The Missing Link: The centrality of protection in early recovery in Syria

Syria’s crisis is far from over. After 13 years of war, the Syrian crisis remains a critical Protection crisis and ranks among the most substantial displacement crises globally, with 7.2 million people internally displaced and 16.7 million in need of humanitarian aid. 

90% of Syrians now live in poverty. Public services are collapsing under the weight of economic decline, funding shortfalls, and infrastructure damage. Basic needs like food, shelter, and healthcare are out of reach for millions.  

This situation has amplified the prevalence of detrimental coping strategies like child labor and child marriage. It has also further limited access to justice, civil documentation, and housing, land, and property rights.

The persistent lack of access to basic and specialized services in a secure and respectful manner has led to a progressive increase in emotional and psychological distress inflicted daily on individuals and communities. 

Individuals and communities deprived of their rights, including the right of redress, often find true recovery unachievable. A lack of recovery, in turn, compromises their capacity to assert and protect their rights, leading to a complex causal dilemma. Evidence from program-based initiatives highlights the imperative for early recovery efforts to prioritize protection at the core, and for protection programming to optimize its integration within early recovery efforts to address these intertwined challenges. 

Despite efforts, protection activities are frequently marginalized in early recovery programming, sometimes incorrectly classified as short-term emergency responses. This perspective overlooks the crucial role of enabling access to justice, documentation, psychological well-being, and fostering collaboration with diverse stakeholders to enable the implementation of essential protective reforms and policies.

Without these actions to eradicate harmful coping mechanisms, individuals and communities will continue to encounter barriers to healing, confidence-building, and dignified reconstruction of their lives. 

Our new report, The Missing Link: The Centrality of Protection in Early Recovery in Syria, highlights the intricate connections between early recovery and protection environment and programming—and what must change to ensure Protection and recovery programming are both bringing effective, sustainable and principled, outcomes.