CAHR staff speaks on Syrian refugee crisis at UN

Posted on 18 June 2014

Martin Jones addressed issues surrounding the Syrian refugee crisis in Egypt at the UNHCR's Annual Consultations with NGOs in Geneva.

On June 18th, Martin Jones addressed UNHCR's Annual Consultations with NGOs in Geneva on the problems facing and responses to the Syrian refugee crisis in Egypt. Over the past year, Egypt has seen a mass influx of Syrians and an overall tripling of its refugee population. Martin outlined the challenges faced by civil society organisations responding to the crisis in Egypt and discussed some of the successes of the Egyptian Foundation for Refugee Rights (EFRR) and other organisations. "In Egypt we are not talking about sheer numbers but about people with devastating human stories, and not simply about rights violations, but examples of resilience and agency despite the difficulties," said Martin as part of his address.

As well as being a lecturer at the Centre, Martin is the co-founder and vice-chairman of EFRR, the largest provider of legal aid to refugees in Egypt. UNHCR's Annual Consultations with NGOs is the largest civil society-UN forum on refugee issues, bringing together 485 NGO representatives from 82 countries to plan and coordinate responses to refugee situations.