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Syrian refugees: Displaced by war

The Syrian refugee experience in photos, from scenes of joy after arriving to new lands to despair in overwhelmed camps.

A Syrian Kurdish refugee hugs a child after arriving at the Greek island of Lesbos from the Turkish coast. [Manu Brabo/AP]
A Syrian Kurdish refugee hugs a child after arriving at the Greek island of Lesbos from the Turkish coast. [Manu Brabo/AP]
21 Sep 2016

At the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, member states adopted the New York Declaration on Refugees, which ultimately gives officials two more years to negotiate their strategies and obligations on the refugee crisis.

By definition, a refugee is someone who cannot go home due to well-founded fear of violence and persecution.

Pressing on the world leaders’ agenda is the question of Syrian refugees, who because of the raging civil war in Syria, are desperately seeking asylum.

The following scenes are but a glimpse of their daily struggles and occasional joys.

The view from the Turkish side of the border with Syria in Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey. Thousands of Syrian refugees are trying to cross into Turkey. [Lefteris Pitarakis/AP]
The view from the Turkish side of the border with Syria in Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey. Thousands of Syrian refugees are trying to cross into Turkey. [Lefteris Pitarakis/AP]
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Nadim Fawzi Jouriyeh, a Syrian refugee from Homs resettled in the United States, poses with his wife and children. The family enjoys their new community of El Cajon, where many refugees live; some store signs are in Arabic. [Lenny Ignelzi/AP]
Nadim Fawzi Jouriyeh, a Syrian refugee from Homs resettled in the United States, poses with his wife and children. The family enjoys their new community of El Cajon, where many refugees live; some store signs are in Arabic. [Lenny Ignelzi/AP]
Soumaya Zallaan, 17, a Syrian mother from the city of Deir Az Zor, poses with her baby daughter in a tent made of blankets in Greece. Zallaan gave birth while stranded in Idomeni after the Greek-Macedonian border was closed in March. [Petros Giannakouris/AP]
Soumaya Zallaan, 17, a Syrian mother from the city of Deir Az Zor, poses with her baby daughter in a tent made of blankets in Greece. Zallaan gave birth while stranded in Idomeni after the Greek-Macedonian border was closed in March. [Petros Giannakouris/AP]
A refugee child wheels goods around the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, near the border with Syria. [Muhammad Hamed/Reuters]
A refugee child wheels goods around the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, near the border with Syria. [Muhammad Hamed/Reuters]
A Syrian man cooks on a makeshift fire at Ritsona refugee camp north of Athens, which hosts about 600 refugees. The European Union's border agency says the number of arrivals in Greece has increased over the past month. [Petros Giannakouris/AP]
A Syrian man cooks on a makeshift fire at Ritsona refugee camp north of Athens, which hosts about 600 refugees. The European Union's border agency says the number of arrivals in Greece has increased over the past month. [Petros Giannakouris/AP]
Housaida, a Syrian child, rests inside the Spanish vessel Astral after being rescued by the Spanish NGO Proactiva off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea. [Giorgos Moutafis/Reuters]
Housaida, a Syrian child, rests inside the Spanish vessel Astral after being rescued by the Spanish NGO Proactiva off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea. [Giorgos Moutafis/Reuters]
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Syrian children attend class in a home for a refugee family turned into a makeshift school, in Lebanon's Kab Elias camp. The UNHCR has warned that more than half of refugee children do not attend school. [Bilal Hussein/AP]
Syrian children attend class in a home for a refugee family turned into a makeshift school, in Lebanon's Kab Elias camp. The UNHCR has warned that more than half of refugee children do not attend school. [Bilal Hussein/AP]
A Syrian woman cries as she confirms her safe arrival from the Turkish coast to Lesbos. [Manu Brabo/AP]
A Syrian woman cries as she confirms her safe arrival from the Turkish coast to Lesbos. [Manu Brabo/AP]
A Syrian refugee kisses his daughter as he walks through a rainstorm towards Greece's border with Macedonia, near Idomeni village. [Yannis Behrakis/Reuters]
A Syrian refugee kisses his daughter as he walks through a rainstorm towards Greece's border with Macedonia, near Idomeni village. [Yannis Behrakis/Reuters]
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