The poor conditions of the Bourj El Barajneh Palestinian camp in  of yet another refugee this summer.

A young man named Ahmad Kassab passed away shortly after being electrocuted by one of the many loose wires that drape the camp’s buildings and streets. The incident is disturbingly common. Camp officials reported that approximately to death over a five year span.

The startling frequency of these accidents means that it won’t be long before Kassab becomes just another statistic in a long list of fatalities caused by the neglect of Palestinian refugees. It seems there is no end to the struggle for these people, who were displaced from their homeland in 1948.

Today, there are over  Palestinian refugees worldwide. In the Bourj El Barajneh camp, there are over  squeezed into just one square kilometer of land. The crumbling infrastructure is covered with a crisscross of electric wires that originate from a rusty and exposed power grid in the center of the camp, known to locals as the “Wall of Death.” Bourj El Barajneh is just one of  in Lebanon, which are in similar circumstances. Without help from the Lebanese government, the inhabitants of the camps are unable to fix the safety issues created by extreme overcrowding.

These dangerous living conditions are a direct result of a lack of funding for permanent solutions to the displacement of Palestinian people. In Lebanon, local laws place extreme , making it nearly impossible for most refugees to make a living.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees () was founded in 1950 to provide direct work and relief programs for displaced Palestinians. Using almost exclusively voluntary  from United Nations member states, primarily the United States, UNRWA has been able to provide some of the basic improvements that these camps so desperately need—but it is not nearly enough.

UNRWA has been especially vital to Palestinians who have sought refuge in Lebanon. This is because Lebanon has refused to grant citizenship to their refugees, which means they are , including access to government-run services such as education, health care and social security. Due to this, UNRWA is the only way for people in camps like Bourj El Barajneh to obtain these services.

Unfortunately, UNRWA’s assistance to Palestinians has been severely hampered in recent years due to chronic underfunding. The program estimated that it would begin 2015 with a . While countries have since reached out to the program to provide additional funding, the fact remains that even with help from UNRWA, the conditions of the refugee camps continue to deteriorate.

Further compounding this problem is the Syrian Civil War, which has displaced another  since it began. Bourj El Barajneh alone added another  to its already severely overcrowded population. Organizations like UNRWA have been forced to redirect funding to aid these new refugees, leaving those already struggling to survive in camps like Bourj El Barajneh with even less assistance than before.

During the 2014 United Nations General Assembly, UNRWA’s deputy commissioner-general, , spoke about how the conflict in Syria has made it difficult for the agency to continue assisting those who were already seeking refuge in places like Lebanon and Jordan.

“Both [Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan] are heavily affected by the crisis in Syria,” Ellis said. “But thankfully we have been able to maintain services for refugees and are even able to provide limited humanitarian assistance.”

“What is becoming increasingly clear, however, is that the agency is stretched beyond its means.” Ellis also described Palestinian refugees as being in a “65-year limbo, counting on the international community to find a solution to their plight.” While the description is accurate, it also underlines the fact that the world has moved on from the displacement of Palestinian people in 1948 without ever providing a permanent solution to the problem.

While UNRWA may be able to provide things like limited educational opportunities for children in refugee camps, most of them will only grow up to realize that there is little chance they will find a job that can provide a wage to sustain a family of their own. Without the resources to relocate, their children will be raised to follow the same path that they did. Thus, the vicious cycle continues.

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has done little to alleviate the dire circumstances of his displaced people.

In 2014,  a group of visiting Israelis that he did not wish to change Israel’s nature by “drowning it with millions of [Palestinian] refugees.”

Perhaps the worst part of Abbas’ statement is that while it expresses concern for himself and Israel, it does not in any way address how he plans to help the millions of suffering Palestinian refugees. Except for in title, Abbas seems to have all but abandoned his people.

While organizations like UNRWA may be able to provide short-term relief, it is imperative that the international community formulates a strategy to save Palestinians. Nobody deserves to live in conditions like that of Bourj El Barajneh and the other refugee camps. Instead of pouring money into aid programs, a majority of which have proved to be unsustainable, nations must focus their resources on providing a permanent home for Palestinian people.

What Next?

In August, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper  his party’s plans to launch a new program that would bring to Canada 10,000 refugees displaced by the Islamic State from Iraq and Syria. Harper’s plans set a model example for countries around the world who could do the same for Palestinians by providing a home, rather than spending money to keep them in run down, overcrowded camps.

As it stands, most Arab countries’ laws make it extremely difficult for refugees to obtain a work permit or visitor’s visa. Instead of helping them, these countries are cutting the last lifelines to society that these people have left.

Of all countries, the United States perhaps has the most to gain by providing a home to many Palestinians. The US has been regularly spending over  a year to help UNRWA maintain aid to Palestinian refugees, and it has now spent over  just to keep these people at the bare minimum standards of living.

By using a program like Harper’s, the US government could bring tens of thousands of educated and skilled refugees to work and live in areas where there are needs for their specific profession. This would allow the US to redirect billions of dollars into its own economy, rather than spending it to keep Palestinians in overcrowded camps. The influx of population would be negligible to a country that already hosts over �����������������Գٲ�.

If the world cannot form a definitive plan of action to save displaced Palestinians, refugees like Ahmad Kassab will continue to perish every day. Those who survive must endure the hardships, with little hope that they will ever be able to have a chance in this life, or return to their home in Palestine.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

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As viewed by most of the world, a Turkish police officer carries the lifeless body of a Syrian child, washed ashore on one of Turkey’s prime tourist resorts. The toddler, later , was found face down in the sand. Observers on the beach captured , and the photographs and videos dominated social media and international news outlets.

Aylan was one of a dozen Syrian refugees who drowned in a failed attempt to cross the Mediterranean to reach the Greek island of Kos. The boy’s mother and 5-year-old brother were found further along the beach—both had drowned.

Circulation of these images multiplied at an alarming rate, sparking online controversy over the ethics of showcasing photographs of a deceased child.

Several news outlets eventually opted to . In Britain, newspapers across the political spectrum united in a decision to feature them on the front page of their publications. Many, such as , incorporated editor’s notes explaining their choice to publish the photos.

“The Independent has taken the decision to publish these images because, among the often glib words about the ‘ongoing migrant crisis,’ it is all too easy to forget the reality of the desperate situation facing many refugees,” the note read. “If these extraordinarily powerful images of a dead Syrian child washed up on a beach don’t change Europe’s attitude to refugees, what will?”

Fleeing the Middle East

The graphic nature of these published images is a “game changer,” giving the world a rare insight into the dire circumstances of the displacement crisis in the Middle East.

Millions of refugees have managed to escape either the violence gripping their homeland, or the harsh conditions of the majority of refugee camps in neighboring countries. Finding a new home is not easy, especially as some of the region’s more lucrative countries have . Many others make it difficult for refugees to relocate with full legal status, rendering them unable to secure aid and employment.

Some news outlets chose not to run the images. Vox Media that the pictures had become “less about compassion than about voyeurism.”

I completely understand the desire not to share, or even glance at the photos of this young child. There is no question these images are extremely distressing. But to those of us who have been following the displacement crisis, the fate of Aylan’s family—while certainly tragic—comes as no surprise.

The (IOM) reported that more than 2,700 people have died this year trying to navigate the Mediterranean into Europe, making it the most deadly migrant crossing point in the world. This is just one of the many dangerous routes taken by desperate refugees who often have no place to go except overcrowded camps in neighboring countries such as Jordan, Turkey or Lebanon.

In a study released this year by the (UNHCR), it was reported that two-thirds of the Syrian refugees in Jordan were living below the international poverty line. With less than $40 a month per person to sustain themselves, refugee households often have to do without the very basic life necessities such as heating, electricity and basic plumbing.

Due to this appalling situation, many refugees rely on assistance from outside sources such as the United Nations World Food Programme. However, the said earlier this year that it was running out of money to feed refugees. It was in early July that the UN agency had already cut its food assistance for 1.6 million.

One image of the young refugee Aylan puts a face to a tragedy impossible to grasp with mere words. His family became one of several thousand who have lost their lives in search of a more humane existence. So while it’s natural not to feel “good” about sharing images of such a tragedy, we must understand the importance of documenting such catastrophic consequences.

Although thousands of migrants have already perished crossing the Mediterranean in 2015, the image of one drowned child has altered the way entire countries are viewing this catastrophe. Up to this point, the international community has struggled to find a permanent solution to the Middle East’s ongoing refugee crisis. Spanning over , this situation can be traced back to the displacement of millions of Palestinians as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1948.

Before Aylan’s family embarked on their final trip together, his aunt Tima Kurdi had been to secure their official Canadian refugee status.

“I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and neighbors who helped me with the bank deposits,” Kurdi told the . “But we couldn’t get them out, and that is why they went in the boat.”

As is the case with thousands of Syrian Kurdish refugees in Turkey, Aylan’s family was refugee status by the United Nations, as well as exit visas by the Turkish government. Without either of these, Citizenship and Immigration Canada was more than likely to reject the family’s request for Canadian refugee status—leaving them no choice but to get on that boat.

Chris Alexander, Canada’s minister of citizenship and immigration, he would be pausing his re-election campaign so he could travel to Ottawa and look further into why the family had been unable to achieve refugee status.

There is no doubt these images were going to encourage people to take a stand—an action from a reaction. It has become extremely difficult for the world’s leaders to ignore the plight of millions of refugees hoping for a better life.

Kim Murphy of The Los Angeles Times stressed how important it is for people to continue to share pictures that provoke emotion and raise awareness of the ongoing displacement crisis.

“The image is not offensive, it is not gory, it is not tasteless—it is merely heartbreaking, and stark testimony of the unfolding human tragedy that is playing out in Syria, Turkey, and Europe, often unwitnessed,” Murphy . “We have written stories about hundreds of migrants found dead in capsized boats, sweltering trucks, and lonely rail lines, but it took a tiny boy on a beach to really bring it home to those readers who may not have yet grasped the magnitude of the migrant crisis.”

The Response

The powerful worldwide reaction generated by these images focuses on additional awareness to countries such as the United States and Britain, who haven’t quite pulled their weight to help alleviate displacement in the Middle East. The International Rescue Committee that the US has resettled only 1,541 of the over 4 million Syrian refugees since the civil war began five years ago. By contrast, Germany is expected to resettle an estimated 800,000 over the next year.

tweeted by Luay al-Khatteeb, nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution, illustrates the disparity of refugee aid between Gulf Arab states and countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Thanks to the voices that have been inspired by these graphic images, there will no doubt be more pressure than ever for these countries to open their borders to refugees in need.

Such was the case when British Prime Minister David Cameron had earlier this year to people fleeing Syria and Afghanistan as a “swarm.” The images of Aylan stirred such public outcry that the United Kingdom reacted to the crisis by it would accept up to 20,000 refugees by 2020.

“The whole country has been deeply moved by the heartbreaking images we have seen over the past few days,” Cameron said. “It is absolutely right that Britain should fulfill its moral responsibility to help those refugees just as we have done so proudly throughout our history.”

Confrontational visuals remain a crucial element of engaging the population and prominent public figures in addressing a solution with meaningful outcomes.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, could it also save a thousand lives?

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51�Թ�’s editorial policy.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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