Current Situation
Since 2014, Türkiye has been managing the world’s largest population of persons under temporary and international protection. In October 2022, the number of Syrians under temporary protection was over 3.65 million, almost half of whom are children while 46 per cent of Syrians under temporary protection are women and girls.1 Türkiye also hosts approximately 320,000 international protection applicants and status holders from other countries.2
In February 2022, Türkiye opened its borders to over 400,000 people fleeing the war in Ukraine, of which around 40,000 remained in Türkiye by the end of the year, adding to the already significant population of refugees in Türkiye.
In addition to the challenges faced by many refugees due to the protracted nature of their displacement, with the Syria conflict already in its 12th year, at-risk groups including refugee women, children, older persons and people with disabilities have been amongst those worst affected by COVID-19 and the slowest to recover from the impacts of the pandemic.
Action Undertaken
The Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) Türkiye chapter for 2022, largely implemented through national and local public systems and services, supported the Government’s efforts to address the needs of persons under temporary and international protection, host communities, and relevant institutions in line with Türkiye’s inclusive legal and policy framework. This included providing access to services in national systems, such as health, education and social services.
Throughout 2022, 3RP partners embedded the COVID-19 response in all sector activities with a gradual return to normality by mid-2022 enabling more in-person events and direct service delivery in health, education, vocational training, community mobilisation, and engagement with local public institutions.
Projects aiming at employment generation, job retention, vocational training in the agriculture and industrial sector, language training, and capacity reinforcement and support to small and medium enterprises enhanced the self-reliance and resilience of refugees, communities, and institutions.
Priority interventions included information dissemination and protection services to persons at-risk or survivors of violence, key refugee groups and persons with disabilities, while protection trends were monitored to inform multi-sectoral responses. 3RP partners also worked closely with public institutions to support durable solutions and promote social cohesion.
To mitigate the impacts of the pandemic and cost of living crisis, refugees were supported with cash and in-kind assistance to mitigate resorting to negative coping mechanisms while supporting municipalities with capacity building and community infrastructures (e.g. waste management). UN and NGO partners continued working with the Ministry of Family, and Social Services through cash-based assistance modalities and the Conditional Cash Transfer for Education programme to provide a social safety net for the most vulnerable refugees and support refugee families with school-aged children to continue their access to formal education. Educational facilities were also supported to safely increase face-to-face learning while supporting a multi-sectoral response to address the impacts of learning loss due to the pandemic, particularly for the most vulnerable children and youth.
In close collaboration with the Ministry of Health, health support to migrant health centres included mental health and psychosocial activities. Immunisation coverage and free access to COVID-19 treatment and vaccinations were prioritized, while health partners also supported the provision of sexual and reproductive health services.
To ensure that humanitarian programmes continue to reach he most vulnerable individuals and households, disaggregated gender, age and child-sensitive data collection will remain crucial.
1. Republic of Türkiye, Ministry of Interior, Presidency of Migration Management, Temporary Protection, 27 October 2022, https://en.goc.gov.tr/temporaryprotection27
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2. UNHCR, UNHCR Türkiye Operational Update May-July 2022, 26 August 2022,
https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/95132
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