No Refuge for Women: The Tragic Fate of Syrian Refugees

German journalist Von Welser brings the voices of asylum-seeking women to the forefront in this uneven call to relieve the humanitarian crisis of Syrians escaping dictatorship and war. Firsthand reporting from overcrowded refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey—as well as disembarkation points such as Lesbos and Lampedusa, where refugees frequently land following harrowing Mediterranean crossings in dangerous rafts—helps individualize the terror that marks millions of desperate journeys. The descriptions of the unique dangers that women face, including the constant risk of sexual assault by male smugglers, the female slave trade run by ISIS, and the economic burdens borne by women with children whose fathers have gone ahead to Europe, are stomach-turning and enraging. Unfortunately, von Welser’s choppy text often suffers from inexplicable changes in tense, superfluous melodramatic statements (“How inhuman!” “But what a price!”), and an incongruous fixation with describing women as beautiful or pretty. Her photos are also too small and poorly reproduced to do justice to their subjects. Von Welser ends the book on a on a brighter note, pointing to individual examples of German citizens rejecting discrimination and welcoming newcomers, a model she hopes will be replicated across Europe. This timely cri de coeur is an important reminder of the global responsibility to the world’s most vulnerable population. (Oct.)