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Millennium Development Goals in Syria

Water shortage in Damascus © Hugh Macleod / United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network

Syria does not experience extreme poverty by the standard $1 per day measure adopted for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – fewer than 0.5% of the population fall below this threshold. However, in a country where military spending exceeds the budgets for health and education combined, progress in human development is constrained. A UNDP report published in 2005 found that the percentage living below a poverty line defined as the cost of basic food and non-food needs dropped only from 14.3% to 11.4% in the period 1997-2004 with unemployment rising throughout those years. Furthermore, a wider definition of poverty captured over 30% of the population.

The problem is particularly acute in the rural northeastern region which seems trapped in a spiral of poor or non-existent education, low enrolment for girls and absence of employment opportunities. University enrolment is falling countrywide and reform of education is acknowledged to be a priority.

Statistics are more favourable in the health sector where both child and infant mortality rates fell by about 50% in the 1997-2004 period. Nevertheless, the dual pressure of a high rate of population increase and lack of investment ensures that the majority of Syrians endure poor quality of health services, the middle classes often resorting to private prescriptions and treatment.

The Economy in Syria

Whilst formal strategy such as the 10th 5 year plan 2006-2010 affirms commitment to human development and the MDGs in Syria, the general direction of economic policy contains ominous signs for lower income groups. There has been a gradual shift away from a centrally planned economy to a more modern open market system culminating in a 2007 IMF appraisal which purrs with pleasure at Syria’s new orthodoxy in pursuit of neoliberal benchmarks. The country is also preparing the ground for application to join the World Trade Organisation.

These reforms threaten the poor in two ways. Firstly, subsidies on everyday goods, which may amount to as much as 20% of GDP in 2008, are to be phased out by 2012; secondly, inefficient state-owned enterprises are likely to be tightened up or sold. Current unemployment is believed to be at least 20% with a considerable proportion of Syrian labour engaged in Lebanon. The government will be anxious to prevent public unrest such as experienced in Iran and Yemen in similar circumstances.

A further cloud on the economic horizon is the rapid depletion of Syria’s oil revenues which have in the past contributed as much as half of national income but which may be exhausted by 2012. In the last decade output has fallen from 600,000 to 380,000 barrels per day. Other key contributors to the economy are agriculture and remittances from Syrians living abroad.
Politics in Syria

Political reform has been contemplated rather less readily than economic liberalisation. The country lives in the shadow of Hafiz al-Asad, who was the country’s president for over thirty years until his death in 2000. Al-Asad enforced authoritarian rule through networks of patronage, encouraging membership of the Syrian Ba’ath Party, and by expanding the public sector and the military.

Bashar al Asad

The succession of Bashar al-Asad to the presidency after his father’s death offered an unprecedented opportunity for the Syrian civil society movement to demand political reform. During the ensuing short period of relative openness in 2000, referred to as the ‘Damascus Spring’, political prisoners were released and restrictions on the media and political dissent were eased. These reforms were, however, too much for the military, the Ba’ath Party and the elites, on whose support Bashar depended, and soon Syria’s political scene reverted to its old authoritarian ways.

The parliamentary and presidential elections of 2007 serve to illustrate the system. 170 out of 250 seats in the Assembly of People are reserved for Baath Party members; all candidates for election to the remaining seats are vetted and the winners tend to be rich businessmen with no interest in upsetting the government. This parliament has no autonomous legislative powers but instead debates bills presented by the government. Bashar was the sole candidate in the presidential election, known as a “referendum”, which duly awarded him a further 7 year term of office.

The most important challenges to the secular and socialist Ba’ath regime have come from Islamic groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood. Although the Brotherhood remains banned in Syria with its leader in exile, there has been a strong revival of the practice of Islamic faith.

Even though Syria is an authoritarian police state, which has been under a state of emergency for more than forty years, it can claim to have an active civil society with independent charitable and professional organisations, clubs and churches. However, legislation governing these groups permits government officials to intervene by taking board positions or attending meetings. Human Rights in Syria

Islamic faith in secular Syria © Hugh Macleod / United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network

Human rights organisations are however denied registration. An attempt in 2006 by the European Union to fund a walk-in centre for human rights advice foundered when it was peremptorily closed down with its leader, Anwar Bunni, subsequently sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for questioning the government’s relationship with Lebanon.

Despite the one-sided nature of the 2007 elections, the authorities still took the precaution of arresting dissidents in the run-up to the voting. Hundreds of political prisoners are still detained for long periods of time without trial, or are condemned to serve sentences imposed after unfair trials. Even though Syria joined the UN Convention Against Torture in August 2004, human rights groups believe that torture is routinely practised and that trials are concluded by reference to confessions obtained under torture. Concerns also focus on discrimination against minority Kurdish communities whose language is banned in schools and workplace despite making up 10% of the population. As many as 300,000 Kurds are believed to be “stateless” having no rights to public services or jobs.

Although Syria’s constitution supposedly guarantees equality for both sexes, civil society points to the weakness of legislation relating to marriage. The most notorious abuses surround the crimes of domestic violence, rape and so-called ‘honour killings’ which draw inadequate response from the police and judicial system.

Iraqi refugees in Syria © United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network

Attitudes towards Syria underwent rapid revision during 2007 as the Iraq refugee crisis unravelled and Syria became by far the most generous receiving country. By February the head of the UN Refugee Agency praised Syria for its open-handed welcome to the refugees, offering free education and health services, despite arrivals swelling at one stage to more than 2,000 every day. Then, as the total reached a staggering 1.4 million, overwhelming housing and essential services, the Syrian government was forced to call a halt through visa restrictions. In the absence of any significant financial support from the US, funding the estimated costs of $1 billion pa is proving impossible. The World Food Programme is now supporting over 100,000 refugees. Indeed the hardships experienced combined with news of apparently calmer conditions inside Iraq has persuaded numbers of the refugees to retrace their steps.

Syria already hosts 400,000 Palestinian refugees dating back to the 1948 exodus from Palestine.
Conflict in Syria

That Syria should take such a prominent role in smoothing over the disastrous consequences of the US-led invasion mocked the Bush Administration’s decision to ignore the central recommendation of James Baker’s Iraq Study Group to view Syria as integral to a Middle East solution. Hitherto the US government has made Syria a whipping boy for criticism, blaming the country for supporting militant groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and for allowing suicide bombers from Saudi Arabia and Sudan to enter Iraq over the Syrian border.

Of course Israel and the fate of the Palestinians have been Syria’s dominant foreign policy concerns, especially since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war which was catastrophic for Syria’s ill-prepared armed forces, losing the Golan Heights to Israel. In order to recover lost territory and Arab pride, Damascus launched an attack on Israel in co-operation with Egypt in 1973. Syria was however unable to recover lost territory, and has been trying to get back the Golan Heights through diplomacy ever since. By accepting the UN Security Council Resolution 338 after the 1973 war, Syria for the first time formally accepted Israel’s right to exist. A formal peace agreement has never been signed although both sides have during 2007 said that they are willing to negotiate. Whilst extremely sensitive, a settlement on the Golan Heights is viewed as one of the less intractable issues of Middle East conflict resolution.

Syria’s military presence in Lebanon during and after the civil war created the opportunity for deep political influence in that country. This was severely disrupted in February 2005 by the assassination of the anti-Syrian former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Mass demonstrations in Lebanon, supported by international outrage, forced the withdrawal of Syrian troops and intensified Syria's diplomatic isolation. The subsequent UN inquiry has implicated senior officials from both Syria and Lebanon and a tribunal of investigation is scheduled to take place in the Netherlands. Syria refuses to recognise the tribunal and is believed to be encouraging Syrian sympathisers in Lebanon to obstruct its progress.
Information and Media in Syria

All Syrian media is either controlled or run by the state and enjoys no freedoms; private TV and radio stations struggle for survival in the face of bureaucracy, and journalists who do not censor themselves are forced into exile.

The new media revolution has severely hampered the extent to which the Syrian government is able to censor the information accessed or produced by its citizens. The use of satellite dishes has been severely discouraged by the regime, websites are censored and Internet access carefully monitored. Remaining close to the bottom of the Press Freedom Index, Syria is repeatedly singled out for criticism by Reporters Without Borders.

As a result, Syria lags behind its neighbours in the development of a digital society. The costs of setting up and maintaining an Internet connection are too high for the great majority. However, some steps have been taken to make information and communications technologies (ICTs) more accessible to ordinary Syrians. The Ministry of Information and Technology, in co-operation with UNDP, has opened ICT telecentres accessible to rural communities.
The Environment in Syria

As with most countries in this region, water management is critical. The water table in Damascus has fallen from a level of 50m to 200m in the last 20 years and households live with daily shutdowns of the supply. Beyond the cities, depletion of groundwater together with inappropriate land use is leading to desertification with inevitable concerns about food production and the rural economy. All aspects of waste management are primitive.



The OneWorld Syria Guide was first published in February 2005 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Minna Lyytikäinen

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