SINCE the eruption of the Syrian revolution two years ago, floods of Syrian refugees started flowing into the neighbouring countries of Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon to eventually reach Egypt in large numbers, which have exceeded 100,000 according to an official at the Foreign Ministry of Egypt. Despite the political and economic unrest, the Egyptians have experienced since the toppling of the Mubarak regime, no one has showed resentment over receiving this high number of Syrian refugees in the country. Instead, the majority of Egyptians have expressed real pity and sorrow for their Syrian brothers and sisters for the inhuman barbaric assaults Bashar al-Assad's regime has directed against them. However, we could not claim that the Syrian refugees enjoy real care from the Egyptians, the authorities or the people. It is true that the Syrians consider Egypt as one of the best choices if compared to the other neighbouring countries, although they have still not enjoyed the appropriate assistance war refugees should have received. This could be attributed to the huge problems the people are passing through under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood or because of the attempt of some parties to utilise the Syrian crisis to serve their own agenda. Some Islamists have suggested solving problem of the Syrian refugees in part with calls for Egyptian men to marry the Syrian women who lost their breadwinners in the armed conflict with Bashar's forces. Such calls have been received with loud criticism from human rights organisations and the National Council for Women, as well as the International Union for Egyptian Women that recently sent a memo to President Morsi and other officials concerned urging them to combat this occurrence. They warned that cases of such marriages, which they consider as a sort of human trafficking, have reached around 12,000 in a single year. The union stated that Syrian women are made available for marriage to Egyptian men in exchange for LE500 per wife! Of course, while inter-Arab marriages are very common in the region, coming under such circumstances of times of war and flux of refugees, it has become very shameful for the image of the Arab fraternity. Egypt as the big sister of the Arab countries, has always been the ideal shelter for any citizen fleeing injustice or death in their home countries. It was the safe haven for the Kuwaitis during the Iraqi invasion, a shelter to thousands of Iraqis during the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq and before them it has been the shelter and a second home to the Palestinians for more than fifty years since the Catastrophe. Throughout all these crises, citizens of these Arab countries have been accustomed to living safely in Egypt with dignity. So, if Egypt has come to suffer economic hardship today, this does not mean turning it into a spot of human trafficking. Even if the majority of Egyptians suffer shortages these days, Egypt can still offer assistance, protection and sustenance with dignity to the Syrian refugees by seeking help of the UN refugee agency and the donor countries. A good step has already been taken in that direction when the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) launched in co-operation with a number of Egyptian non-governmental organisations a community centre for Syrians living in 6th October City. The centre aims to become a venue where Syrian refugees in Egypt can gather to exchange information and organise social activities and workshops. Although 6th October City, on the outskirts of Cairo, has a large community of Syrian refugees, there are still tens of thousands of refugees scattered throughout other new cities outside the capital as well as governorates of Alexandria, Daqahlia, Gharbia and Qena. Meanwhile, one should not ignore the fact that not all Syrian refugees in Egypt are poor. Many rich Syrians fled the violent conflict of the country since its start togther with their funds to go to Egypt and many other countries. Those people purchased houses and created ventures to help them secure a stable living outside their homeland. So to what extent do those rich Syrian citizens assist their poor brothers and sisters in this crisis?A week ago, while shopping at one of the big supermarkets of October. I met a Syrian citizen, who stuffed his trolley with expensive luxurious goods for which he paid more than LE1000 in cash. While in the park of the same supermarket, I met two Syrian young women begging for a few pounds to feed themselves. This image made me wonder how far that man and many others of the like are really aware of the sufferings of those young women from his country. Does he realise that with the value of his shopping bill he could save many from being sexually exploited under the pretext of marriage in return for bread?
