What's next for Kiron?

Kiron has suffered from some of the teething problems that are inevitable with ambitious
projects. Kressler admits the need for more "physical spaces" and student hubs across
Europe, so that students can meet up more often, for example. This would allow students to
have something closer to a traditional university experience.
Another problem is funding.
"The 200,000 euros we have raised so far from crowd-funding is great, however our
volunteers can't afford to work without a salary forever and we need more investment to
fund more students," Mendieta said.
When asked what advice he would give to others willing to help in the refugee crisis,
Kressler said: "Just start doing something. The German mentality is very much to make
sure everything thing is perfect and every problem is solved before doing something.
"I'd say just do it and you can solve the problems along the way."

I speak not for myself but for those without voice... those who have fought
for their rights... their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with
dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated.

Malala Yousafzai