For Your Information: The Situation of Child Refugees and Internally Displaced Children (UNICEF Topic A)
One of the topics that the UNICEF will be
discussing this YMUNK conference is the situation of child refugees and
internally displaced children. This issue has much to do with children who are
living in areas of conflict, and is therefore highly relevant today. The Syrian
conflict has been affecting almost 5.5 million children since it began in March
2012; 4.29 million are currently inside Syria, with the majority of them poor,
displaced, or caught in the line of fire. Another 1.25 million of them are
currently living as refugees in neighboring nations such as Lebanon, Jordan,
Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, and North Africa.
Prior to the violence that ensued in the nation, Syria’s
education system had been one of the best in the region: with almost a 100%
primary school enrollment rate and literacy rates of over 90%. However, now,
2.8 million Syrian children are deprived of the opportunity to go to school; a lack of education for
one additional year points to the loss of skills that will be necessary for
life in the future. Within Syria, 4,072 schools have either been damaged or
turned into shelters, storage facilities, or military bases. As of 2013, the
school attendance has dropped to 30%, a far cry from the impressive figure of
97% prior to the conflict. 500,000 Syrian refugee children who are no longer in
the nation are also out of school. This has in some part to do with the fact
that they have missed too much school already, and are too far behind in their
studies to enroll in the public school system.
Both the children who are still in Syria and child refugees who
have fled to other nations are facing equal difficulty. Over 8,000 of the
children who arrived at Syria’s borders to seek refuge in a neighboring country
had either been orphaned or did not have their parents with them. In addition,
one third of the children in the Za’atari refugee camp – one the largest of such – are displaying
aggressive behavior and self-harm. Out of those who are not sheltered in
refugee camps, ten percent are employed as cheap labor on farms, in car repair
shops, or living as beggars on city streets. As for females, 20% of refugee
girls in Jordan are marrying early out of perceived necessity.
The Syrian conflict has been condemned by the international world
for the violence and violation of human rights it has caused. However, it is
also crucial to consider the aspect of the children- both those who have become
refugees in other nations as well as those who are still within Syria’s borders
– those who are poor, internally displaced, and in close proximity to the
violence currently occurring. The situation of child refugees and internally
displaced children also pertain to other conflicts, such as the violence in the
Central African Republic, where 2.3 million children are affected every year by
the intensifying conflict in the northwest region as well as the crisis in
South Sudan which has displaced 490,000 in less than a year.
by Yoonjie Park
Photo courtesy of http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/consider-this/Consider-This-blog/2014/2/4/photos-of-the-unknownrefugeecrisis.html
