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The Future of Syria Refugee Children in Crisis

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The Future of SyriaRefugee Children in Crisis

What is UNHCR?

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Since its creation, the agency has helped tens of millions of people restart their lives. Today, a staff of more than 7,600 in more than 125 countries continues to help some 33.9 million persons.

Za’atari refugee camp, Jordan. AFP/Getty Images

Who are Refugees?

Syrians fleeing home. ©UNHCR/G. Gubaeva

Someone who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a

particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

- The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees

What Would You Do?

Newly arrived refugees at the Jordan-Syria border await transport to Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan.

UNHCR/O. Laban-Mattei

The Future of Syria - Refugee Children in CrisisThe lives of Syrian refugee children in Jordan and Lebanon

Miram, 11, front right, was eating breakfast in her home in Syria, when a bomb fell on the kitchen and killed her mother. She was brought to her brother’s family outside of Beirut, Lebanon, where she now lives with her cousins, brother and his wife.

UNHCR / E. Dorfman

Since March 2011, more than 2.2 million Syrians have fled the country due to violence and unrest. This is the entire population of some countries.

Over 1.1 million Syrian children have registered as refugees with UNHCR worldwide. Some 75 per cent are under the age of 12.

UNHCR / E. Byun

The majority of Syrian refugees live in Syria’s neighbouring countries. Jordan and Lebanon host more than 60 per cent of all Syrian refugee children.

Refugees live in camps by the borders as well as in urban cities, in these countries of asylum.

Jordan’s population: 6.5 million Lebanon’s population: 4.1million

Za’atari refugee camp in JordanUN Photo/Mark Garten

“This is the future of Syria, this is your kids, you cannot continue to have this as a lost generation.”

- Kilian Kleinschmidt, UNHCR camp manager, Za’atari refugee camp, Jordan

Facing New ChallengesMany refugee children suffer from physical, emotional and psychological scars after

witnessing much violence and death. There are also new safety concerns: bullying and violence between local communities and refugees;

fighting in the camps and domestic violence; instability along the borders where refugee camps are situated; and theft and vandalism.

UNHCR/G. Beals

This was drawn by a 9-year-old boy as his family registered as refugees at Tyre registration centre, Lebanon. The bus that he and his family took to flee Syria was stopped and robbed by armed men.

To the right of the bus, the boy has written the word ‘death.’

UNHCR/S.Baldwin

It “feel[s] like they are in prison.”- Syrian refugee children on what their home life is like

29 per cent of children leave their home only once a week, or less, leading to isolation, loneliness and boredom.

Home is often a makeshift shelter or tent, or cramped apartment, sometimes housing 12 – 15 people.

Conditions are drastically worse than in Syria. Some lack electricity, or where available, many do not have enough money to pay for energy to run basic appliances like a fridge.

I’tmad, 17, lives in a collective shelter in Lebanon that houses more than 700 Syrian refugees. Most days she stays inside in the single room that her family shares.

UNHCR/E.Dorfman

43 of 202 children said at least one of their immediate family members wasdead, detained or missing.

Over 3,700 refugee children are either unaccompanied by or separated from both parents. Over 70,000 Syrian refugee families live without fathers.

In other cases, children were sent ahead, alone, out of fear for their safety in Syria.

Fractured Families

Rahab and her children in their apartment in Qobayat, Lebanon, stand around an empty chair, cloaked with their father’s robe. He was killed when a shell hit their neighbourhood in Homs, Syria.

UNHCR / E. Dorfman

“It was scary… We were suddenly all alone and I found myself responsible for my siblings... If

anything were to ever happen to them, I could never live with myself.”

Khaled, 15, now lives in Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. His parents divorced before the conflict. As fighting escalated, Khaled’s mother fled north; his father stayed. Shortly after, Khaled, his brother and two sisters, and several aunts and cousins escaped to Jordan to join extended family members, while his father stayed in Syria.

Over the course of five months, Khaled and his siblings were abandoned by all of their extended family. Without parents, Khaled has become the family protector, but at a steep price to his own education and future. He would like to move out of the camp, but would need to find a job and pay rent for an apartment. He has two goals: to reunite with his mother and to send his siblings to school.

“My first wish would be to go back to Syria and have my father released. Then for things to go

back to the way they were.”

Maher, 16, last saw his father nearly two years ago. Before his family fled Syria, he and his father were both detained. Maher was tortured, but released after nine days. His father was not so lucky: he is still missing.

Maher now lives in Zarqa, Jordan, where his mother is the only caregiver for his six siblings ranging in age from four to 18 years old.

Maher just wants his old life back. Until then, he is facing new challenges. He is afraid to work. He cannot do so legally and fears arrest, but he must help support his family. Maher takes on short-term construction jobs whenever he can, but because of the torture, he can only work for a few days at a time without feeling pain in his shoulder.

UNHCR/O.Laban-Mattei

Children as young as 7 years old work to support their families; sometimes making as little as US$7 a day. As breadwinners they cannot go to school. This theme is common among Syrian refugees.

Syrian refugee children line up for work in Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan.

UNHCR / G. Beals

Amar, 16, works as a mechanic’s assistant, even though he wants to go to school. Instead, he has to work to support his family, who were forced to flee after their home was destroyed in a rocket attack.

UNHCR/S. Baldwin

“If people didn’t work, how would they survive? I feel like a man because I am working. I put food on the table for my family.”

- Abdallah, 13 years old, Za’atari refugee camp, Jordan

Schools are safe places.

Education provides hope for the future.

Refugees can help rebuild their country when they can return.

Educated refugees can also be successful members of their new countries.

“Our lives are destroyed. We’re not being educated, and without education there is nothing.

We’re heading towards destruction.” - Nadia, 14-year-old refugee, Irbid, Jordan

Syrian refugee students attend a class in an accelerated learning programme at public school in Kamed Al Louz in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

UNHCR / S. Baldwin

“Education is the best thing in life.”- A 12-year-old refugee girl, Jeb Janine, Lebanon

Out of school Syrian refugee children:80 per cent in Lebanon56 per cent in Jordan

Drop out rates for Syrian refugee children:Roughly 20 per cent in Lebanon

Especially high for children over 12 years old

When Kinana, 9, fled her home in Syria, she was devastated she lost her school bag in the chaos. Although her father only completed primary school,

he is passionate about her education and dreams of her going to university one day.

UNHCR / J. Kohler

“It’s something to be proud of, giving to others like this. We encourage children to do what’s good for them.

Through education you can achieve goals in your future.” - Mozoun, education ambassador, Za’atari refugee camp, Jordan

Young refugees encourage others to go to school.

Volunteers with UNICEF and Save the Children’s Back to School Campaign teach their community the importance of keeping kids in school.

On some days, they have reached more than 100 families.

Education ambassadors Suhair (left), Safia (centre) and Mozoun (right)

UNHCR/J.Kohler

As his family’s sole income-earner in Lebanon, Waleed, 13, was out of school when the ambassadors met him. They convinced him of the importance of education, so he started attending school in the afternoons and working only in the mornings. He even joined the programme, taking to the streets of the camp in the evenings to encourage others to go to school.

In Za’atari camp, one boy’s father told him he had to stop school to work. He wanted an education, so in between selling credit for mobile phones in the camp, he would secretly go to school. Because he did not want his father to know, he would hide his book under his clothes when he left for work in the morning.

Stories of Dedication to Education and the Future

UNHCR/S.Baldwin

What is Statelessness?

Statelessness is when an individual is not considered a national by any country. Nationality is the legal bond between a country and an individual.

Stateless people may sometimes also be refugees, but the two categories are distinct. Statelessness affects an estimated 12 million people worldwide, and occurs for a variety of reasons. The problem can be prevented through adequate nationality

legislation and procedures as well as universal birth registration.

UNHCR / O. Laban-Mattei

Birth registration is a right of all children under international law, and impacts their entire lives. However, a majority of Syrian refugee children born in exile are not being registered.

UNHCR is working to change that.

UNHCR / S. Rich

Just like for you, mobile phones and the Internet keep refugees connected as they wait for the call that it is safe to return home.

Staying Connected

Despite an enormous strain on national systems, economies and even stability, the Governments of both Jordan and Lebanon continue to welcome Syrian refugees,

and facilitate their access to essential services, such as health and education. Many Lebanese and Jordanians are also reaching out to their Syrian neighbours in solidarity.

Martins

Send a Syrian refugee child a message: http://bit.ly/J3Lxys AP

unhcr.org UNHCR @Refugees #FutureOfSyria

Like other refugees worldwide, Syrian refugees demonstrate incredible strength and resilience. They find creative solutions to the issues they face and provide support to their families and communities.

All while looking forward to the day when it is safe to finally return home.