scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Author

Joseph O'Rourke

Bio: Joseph O'Rourke is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Human rights & Refugee. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 52 citations.

Papers
More filters
Journal Article
TL;DR: In the early morning hours of August 21, 2013, rockets carrying chemical weapons struck outside the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing an estimated 1429 people, including 426 children as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: I. INTRODUCTION In the early morning hours of August 21, 2013, rockets carrying chemical weapons struck outside the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing an estimated 1429 people, including 426 children. (1) The U.S. government concluded, with "high confidence," that the Syrian government, which was known to have stockpiles of various chemical weapons, perpetrated the attack. (2) While the brutal nature of this attack may be surprising to most, it is just one example of many in which the Syrian government utilized force against its own population. (3) The Syrian Civil War has been described as "the biggest humanitarian catastrophe of this century." (4) It began in March of 2011 "in the wake of the Arab Spring [and] has evolved into a brutal and bloody civil war between the Assad Regime and opposition forces." (5) While it was the August chemical weapon attack that nearly entangled the United States in an armed conflict with Assad's forces, (6) there are numerous concerns associated with this conflict that long precede the use of chemical weapons. (7) One such concern involves the growing number of refugees that continue to flee from Syria. (8) Between March 2011 and September 2013, two million refugees fled to neighboring countries, North Africa, and Europe, with 1.8 million leaving the war torn state between September 2012 and September 2013 alone. (9) At the time of this writing, there are 2.8 million refugees. (10) Of that population, it is estimated that thousands have no access to assistance from the international community because they are living outside of refugee camps. (11) Perhaps most startling is that an estimated fifty-two percent of these refugees are children under the age of eighteen. (12) By March of 2014, the number of Syrian child refugees surpassed 1.2 million. (13) Not only are many of these children exposed to traumatic violence and family upheaval during the course of their escape, but many have missed upwards of two years of school and are unable to reenroll in their host countries. (14) This note will consider the international human right to education for child refugees in the context of the Syrian Refugee Crisis. There are numerous provisions in international law aimed at protecting children's right to education. Unfortunately, the flaws in these provisions are notable as political unrest may, at any time, deny an entire generation of children an education. Part II will discuss the genesis of the Syrian Refugee Crisis, briefly examining the origins of the civil war. Part III will discuss the refugee crisis that has emerged from that war in the context of the most effected host countries. In addition, particular attention will be directed at the actions taken by each host country to expand access to education for Syrian child refugees. Part IV will discuss the role of international law in protecting the right to education and how the right to education's status as a "second-generation human right" severely limits its applicability in the context of the Syrian crisis. (15) Part V will address the current problems facing the international community with respect to obtaining sufficient humanitarian aid for those adversely affected by the Syrian Crisis. It will also consider why international law is unable to compel wealthy nations to contribute humanitarian aid, by examining the limitations of the novel concept of Responsibility to Protect. Through this discussion it will become evident that international law is currently unequipped to protect second-generation human rights in the context of extraordinary crises akin to the Syrian Refugee Crisis. In order for future displaced populations to fully realize their secondgeneration human rights, international law must respond to the deficiencies highlighted in this note. II, THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR The Syrian Civil War began in March 2011 as a dispute between the government of Bashar al-Assad and Syrian citizens dissenting from his regime. …

52 citations


Cited by
More filters
Book ChapterDOI
01 Oct 2020

28 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the right to education and social inclusion of refugee children in the school system from a human rights perspective and propose that schools play a critical role in helping refugee children find some sense of safety and helping maximize their learning potential.
Abstract: The number of refugees worldwide has increased exponentially in recent years, and children represent more than half of the refugee population. The needs of refugee children are complex. Many have traumatic experiences and disrupted education, and are then tasked with adapting to a new culture. The literature emphasizes the importance of education in determining the future of young refugees and its potential to transform lives for those who have access to it. This article will focus on the right to education and social inclusion of refugee children in the school system from a human rights perspective. The author proposes that schools play a critical role in helping refugee children find some sense of safety and helping maximize their learning potential. This human rights and social inclusion approach requires active participation from government, school administration, the ESL and mainstream teachers, the social workers, students and their parents, refugee students and their parents, and the community to partner together to create an environment for active learning and socialization for productive citizenry in the USA. The author maintains that social work is in a unique position and suggests strategies that facilitate a broader effort toward social inclusion which is vital to the well-being of refugee children and allows them to become an integral part of society.

25 citations