refugee children the scarred future of syria

8/17/2019 Refugee Children the Scarred Future of Syria

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2016

United Nations Children Fund

Abdullah Bin Abbas

[

]

“Since the outbreak of civil war in Syria, more than 12000 children have been killed in the

bloody conflict that has ravaged the country in recent years, 3200 of which have perished

this very year. In total 7.5 million children have been affected and majority of them forced

into a life of a refugee. 70000 refugee children have fled into neighboring countries in Europe

alone. Refugee children are faced with the immediate problems of medical care, shelter,

protection against the harsh winter, food and clean water etc. These innocent children

represent the future of Syria that is threatened by war and need to be protected on an

emergency basis”


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[ REFUGEE CHILDREN:THE SCARRED FUTURE OF SYRIA ] January 1,

2016

“ I don’t care about my future; I on y care about the future of my children. I don’tcare about anything other than their l education. I had no education so it is too late

for me, but it is not too late for them. I want to encourage them to study. I want my

children t o have a better life than the one I had”

Background of the conflict:

Syria, a small country of population just over 22.5

million has been suffering from a civil war since 2011

between the Assad regime and rebels consisting ofcivilians, tribal groups, army deserters and Islamic

Jihadists that sought to overthrow the government

due to poor economic and political performance. The

civil unrest started off as demonstrations similar to

the Arab spring in the neighbourhood of Syria, and

was escalated when some children detained for

writing anti-government graffiti were jailed and died

in captivity. The rebels have no coordination or

centralized command, making them a chaotic mass of

dangerous and armed individuals with no clear

agenda or mission. This has led to massive civilian

casualties and killing on sectarian basis by both sides.

The state media of Syria is so far silent and in denial of

the war raging within the country.

Why the children?

Since the outbreak of the civil war, nearly 12000

Syrian children have been killed. By the end of 2013

4.3 million children were reported to be in need of

emergency assistance by UNICEF. By 2014 this

number had risen to 5.6 million. Outside the Syrian

borders, there are 3.3 million refugees, 1.67 million of

which are children of all ages.1 So far there have been

limited efforts made with the focus being children.

1UNICEF, Syria Crisis Dashboard, December 2014


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According to statistics collected by the UN out of the

millions of refugees, 51.2 % are children under 17

years of age and of them more than 39% are below

the age of 11.

All factors considered there are nearly 2 million

children that have been forced into the perilous and

uncertain life of a refugee. The children of any nation

are its future, its life’s blood, without which its

culture, its history and its people cannot survive for

long. This here is a humanitarian crisis that calls for

immediate action all the powers of the world,

invoking their mortality and sympathy to save the

future of Syria from a horrific and bloody fate.

Drawing made by a 9 year old Syrian refugee child depicting

an attack on their bus

Scope:

The problem of refugee children is anything but

contained in any specific area. Refugees are flooding

into neighbouring countries near and far, wherever it

is deemed safe. This includes Jordan, Lebanon,

Turkey, Egypt, North Africa, the Middle East and many

countries in Europe such as Greece, France, Croatia,

and Germany.

World vision has reported that Turkey has accepted

more than 1.9 million refugees; Iraq despite its own

war is hosting 250,000. In Lebanon there are more

than 1.1 million. They have taken up residence

wherever they can, including sheds, garages, quarters,

abandoned houses and tent settlements on empty

land. Conditions there are unsanitary and crowded,

yet families struggle to pay rent for these spaces

regardless.

In Jordan there are nearly 630,000 refugees, mostly

staying in rented housing or host families. The Za’atari

camp on the northern border alone houses 80,000

while Azraq camp hosts about 23,700 refugees.

Many have relatives or family in their host countries,

but most are in a strange land with nobody expecting

them or willing to help them out. In many places the

aid efforts are negligible or severely inadequate, yet in

other areas some problems like in Europe the onset of

winters is a bigger issue compared to others, where

the weather is milder.

Therefore, considering the span of the entire refugeeexodus and the variety of problems faced by the

refugees, for the sake of this brief, the primary focus

would be countries in the immediate neighbourhood

of Syria, families with children below the age of 13

that are the most vulnerable would be given the

highest preference, namely providing them with the

most basic essentials and necessities required for

survival in the short term, following their entry into

host countries.


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Why Syrians are fleeing their homes:

Violence: 320,000 people have been killed since the

civil war began, including over 12,000 children.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human

Rights, more than 1.5 million have been handicapped

or wounded in the war that has become increasinglylethal since external powers joined the fight.

The Syrian people are left with no choice but to

abandon their homes in desperation to escape the

violence. In most cases the parents choose to migrate

for the safety of their children, even if they

themselves would prefer to stay behind.

Collapsed infrastructure: In Syria, education,

healthcare, and other infrastructure is paralyzed, the

economy is in shambles and daily life has ground to a

halt with no utilities, supplies, or necessities essential

to day to day life.

Children’s safety The children, the Syrian nation’s

hope for a better future has suffered wounds,

witnessed brutality and violence lost family and

friends, and missed years of education. Hostile forces

forcibly recruit children for support roles, human

shields and also as combatants.

Most parents that would prefer to stay and face the

onslaught in Syria choose to abandon their homes for

the sake of their children’s safety and undertake the

perilous journey to neighboring countries in search for

refuge.

“ I have nine children, aged between two and 16. One of my sons was two anda half when the war started. Every time he could hear bombing he would getvery scared and hide under the covers. He still does this here in the campwhen he sees planes coming over, as he thinks they are coming to bomb us.

My children haven’t only seen bombing; they have also seen death with their

own eyes. One of my cousins has lost two children, and his mother, sister andbrother, from the bombing. This is why I left: I had to save my family’s l ives.

Immediate concerns:

Medical care: Physical and mental health of refugee children

Food and Water: Providing sustenance and clean water facilities

Separated families: Reuniting refugee children with their family members

Shelter: Provision of adequate shelter and housing

Winter: Protection from the onset of cold weather in winters


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Health:

A large number of refugee children have escaped

from war affected areas in a scramble, without any

preparation, supplies or plan of where they are

headed. Many are injured by snipers, stray bullets,

falling debris, fires, and bomb blasts. Some haveamputated limbs and deeply infected wounds that

require immediate attention. Under the

circumstances medical care is unreachable or

inadequate, that includes special medicines and

vaccines for children that are susceptible to diseases

or have medical conditions like asthma and diabetes

etc.

In the Za'atari refugee camp Jordan there 1,379

consultations with children for firearm or war-relatedinjuries within just one year, the majority of which (58

%) were for boys.2

In addition to physical health the mental health of

these children is deeply affected by the war.

Experiencing the horrific war first hand, refugee

children have witnessed horrors that even adults

cannot escape unscathed. They have had their homes

destroyed, parents, friends and family members

murdered before their eyes, experienced bombingsand many have been abused or injured themselves.

Jordan's Za'atari camp, 304 children, 162 boys and

142 girls were treated for post-traumatic stress

disorder or severe emotional disorders.

After escaping Syria they are settled in remote camps

in strange lands with language barriers. Most suffer

from withdrawal and severe stress and are unable to

communicate with anyone. Speech problems like

2 UNHCR Future of Syria: Scarred

stuttering are rampant and there are widespread

cases of bed wetting after children suffer from

nightmares on the rare occasion that they do fall

asleep for a short while.

Worst of all there are frequent attacks on health

facilities and health workers striving to provide

medical care to refugee children that require their

assistance on emergency basis. Dozens of hospitals

have been bombed and targeted by arson attacks,

while doctors and nurses are intimidated, injured or

gunned down in the streets or within health facilities.

Separated Families:

A large number of refugee children have been

separated from their families, many of which are

missing, dead or detained by the authorities.

According to some reports there were 2,440

unaccompanied or separated children in Lebanon and

1,320 in Jordan, 3700 of which were living without

one or both parents. Moreover 41,962 female-headed

households in Jordan, and 36,622 in Lebanon

recorded by 2013 alone. 3

This poses a grave challenge to young children that

have been parted from their families and are left with

nobody to take care of them in this hostile and

dangerous environment where even adults are

unsafe.

On the other hand, families without father figures are

susceptible to even more dangers. There is lessened

protection and sense of security. For young children,

especially girls there exists an added threat of sexual

abuse. Fearful of their daughters being molested,

parents, especially single mothers, may opt to arrange

marriage for girls, some as young as 13 3.

3 UNCHR Future of Syria: Fractured Families


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Food and water:

Worst of all, if the children somehow survive all the

other horrors, they are still faced with a severe lack of

food and clean water. Food supplies are scarce, and

there is no fuel or firewood to cook food properly. The

children suffer from malnutrition and diseases borneout of poor diet. The facilities for food storage and

preservation are inadequate, and in many cases food

supplies and staples have a very high chance of

spoiling if not properly stored, causing further

shortages and a heightened possibility of diseases.

Furthermore in most camps there is very little clean

water and no facilities for purification and filtration,

posing the threat of water borne diseases like cholera

mostly rampant in young children and infants. Most of

the time refugees have to travel significant distances

to collect water for daily usage which has no

guarantee of being fit for human consumption.

Shelter:

Most of the refugee families cross borders with

nowhere to go to. They are sometimes allotted

meagre budgets by local governments to find housing,

yet in most cases it is extremely inadequate

considering local housing rates. Therefore families

have to depend upon the generosity of strangers andhost families for places to live. The rest have to live in

ramshackle hand built shelters that don’t even keep

the elements out and have no heating.

For many families this means that everyone including

children as young as 3 have to work menial jobs in

demeaning and dangerous environments to earn a

modicum of cash so that they can afford basic

necessities or maybe humble housing to protect their

families.

In most cases these refugees have to share

accommodations in cramped quarters with large joint

families, with several people living in the same small

rooms with no privacy or adequate space. Others still

have to live in tents or caravans that are congested,

cold, damp and leak whenever it rains or snows.

Winter:

On a similar note with the issue of shelter, one of the

worst problems faced by the refugee children is the

oncoming danger of winters. The weather in these

regions turns very harsh in winters with frequent

snowfall, rain and constant wind. Under these

circumstances the refugees have no warm clothing or

protection from the elements.

They live in cold tents with no fuel or firewood to stay

warm, many roam without shoes and the children

sleep on the cold ground with nothing but pieces of

cardboard as bedding and insulation. There are

frequent fights between people over commodities

such as blankets, and parents often resort to

wrapping their children in trash bags to give them

some measure of protection from the elements.

Under such conditions the children are especially

susceptible to hypothermia, pneumonia, gangrene


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[ REFUGEE CHILDREN:THE SCARRED FUTURE OF SYRIA ] January 1,

2016

and other opportunistic diseases borne out of the cold

weather. Aid agencies estimate that nearly 195,000

Syrian families, most of them children will require

assistance to stay warm and dry over the winter in

Lebanon alone.4 More and more refugees are flooding

in stretching the already meagre resources thinner

and thinner, putting enormous burden over local

governments.

Current Efforts

Currently there are major aid efforts underway for the

assistance of Syrian refugees. Nations and

organizations around the world are contributing

significant amounts of finance and resources towardsthe effort. However considering the sheer number of

refugees and the fact that they are spread across a

huge area and many countries has affected the

struggle to facilitate the refugees.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees

(UNHCR) is taking an active role in the rehabilitation

of refugee children at an immediate basis, they are

distributing supplies and survival packages including

blankets, preserved food, warm clothing, sleepingbags and raincoats etc. in collaboration with other

NGOs they have set up tents, portable toilets with

running water for drinking and sanitation purposes. In

places Wi-Fi facilities have been set up, for some this

is the only means to get in touch with their families

back home. Food vouchers are distributed by world

food Program.

UN agencies provided psychological support to

159,585 children in Lebanon, and 96,368 in Jordan. InZa’tari camp, 142 girls and 162 boys were treated for

4 World Vision, crisis in Syria Impact on children.

severe emotional disorders or post-traumatic stress

disorder. Furthermore, UN agencies and partners

have identified care arrangements in urban areas and

camps for over 800 separated and unaccompanied

children.

The French government has agreed to provide an

additional 200 beds in heated spaces for children and

women before the year ends. Approximately 300

were “voluntarily” shifted to shelters situated

elsewhere in France. French authorities also provide

hot food for nearly 2000 refugees daily, yet this is still

inadequate, and people are fed by groups of

volunteers from UK and France who point out that

neither will be sufficient for the camp’s rapidly

expanding population. The EU has finalized an

81million $ relief package to prepare for winters.

UNHCR plans to support 229,400 vulnerable Syrians

that represent 37% of the population for winters in

Jordan, by reinforcing shelters and cash assistance.

They will also give cash to allow urban refugees to buy

blankets, heating, clothing, shoes and other items.

Women heading households will be given special

attention, as well as the elderly, disabled, children

alone, survivors of violence or torture, and people

with serious specific medical needs. 150,000 people,

including 30,000 families will receive $ 421 if they

have not already received winter support previously

and $ 276 if they have, accessible through iris-scan

enabled ATM machines.5

Despite the generous donations, massive logistical

and administrative costs corrode away a substantial

amount of the finances. Reaching refugees in the far

off and inaccessible places is also a challenge. In many

areas there are refugees that are scattered across a

large area instead of being concentrated in one place

like a camp, reaching those refugees poses a dilemma

of prioritizing and conserving resources.

5 UNHCR, Winter of 2015-16


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Recommendations

The Syrian refugee children predicament is not a localised or domestic emergency, but is a global humanitarian crisis.

The countries in the immediate locality of Syria are already overburdened and struggling with accommodating the

refugees in a short time and scarcity of resources. Therefore it is now up to the international community to intensify

their contribution towards the effort if any significant headway is to be made in this regard.

1. There is need for joint mobilization of resources at

the international level by all countries currently

uninvolved in the rehabilitation effort, catalysed

by the United Nations.

2. Most importantly, the countries in the region of

Europe and Middle East that are not directly

accommodating refugees such as Libya, Bulgaria,

Sudan, Algeria and Iran are requested to reach an

agreement to accept as many refugee families

with children less than 13 years of age.

3. Moreover there need to be donation drives at the

local level in all regional as well as distant

countries for resources such as preserved food,

shelter/tents, fuel, warm clothing, toys, and

medicines, mobilized by both the government as

well as the people themselves to collect the

necessities required to assist refugees at a faster

pace.

4. To provide necessary medical care Doctors

without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) is

invited to dispatch paediatricians and child

psychologists for the aid of Syrian Refugee

children at an emergency basis. Furthermore

United Nations peace keeping forces are

requested to provide protection to not just the

refugee children against mistreatment, abuse and

the threat of recruitment by hostile forces but

also the doctors and humanitarian workers as well

as all other logistical/facilitating personnel on

their way and in the refugee inhabited areas.

5. Furthermore, one of the challenges in the aid

efforts is the insufficiency of funds for various

purposes, ranging from logistics to mundane

expenditures and administrative costs that eat

away a significant amount of financial aid given by

the international community, so far an appeal of

total 5 Billion $ (largest in history) has been made

for the monetary requirements of the Syrian aid

effort. Therefore it is implored upon all the

esteemed signatory countries of the International

Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as the World Bank to

provide financial assistance in order to properly

fund the mobilization of resources in an effective

and sustainable fashion.

6. These measures will not just ensure the

facilitation and rehabilitation of refugee children,

but the involvement of the international

community at an increased level will ensure

regional cooperation and prompter resolution of

the Syrian conflict, hopefully concluding the civil

war in the near future, returning peace to the

country so that the refugees can return back to

their homes.

Bibliography: Anthony Sharwood. "10 Simple Points to Help You Understand the Syria Conflict." NewsComAu. N.p., 27 Aug. 2013.Web. 16 Dec. 2015."The Future of Syria | Refugee Children in Crisis." The Future of Syria. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2015Macdowell, Andrew. "Winter Is Coming the New Crisis for Refugees in Europe." The Guardian. N.p., 2 Nov. 2015.

Web.World Vision, Staff. "What You Need to Know: Crisis in Syria, Refugees, and the Impact on Children." World Vision.N.p., 4 Dec. 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.Save the Children, Staff. "Children of Syria." Save the Children. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.Martin Hartberg, and Dominic Bowen. "Failing Syria." (n.d.): n. pag. Save the Children. Mar. 2015. Web.UNHCR Staff. "UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee Response." UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee Response. N.p., 17Dec. 2015. Web. 03 Jan. 2016

Melissa Flemming. "Winter of 2015-16: UNHCR News. N.p., 23 Oct. 2015. Web. 03 Jan. 2016.Abdullah Bin Abbas UNICEF special envoy.

UNICEF Regional Head quarters, Black ford, Ediburgh, Scotland

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refugee children the scarred future of syria

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