Dr. Rouba Mhaissen:

The question of whether the Syrian regime cares for its own citizens is an oxymoron. Today we are seeing people who previously supported the regime travelling to Europe to seek asylum, which says a lot. Even the supporters of the regime are now tired. As my colleague has said, people are queueing for several hours to get fuel or bread and so on.

In terms of psychosocial supports, we are dealing with layers and layers of trauma. People had to leave their homes, move to a different city or a different country and some took a boat to yet another country. Some were raped. We deal with children who saw their own parents killed and who had to step over their bodies, who saw genocide in their own towns. Even those who are far away from areas of conflict hear the sound of shelling. All of that accumulates. Added to that today is the isolation of Covid and the fear of not being able to live. We often talk about women and the trauma they suffer, but imagine being a Syrian man who used to provide for his family. Today he is no longer a hero because he is not fighting inside Syria. He is a refugee who cannot earn money for his family. He no longer plays the role of provider and feels totally emasculated. He cannot cry because he is a man and needs to be strong. He cannot be intimate with his wife because he lives with ten other people in a tent. Young people do not see any future. They do not have qualifications and cannot work in the countries in which they are refugees. We are talking about multiple layers of trauma.

We are trying to deal with this in Trócaire through psychosocial support sessions and also through economic development, which also attempts to address psychosocial trauma. I am hopeful because Syria is still on the agenda of this committee. That provides me with hope because, unfortunately, it has fallen off the agenda of too many countries. I am very grateful and optimistic that members here still care and have so many questions about Syria.