I. Read the articles. Comment on the meaning of the highlighted words and expressions; summarize the text.

Lebanese open homes to “Arab brothers” fleeing Syria

By Catriona Davies and Reema Adhami, for CNN

Mahmoud Orabi fled his hometown in southern Syria to cross the border into neighboring Lebanon wearing only his pajamas. Nearly a month later, he is still wearing the same clothes and has no idea when he and his family will be able to return home. Orabi and his family were among thousands of Syrians who fled their town last month after the military bombardment. A large proportion of the town's men were arrested and most of those who fled were women and children, according to Amnesty International.

“My whole family came with me, no one stayed there in Syria. I have one boy who was shot and another who was jailed in Syria,” said Orabi. “We decided to come to Lebanon because of the bad scene back home; killing, oppression, destruction, and what can I say. While on the way, they shot at us, a young man and lady died.”

An estimated 4,000 people have crossed from Syria into Lebanon fleeing violence in recent weeks, according to the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), although it said accurate numbers are difficult to confirm. The majority of those who have fled are staying with Lebanese families in northern Lebanon, some with friends or extended family, but many with strangers who have opened their homes to the refugees. The Lebanese authorities and international organizations such as UNHCR have assisted by distributing mattresses, blankets and food kits, and providing medical assistance, but much of the burden has fallen on ordinary families.

II. Read the information below. Compare the concepts “Refugees” and “Internally displaced persons”

Who is a Refugee?

People who are forced to flee their homes due to persecution,whether on an individual basis or aspart ofa mass exodus due to political, religious, military or other problems,are known as refugees.. As defined in the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the Refugee Convention), a refugee is defined as a person who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country or return there because there is a fear of persecution...”

A special category are people who may have been forced to flee their homes for the same reasons as refugees but they have not crossed an international border. These people are called internally displaced persons. By the end of 2000, there were approximately 11.5 million refugees around the world who had fled their countries for a variety of reasons and an even greater number of internally displaced persons, between 20 - 25 million, who had abandoned their homes for similar reasons. Increasingly the majority of current conflicts in the world involve disputes between political or ethnic groups within countries rather than wars between countries. Given this trend, the number of persons caught up in conflicts in their own countries and forced to leave their homes is likely to increase.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 767