More than 4,000 Syrian children have crossed borders into neighbouring countries without parents or adult relatives, the United Nations children’s agency said today, warning that without the protection of guardians, they remain extraordinarily vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Marixie Mercado told journalists in Geneva that many of the children “were working to provide income back to families, and were desperate to get back to school.”
Of the 4,150 Syrian children identified and registered, at least 1,698 are in Lebanon where in theBeka’a Valley area, many are swept up and used for agricultural child labour.
In Iraq, the UN agency estimated that there were 300 newly-arrived unaccompanied and separated children in the north.
Jordan is home to about 1,170 children, including some as young as nine-years-old. Most of these children, Ms. Mercado said, are in Za’atari camp, which despite being a makeshift camp housing more than 120,000 people is Jordan’s fourth largest city.
“Each of those children had witnessed, or been a victim of horrific levels of violence,” Ms. Mercado said, adding that some children ran for their lives from the fighting, while others went to find relatives who had earlier left. Still others were being sent away to avoid conscription.
UNICEF was working with partners to identify the children and make sure they are being protected, as well as to provide medical, psychosocial and educational support.
She told a story of 11-year-old Aya who lived with her uncle in a settlement in an almond orchard, taking care of her younger siblings.
“She started going to UNICEF-supported recreational activities, and last Thursday, for the first time, she spoke about seeing her father hacked to pieces in front of her,” Ms. Mercado said.
Also today, the UN food relief agency called for safe passage to people trapped in conflict areas in Damascus, Rural Damascus and several other areas in Syria, particularly families relying on WFP’s food rations to survive month to month.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) “was not giving up and would deploy all its logistical possibilities and its experience in this field to reach those people,” spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs said.
She added those logistics were increasingly difficult. Since the beginning of the year, the WFP had recorded close to 50 incidents of theft and confiscation against food trucks by armed groups. This week, a WFP warehouse in Rural Damascus was caught in the crossfire when three mortar bombs hit the building, causing structural damage.
Since mid-2012, the UN agency had been unable to access 38 locations such as Moadamiyeh, Daraya, Armouk, Hajar Aswad, Yalda, Babila, Sbineh, Douma, Jobar, Qaboon, Zamalka and Erbeen which were some of the most deprived areas where even the most basic items were in scarce supply, Ms. Mercado said.
Elsewhere, in Northeast Syria, the WFP last month was unable to deliver food rations to its three partners in Al Hassakeh as the roads from both Ar Raqqa and Deir Ezzor were blocked by armed groups.
un.org
20/9/13
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Killing Syrian children with one hand, saving them with other...
ReplyDeleteAll over British television this week, in ads strategically placed in the middle of news bulletins, the Disasters Emergency Committee fund has been raising money from viewers for Syrian refugees alongside the 'No Child Born To Die' campaign.
The TV ads show pictures of starving and destitute children, dragged over the border from war torn Syria into Jordan and viewers are entreated to help.
The willingness of ordinary members of the public has been outstanding, despite access to the country being difficult for charities the campaign has raised over 20 million pounds (US$32.2 million) for Syrian refugees. Of course they are absolutely right: nobody in their right mind could approve of the slaughter of innocent children but Britain cannot claim to be a 'democracy' until the generosity of the public is matched by leaders entrusted with the purse-strings.
For while the great British public dig deep to help the victims of the Syrian civil war the not-so-great British government have those same children's blood on their hands.
It is a tale which begins at Downing Street where David Cameron's millionaires' cabinet is selling off the very nucleus of the state, the last of the family silver, to their city chums. The 350-year-old Royal Mail postal service, the Probation Service which checks up on murderers, and even some police stations are the latest to go under the hammer.
But the latest treacherous sell-off takes all the prizes for recklessness, and those backing it must be wondering whether they will escape with their heads. Yes, Cameron is selling off UK National Security: DE&S, Defence Equipment and Support, the multi-billion buying power of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).....http://rt.com/op-edge/uk-supporting-syria-rebels-children-434/
27/9/13
17 countries to offer Syria refugee quotas: UNHCR....
ReplyDeleteSeventeen countries including the United States, France and Australia have agreed to receive quotas of refugees fleeing the bloody conflict in Syria, the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday.
"So far, UNHCR has 17 countries participating in the Syria resettlement/Humanitarian Admission Programme effort," Peter Kessler, regional spokesman for the UN refugee agency UNHCR, told AFP.
"They are offering about 10,000 places (in total), with some programmes mainly aimed at the 2014 calendar year," he added.
The decision comes amid criticism of some Western nations for failing to share the burden created by the exodus of at least two million people from Syria.
So far, Syria's neighbours -- Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq -- have absorbed the majority of the refugees, but the influx has strained resources and caused tensions.
The problem is particularly acute in Lebanon, which currently hosts at least 760,000 registered refugees.
The real number of Syrians in Lebanon, with its own population of four million, is probably closer to one million.
"There are currently more than 2.1 million refugees," Kessler said "Ten thousand resettlement places overseas is an important first step but is a drop in the ocean compared to the enormous needs and the huge number of Syrians being accommodated by countries in the region." Under the agreement, the UNHCR will assess refugees for relocation to the 17 host countries, giving priority to the most vulnerable, Kessler said.
"Vulnerability is based on various issues," he said, and includes people with disabilities, single-headed households and victims of sexual or other forms of abuse.
How many refugees each of the 17 countries will receive has not yet been decided, though reports in France have said it will take just 1,200 people.
Sweden, which is among the 17, has already said it will grant residence permits to Syrian refugees already in the country, but they cannot apply for asylum at Swedish embassies.
Since early 2012, Sweden has received about 14,700 asylum applications from Syrians.
The violence that erupted in Syria after anti-regime protests began in March 2011 has killed more than 115,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights NGO.
Two million Syrians have become refugees, and millions more have been internally displaced.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/17-countries-to-offer-syria-refugee-quotas-unhcr.aspx?pageID=238&nID=55533&NewsCatID=359
2/10/13
EU says should brace for 'massive' Syrian refugee flow...
ReplyDeleteThe European Union needs to brace for a possible "massive" influx of Syrian refugees, the bloc's internal markets commissioner Michel Barnier told the European Parliament on Wednesday.
"We need to be prepared for the possibility of an even more massive influx," Barnier said during a parliamentary debate on Syria.
Several EU nations including Bulgaria and Greece have reported a strong increase in refugees from the Syrian conflict.
"The response surely should not be to close national borders, to shrink away or barricade ourselves," he said. "This is not a strictly national issue, it is a European issue." "Any crisis of this size affects us all and we must be ready in a spirit of great solidarity," he said.
More than two million Syrians have fled the country to seek refuge mainly in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, and the number could swell to 3.5 million by year's end, Barnier added.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has asked EU nations to offer asylum to 10,000 Syrians and resettle 2,000 of the most vulnerable.
Some 50,000 Syrians have applied for protection since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, mostly in Sweden and Germany.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/eu-says-should-brace-for-massive-syrian-refugee-flow.aspx?pageID=238&nID=55955&NewsCatID=359
8/10/13
UN asks Syria to allow aid through Turkish borders.....
ReplyDeleteThe United Nations has asked the Syrian government to allow humanitarian assistance to pass through Turkish borders, as it says the present route is too dangerous.
A spokesperson for the U.N.'s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told the Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that humanitarian needs in the north of Syria could be easily met if the regime accepted the setting up of an aid passage.
All aid for Syria presently has to pass through the Syrian capital Damascus, from where it is distributed to northern regions through Syria's battlefields.
Jens Laerke said it was too risky and costly to send humanitarian assistance through this route.
More than nine million people are in need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria, according to the UN, and over two million have fled to neighboring countries because of the escalating civil war.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/haberler/128262/turkey-pm-wants-reformation-of-un-security-council
5/2/14