Childhood Under Fire Correct_embargoed

7/29/2019 Childhood Under Fire Correct_embargoed

1/32

Childhoodunder ire

T pt o two ys

o oft Sy

embargoedunTil 13 march


2/32

Childhood under ireT t t s ft S


3/32

Save the Children works in more than 120 countries.

We save childrens lives. We fght or their rights.

We help them ulfl their potential.

Published by

Save the Children

1 St Johns Lane

London EC1M 4AR

UK

+44 (0)20 7012 6400

savethechildren.org.uk

First published 2013

The Save the Children Fund 2013

The Save the Children Fund is a charity registered in England and Wales (213890)

and Scotland (SC039570). Registered Company No. 178159

This publication is copyright, but may be reproduced by any method without ee or

prior permission or teaching purposes, but not or resale. For copying in any other

circumstances, prior written permission must be obtained rom the publisher, and a

ee may be payable.

Cover photo: Hanane, our, at a reugee camp near the Syrian border (Photo:

Jonathan Hyams/Save the Children)

Typeset by Grasshopper Design Company

Acknowledgements

This report was written by Nick Martlew, Senior Humanitarian Advocacy Adviser

at Save the Children. The research was supported by Nick Pope, with additional

assistance rom Misty Buswell.

Testimonies were collected by Mona Monzer, Cat Carter, Mohamad Al Asmar and

Farah Sayegh. Photos by Jonathan Hyams. (All are Save the Children sta.)

The report also includes fndings rom an unpublished study, the Bahcesehir Study

o Syrian Reugee Children in Turkey, conducted by a team o researchers or

Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, Turkey. The research team was led by Dr Serap

Ozer o Bahcesehir University, Dr Selcuk R Sirin o New York University, andDr Brit Oppedal o the Norwegian Institute o Public Health. The study fndings

are available rom the authors on request.

The childrens drawings in this report were gathered as part of the Bahcesehir study.

All names of children and parents who shared their stories have been

changed to protect identities.


4/32

conTenTS

Executive summary i

Introduction 1

The impact o war on children 3Sheltering rom the storm 3

Staying alie, staying healthy 7

Danger on all sides 10

Education under attack 12

Going hungry 14

Humanitys best eorts? 16

Recommendations 19

Endnotes 22


5/32

i

My message to the world? The war shouldstop in Syria so we could be able to go back toour country.

Nidal,* 6

From the ery beginning o the crisis in Syria, children

hae been its orgotten ictims acing death, trauma

and suering, and depried o basic humanitarian aid.

Sae the Children estimates that nearly 2 millionchildren are in need o assistance in Syria.

Through Sae the Childrens work in Syria and the

region, we are witnessing what is happening to

children and the misery and ear they are liing with

eery day. The only way to stop their suering is to

bring an end to the war. A larger humanitarian action

response is absolutely essential, but we also recognise

that, without peace, or children in Syria there will

only be more death, and more destruction.

We had to stay in one room, all of us Iwatched my father leave, and watched as myfather was shot outside our home I started tocry, I was so sad. We were living a normal life, wehad enough food Now, we depend on others.Everything changed for me that day.

Yasmine, 12

This report shows how the confict is aecting all

aspects o childrens lies. Families are struggling to

nd a sae place to stay, as nearly 3 million buildings

hae been damaged or destroyed. The lines oghting moe almost daily, so amilies oten do not

know i the place theye settled in today will be sae

tomorrow. Most displaced amilies share oercrowded

apartments and houses, but an estimated 80,000

internally displaced people are sleeping out in caes,

parks or barns.

With more than 5,000 people being killed each

month, the killing is touching eeryone: a new

study by a research team at Bahcesehir Uniersity

in Turkey ound that three in eery our Syrian

children interiewed had lost a loed one because

o the ghting. Children are being killed and maimed

too, including by the indiscriminate use o shells,

mortars and rockets. In one area o Damascus that

was ormerly home to almost 2 million people,

heay weapons were used in 247 separate recorded

incidents in January 2013 alone.

Children are increasingly being put directly in harmsway as they are being recruited by armed groups and

orces. There hae een been reports that children as

young as eight hae been used as human shields.

Confict is threatening childrens lies in Syria rom

their rst days o lie. Mothers and their newborns

are at greater risk o complications during childbirth.

Many hospitals and health workers are being

deliberately attacked, so people are reluctant to take

the risk o going to hospital; across the country, a

third o hospitals hae been put out o action. Thismeans more births are taking place at home, without

a skilled birth attendant. There is also a worrying

trend o attacks, mostly by Syrian goernment orces,

on hospitals in contested areas. We hae seen how

een hospitals that hae managed to stay open are

nding it dicult to proide a high standard o care,

with little or no heating, ehausted doctors, and

intermittent electricity supply.

Childrens access to healthcare is massiely reduced

while the risks to their health grow. In many areas,

water and sewage systems hae been destroyed or

made inaccessible by iolence or displacement; in one

area where Sae the Children works, almost eery

amily told us they did not hae sae access to clean

toilets. These unsanitary conditions are contributing

to the growing number o cases o children suering

diarrhoea the biggest killer o children globally.

Schools should be a sae haen or children. But

2,000 schools in Syria hae been damaged during

the confict, and many are closed because they hae

become temporary shelters or displaced people.

execuTive Summary

* All names o children and their amily members who shared their stories hae been changed to protect identities.


6/32

Eperience in other confict settings where Sae the

Children works shows that the longer children are

out o school, the less likely they are to eer go back,

threatening their own utures and the uture o

the country.

I liked going to school We used to write andplay. When I want to remember something

happy, it is playing with my riends on the swings.We laughed. I miss them.

At the beginning there wasnt shelling at myschool, but ater some time the shelling started.I stopped going to school when the shellingstarted. It wasnt sae. I eel sad that my schoolwas burned because my school reminds me omy riends. I love going to school.

Noura, 10

Mills, actories and roads are also being damaged andarmland threatened by shelling. As a result, most

parts o the country are eperiencing shortages o

four, orcing ood prices beyond the reach o the

poorest amilies. Combined with an alarming drop in

the proportion o mothers breasteeding their inants,

this is leading to the rst signs o increasing leels o

child malnutrition in Syria.

It is not just Syrian citizens whose lies are being

aected by the war. Non-nationals who were liing as

reugees in Syria (including large numbers o Irais and

Palestinians) hae limited access to assistance and are

becoming eer more ulnerable.

Despite the eorts o the United Nations (UN) and

non-goernmental organisations (NGOs), millions o

people in desperate need in Syria are not receiing

enough humanitarian assistance. Some areas hae

had ery little aid or none at all. Insecurity is one

o the biggest constraints: 15 aid workers in Syria

hae lost their lies in the past two years. Access is

another huge obstacle, as control o access routes

shits continually with the ghting. This means that

agencies sometimes hae to negotiate more than

20 checkpoints or one journey, with each negotiation

taking time; and it only takes one checkpoint to reuse

passage or the entire aid deliery to be halted.

There are also ew organisations local or

international with the skills and systems in place

in Syria to respond to the massie scale o needs.

Some Syrian agencies deliering assistance hae strong

political aliations with one side o the confict,

representing a challenge to the principles o humanityand impartiality, which are essential to reach those

most in need.

Sae the Children is calling on the international

community to take urgent action to address some

o these challenges so that children and their amilies

can receie the assistance they so desperately need.

First and oremost, the UN Security Council must

unite behind a plan that will bring about an end

to the violence and ensure that humanitarian

aid reaches children throughout Syria.In addition:

Theinternationalcommunitymustpress

urgently and eplicitly or parties to the confict

to end the recruitment and use o children in

military actiities, and cooperate with the UN to

ensure that all iolations o childrens rights are

documented so that those responsible can be held

to account.

Internationaldonorsshouldquicklyturnpledges

into unding and delier assistance on the ground

in a way that is needs-based, sustained, feible,

and coordinated.

I wasnt thinking; I just wanted to protect mychildren. I didnt want anything else. I wasnt eventhinking; I just wanted to keep my children sae.I I die it is ne but not my children. I want tokeep them sae

Syria is our country and we want to go backthere. We dont know who is right and whois wrong, but I know we civilians are payingthe price.

Hiba


7/32

I want to tell the world about the situation inSyria There is no uel, no electricity, no ood.This is the situation. There is shelling, explosions,

gunre violence, death. No one is working,there are no jobs. People are just surviving day today, living or the sake o living.

Every human being should act they should

stop this violence. It is killing women and children.People are feeing. We cannot bear this This,this is too much

I hope that you can tell the entire world whatI have said here, what I have seen. I am onlyone person, but every person will say the same.We are tired tired o this. It has been two

years killing, feeing. I wish the world could seethe truth. I wish you could.

I dont think there is a single child untouchedby this war. Everyone has seen death, everyonehas lost someone. I know no one who has notsuered as we have. It is on such a scale.

When the world nally sees what is happeningin Syria, when you go to villages beyond those youare allowed into you will not have the words.Everything is destroyed. A people is destroyed.

You will not be able to bear what you willsee in Syria. We know what is happening, but theworld is not listening.

Saa

i

PHOTO:JONATHANHYAMS/SAvETHECHILDREN

A reugee settlement near the Syrian border


8/32

1

Once, armed men chased us. They shot at [thethree o] us and it hit the ground near my oot soI jumped. It hit below my oot and it touched myshoe but I kept running. We reached a wall andcouldnt run any more.

I was scared, very scared. I was scared and myriends too. We were surrounded by walls. Sowe chose to jump over one wall. When we ranthrough the garden, we saw men with guns. Theyasked us why we were running. We told them wewere being ollowed. They came with us and ranwith us and we reached another wall, and oneo them carried me over and my other riend

jumped by himsel. Another riend they caught,I dont know what happened to him.

My message to the world? The war should

stop in Syria so we could be able to go back toour country.

Nidal, 6

From the ery beginning, children hae been the

orgotten ictims o Syrias horrendous war. Today,

nearly 2 million children are in need o assistance.1

Si months into the confict, 1,000 people were dying

each month; now, it is 5,000 people each month.2 The

ghting is on such a scale that ew children hae been

spared eeling its eects. Three in eery our Syrian

reugee children interiewed as part o new research

by Bahcesehir Uniersity, Turkey, had eperienced the

death o a loed one due to the confict.3

This report bears testimony to the suering o Syrias

children. Depried o ood, water, healthcare; denied

saety; their homes and communities destroyed; in a

war being ought erociously throughout the country,

children aboe all are paying the price.

The chaotic reality o the confict makes it dicult to

gather comprehensie, denitie data. The inormation

on which this report is based has been gatheredthrough Sae the Childrens response to the crisis

on the ground, as well as the eperience o other

inTroducTion


Sana, three. Her older sister

Yasmine explains what

happened to their amily

on page 4.


9/32

CHILDHOODUNDERFIRE

2

agencies working in the country. The interiews

carried out with children and their parents all o

whose names hae been changed proide powerul

testimony to the deastating impact o the war on

eery aspect o childrens lies today.

Through our work in Syria and the region, Sae the

Children is witnessing rst-hand the misery being

inficted on children. They are telling us their stories

and they want them to be heard. We are working

tirelessly in Syria and with reugees in Ira, Jordan,

and Lebanon to meet the enormous humanitarian

needs o children and their amilies.

An estimated 4 million people are in need o

assistance within Syria, in addition to more than

1 million who hae fed to neighbouring countries.4

The United Nations (UN) and non-goernmental

organisations (NGOs) are doing what they can to

reach people in need by whateer channels aailable

to them, and millions o people hae already receied

ood or other orms o assistance. Despite these

eorts, children are not receiing the help they

need.5 This report is an urgent call to action: the

international community must take stronger action

to support humanitarian eorts, based solely on the

needs and rights o those aected by the confict,

and independent o any political interests. The scale

o the crisis demands a concerted, coordinated, and

large-scale response.

Stopping the war is the astest way to stop the

suering and start the process o reconciliation and

rebuilding. Humanitarian action is absolutely essential,

but we also recognise that without peace, or

children in Syria there will only be more death, more

destruction; the legacy o this confict grows more

painul and costly with eery day o ghting. The only

way to stop the suering is to bring an end to the war.

The rst part o this report sets out how Syrian

childrens lies are being aected by the confict,

rom the places they hae to lie to the iolence

they hae to ear; the impact on their education

and on their health. Children and parents describe

in their own words how the war has aected their

lies and the lies o their loed ones. The report

then gies an oeriew o the challenges inoled in

deliering a humanitarian response o the scale and

uality needed. Finally, we present Sae the Childrens

recommendations or how to oercome these

challenges to ensure that childrens needs or basic

surial and protection are met.*

* The report includes inormation rom dierent parts o Syria, but where that inormation could compromise the security

o children, their amilies and communities, or the agencies inoled in the humanitarian response, we do not cite a location.

Drawing by a Syrian reugee child


10/32

3

As Saas story shows (see page vi), the civilwar raging throughout Syria is devastatingall aspects o childrens lives. This sectiondescribes some o the ways the ghting isaecting children, beginning with the desperateshelter conditions or the millions o peopleinside Syria who have had to fee their homes.

It then looks at the impact o the war onchildrens health, protection, education, andood security.

SHELTERING FROM THE STORM

The ghting has damaged or destroyed an estimated

2.9 million buildings.6 As a result o the destruction,

3 million people (one in seen Syrians) people like

Hiba and her amily hae had to fee their homes.7

A third o them hae sought reuge in neighbouringcountries (see bo on page 5), but 2 million people

remain displaced within Syria.

In some areas, the entire population o a town has

fed. In others, people who had held on or months

amid heay ghting nally had to fee as they could

no longer meet their basic needs. As Abu, a ather in

Damascus, told Sae the Children: Why did we leave?

We let because o the explosions, the constant shelling.

Everything was a struggle, nothing was available no ood,

no water.For many people, ongoing ghting makes ittoo risky to moe to the border. For others, especially

the poorest amilies, feeing the country is not an

option as they simply cannot aord the transport to

get to the border.8

The options open to amilies displaced within Syria

are bleak. The lines o ghting moe almost daily,

so people oten do not know i the place they hae

settled in today will be sae tomorrow. Most people

seek reuge with riends or relaties in whateer space

they can spare apartments, outhouses, een chickensheds. The result is oten etreme oercrowding, with

up to 50 children liing in one house.13 Thousands

o people either hae no etended amily to turn to

or cannot reach them. It is estimated that 80,000

internally displaced people (IDPs) are sleeping out in

caes, parks or barns.14

Displaced people are receiing some temporary

shelters and basic items proided by Syrian

or international humanitarian agencies, butimplementation challenges (described below) mean

the leel o assistance is ar below international

standards. Sae the Children is seeing how this

particularly aects girls: the shelters that thousands

o amilies are liing in are cramped, aording little

personal priacy; girls are oten araid to go outside,

especially at night, as the presence o armed men

contributes to a perasie ear o seual iolence.15

Families seeking reuge inside Syria hae had to

endure two winters that saw snow all across mucho the country, with temperatures as low as -8C.16

Families fed, oten without enough time to gather

winter clothing or children.17 This winter, rationing

o the power supply seerely limited electric heating.

Shortages o uel pushed the price o kerosene up by

as much as 500%, making it impossible or the poorest

amilies to heat their shelters; in one area, 80% o

households could not aord heating.18 This makes

warm shelters and blankets all the more important,

but in 2012 only 30% o those who needed blankets

or mattresses receied them.19

This lack o sae and protectie shelter is putting

childrens health at risk. In the depths o this winter,

children aged 5 to 14 suered the largest proportion

o fu-like illness 38% o all registered cases in

Syria.20 In some cases, childrens lies hae been put

directly at risk: some shelters hae accidentally caught

re, killing seeral children, because people made open

res as the only way o keeping warm.21

The net section shows in more detail the many

ways in which the health o Syrias children is under

constant assault.

The impacT o waron children


11/32

4

Most o the houses were being hit.We had to stay in one room, all o

us. The other rooms were being hitThe shelling was constant, I wasvery scared.

I elt so araid. I knew we could notmove rom that one room. Therewere 13 o us crammed into oneroom. We did not leave that room ortwo weeks. It was always so loud.

My ather let the room. I watched

my ather leave, and watched as myather was shot outside our homeI started to cry, I was so sad. Wewere living a normal lie, we hadenough ood. Now, we dependon others. Everything changedor me that day.

yaSmine, 12

PHOTO:JONATHANHYAMS/SAv

ETHECHILDREN


12/32

THEIMPACTOF

WARONCHILDREN

5

This report ocuses on the situation or children

inside Syria, but the humanitarian crisis has

spilled oer the countrys borders as more and

more people fee their homes and seek reuge in

neighbouring countries. As o March 2013, there

were more than 1 million people 52% o them

children registered as reugees or awaiting

registration, with nearly 5,000 more eery day.9

The real number o reugees is likely to be much

higher, as around 4050% o reugees outside the

established camps hae not registered with the

United Nations Reugee Agency, UNHCR oten

in order to protect their identities.10

Jordan and Lebanon are home to the largest

number o reugees, each with more than a uarter

o a million Syrian people registered or awaiting

registration. More than 180,000 Syrians hae sought

reuge in Turkey and more than 100,000 in Ira,

nearly 10% o whom are in Anbar proince, where

agencies like Sae the Children hae to manage the

insecurity to try to meet reugees basic needs.11

The reugee crisis is most isible at Zaatari camp

in Jordan, where the goernment and humanitarian

agencies are working hard to epand the proision

o essential serices like shelter and water. Howeer,

across the region, 70% o reugees are not in camps

but are instead liing in inormal settlements or

with etended amily and riends, many o whom

are themseles ery ulnerable.12

Sae the Children is working with UNHCR and

other UN agencies, and the host goernments

in Jordan, Lebanon, and Ira, to ensure that all

ulnerable groups get the assistance and protection

they need. We are proiding support to reugees

(whether registered or unregistered) and host

communities, as well as non-Syrians feeing the

country, such as Palestinians and Irais. As o March

2013, we had proided much-needed assistance

to more than 240,000 people across the region,

including shelter, ood, and protection or children.

THE REGIONAL REFUGEE CRISIS

PHOTO:JONATHANH

YAMS/SAvETHECHIL

DREN

A reugee settlement near the Syrian border


13/32

6

Hiba fed Syria with her daughter and seerely

disabled son.

Hospitals in Syria are being targeted with shelling. Theone I took my son to or physiotherapy sessions is not

operating any more. I couldnt put him in a car and take

him to a doctor, and then to which hospital? The roads

were too dicult.

I dont know why some hospitals were shut down. Some

were hit in the shelling, others were untouched; yet the

roads were too dangerous or us to travel anyway. Any

time I want to take him out, its dangerous or us. We stay

at home, we call the doctor, but we can never reach him.

How do I eel? Any mothers heart would break seeingher son in this state I am helpless. When I see him tired,

I wish its me instead. He gets sti and aints; his eyes

stare in vain, and this is very hard or me Sometimes

I cry, but I cant do anything.

Everyone is aected by this war. My daughter is 13 years

old and goes crazy every time she hears a noise. Once

the bombs started we ran I couldnt take my sons

wheelchair, so I had to carry him, and run. We thought it is

better or us to die in the street than under the rubble o

our house. We ran at 3 in the morning and we didnt know

where to go. We were just running because we didnt want

to die under the rubble.

I wasnt thinking; I just wanted to protect my children.

I didnt want anything else. I just wanted to keep my

children sae. I I die it is ne but not my children.

I want to keep them sae.

In the morning we came back to our home, but it was

ruined. Theres no place or us to go to, no sae space to go

to at all. I think there is no sae space in Syria. It is beyond

imagining.I cried and shouted but there was nothing else I could do.

What can we say? Nothing. There is no human being living

that wouldnt be sad. We worked all our lie to build our

home and suddenly we lose it all.

Syria is our country and we want to go back there. We

dont know who is right and who is wrong, but I know we

civilians are paying the price.

hiba


Hiba with her

granddaughter


14/32

THEIMPACTOF

WARONCHILDREN

7

STAYING ALIvE, STAYING HEALTHY

The ciil war is being waged in eery city in Syria,

aecting eeryones health and their ability to get

healthcare when they need it. Most o those injured

by gunshots are young men, oer the age o 18. But

across the country, rom being unable to nd or aordmedication to being injured by eplosie weapons,

children are eeling the eects. As Aras story shows,

some childrens health is at risk rom the moment

they are born.

Stories like Aras are ar rom uniue. Sae the

Children has ound that getting access to sae birthing

acilities can be a dangerous, sometimes impossible

struggle or mothers and midwies. The lack o

neo-natal care and specialist medics, as well as the

damage to health acilities, mean that many birthsare now taking place in peoples homes, temporary

homes or shelters, without a skilled birth attendant

who can assist with any complications. Gien the

dicult liing conditions and the huge challenge o

adeuate sanitation or displaced people and their

host amilies (described below), mothers and their

newborns are at greater risk.22

Young childrens health is also at greater risk now

because the ciil war has disrupted or completely

stopped routine accinations, including or measles

and polio. While UNICEF managed to conduct

a accination campaign that reached 1.4 million

children, oten in ery dicult circumstances, getting

accinations into Rural Damascus goernorate and

also into opposition-controlled areas o northern

Syria has proed immensely challenging. By January

2013, no more than a third o children had been

accinated in the north o Syria; with eery passingday, the potential or an epidemic increases.23

Ara has three children.

I was very sick during my pregnancy but there were

no doctors, no hospitals. It wasnt like my other

pregnancies I had no scans, no check-ups.

It was morning when the contractions started. They

carried on all day, I remember that I was so tired. Ive

always delivered in hospital beore, never at home. Ater

nightall, I told my amily that I must go to hospital, but

they knew there was no way we could get through saely,

shells were already alling. Men shoot at everything

they see at night, and there are so many checkpoints

we would never get past. Even i we did get through,

where would we go? There are no hospitals now, only a

makeshit clinic ar away.

Around 4am, I started to deliver, I was terried. I was in

so much pain, I thought I would die. There was a terrible

complication in my birth and I thank God some o my

neighbours helped a brave midwie to get through to me.

The cord was wrapped around my babys neck the

midwie saved my baby boys lie, and mine too I think.

My daughter was there or the birth, and she wasterried about the whole situation. She couldnt deal

with what happened all around her especially the

shelling, and the screaming.

Its because o these shells, the endless explosions,

that I let my home. I let a ew months ater this birth,

coming rom my home only three days ago. For the

journey, I carried my baby. I have other children and I

wished I could carry all o them, but I couldnt so they

had to run or themselves. People were dying all around

us, houses became rubble.

I you ever went into Syria you will see something

youve never seen beore. It is not something you can

believe

The children that are still in Syria they are dying. It

eels as though no one is helping, nothing is changing.

Why cant you help them?

ARA


15/32

CHILDHOODUNDERFIRE

8

ATTACKS TARGETING HEALTH FACILITIES

AND HEALTH WORKERS

These growing threats to childrens health in Syria are

all the more alarming gien the increasing deastation

to health acilities and attacks on health workers, as

Hibas eperience (see case study) iidly shows.24

This destruction is all too oten the result o atargeted attack on health acilities: agencies working

in Syria report that they are seeing a continued trend

o attacks, mostly by Syrian goernment orces, on

hospitals in contested areas. This appalling trend is in

contraention o international humanitarian law, and

means people are araid to go to hospitals een when

they are in urgent need o treatment.25 In Deir ez

Zor goernorate, or eample, eery single hospital

has been damaged, while in Aleppo goernorate,

two-thirds o hospitals are no longer unctioning.

Across the country, more than hal o Syrias hospitals

hae been damaged, and nearly a third hae been put

completely out o action.26

Een hospitals that are still unctioning are not able

to deal with the growing numbers o people who

need treatment. In one area, Sae the Children ound

hospitals with little or no heating, ehausted doctors,

intermittent electricity supply, and woeul conditions

or paediatric patients despite the best eorts o

courageous and committed sta who were continuing

to work in such dicult conditions.27

The ghting in cities and reports o targeted attacks

on doctors mean that many medical sta ear or

their lies when they trael to work. Understandably,

many decide they simply cannot take the risk: 50%

o doctors are reported to hae fed Homs, and

according to one account, the number o medics

practising in and around Aleppo has allen rom 5,000

to just 36.28

TRAPPED IN WAR AND POvERTY

The ghting has made it much more dicult orpeople to get to hospitals and other health acilities

or treatment, and it has also led to a major shortage

o medicines in many areas, as Sae the Children

has witnessed. Beore the confict began, almost all

drugs used in Syria were produced in-country.29

PHOTO:JO

NATHANHYAMS/SAvETHECHILDREN

Souha, three, at a reugee settlement near the Syrian border


16/32

THEIMPACTOF

WARONCHILDREN

9

Now, shortage o uel and hard currency, disruption

to supply chains and damage to actories hae all

massiely slowed production o medical supplies.

Wealthier Syrians are reportedly traelling to

neighbouring countries or healthcare; but, as with

heating and ood, the medicines that are aailable are

priced beyond the reach o the poorest amilies.30

The poorest amilies health is also at greater

risk, because they are more likely to be liing in

oercrowded communal shelters with little or no

access to clean water and adeuate sanitation. More

and more children are suering rom diarrhoea,

hepatitis A, upper respiratory tract inections, and

skin rashes because o the deterioration in sanitation

conditions.31 In one rural area where Sae the

Children is responding to the crisis, almost eery

displaced amily said they lacked sae access to cleantoilets. In many cases, parents eared or the saety o

their daughters with the presence o so many men

carrying weapons.32

Een in cities, children now hae to go to the toilet

in public spaces because damage to the water and

sewage system means that toilet fushes no longer

work. In addition, the proportion o sewage being

treated in Syria has haled since the confict began.

This presents a huge risk o disease outbreak,

especially as clean water becomes more and morescarce. In some areas, water supply is now down to a

third o pre-crisis leels; in some parts o Aleppo, or

instance, water is only pumped or our hours a day.33

AN UNSAFE REFUGE

Beore the confict began, thousands o people

feeing confict rom elsewhere in the region had

sought reuge in Syria. These people are particularly

ulnerable now (see bo). For eample, beore the

confict, an estimated 10,000 Palestinian reugees were

liing in Dera camp in south-west Syria. Water and

sanitation proision was poor een then; now, the

acilities hae closed altogether.34

Not all those aected by the confict are Syrians.

Hundreds o thousands o Palestinians, Irais,

Aghans and others are in Syria haing sought reuge

rom iolence and insecurity back home. There

are belieed to be more than 500,000 Palestinian

reugees and 480,000 Irai reugees in Syria.35

Approimately 40% o these are children though

children under e are oten not registered, so this

is probably an underestimate.36

Reugees in Syria were particularly ulnerable een

beore the confict. For eample, children born toPalestinian reugee amilies were less likely to be

enrolled in school than Syrian children, and more

likely to die beore their th birthday.37 Also, a

high proportion o Irai reugees two in eery

e had special protection or medical needs that

reuired targeted support.38

The outbreak o confict in the country these

reugees originally came to or protection means

they are now much more ulnerable and ace new

risks. For instance, Yarmouk camp, a Palestinianreugee settlement in Damascus, has become a

battleground; there is ghting almost eery day

in or around the camp. Three-uarters o the

150,000 residents hae once again had to fee, and

because some borders to neighbouring countries

are closed to Palestinians, they remain trapped

inside Syria.39 The United Nations Relie and Works

Agency (UNRWA) proides essential assistance

to Palestinian reugees, but insecurity has orced it

to halt its operations in many camps in Syria. As a

result, only 40% o its clinics are still open, and more

than 80% o school-age Palestinian reugee childrenare unable to attend school.40

Tens o thousands o Irais hae already fed Syria,

and UNHCR estimates that a third o those still

in Syria will leae during 2013.41 Most o them will

probably go back to Ira, despite the continuing

insecurity there and the lack o jobs and basic

social serices.42

Reugees in Syria already aced dicult and

uncertain utures. Now, nding themseles enguled

in confict once again, their options are een morelimited, their situation een more desperate.

PALESTINIAN AND IRAqI REFUGEES IN SYRIA


17/32

CHILDHOODUNDERFIRE

10

DANGER ON ALL SIDES

The confict in Syria has had terrible repercussions

or childrens lies and health. When the confict is

isited directly on children, the conseuences are

truly harrowing. These threats to children are what

the net section describes.When we ask parents how their children are coping

with their eperiences, the most common reply

is that it has let children with a perading and

persistent eeling o ear. When children are gien

the opportunity to draw pictures o their recent

eperiences, they ll the pages with iolent and

angry images o bloodshed, eplosions, and the

trappings o war. Parents also say that their children

are showing signs o signicant emotional distress,

such as nightmares, bed wetting, or becominguncharacteristically aggressie or withdrawn; any

loud noise reminds the children o the iolence

they fed rom.43

A new study by a research team rom Bahcesehir

Uniersity in Turkey, ound some chilling eidence o

what children are eperiencing. Two-thirds o those

interiewed had been in a terriying situation where

they elt they were in great danger; one child in three

had been hit, kicked, or shot at. And three in eery

our children interiewed children like nine-year-old

Ibrahim had eperienced the death o at least one

loed one.44

As documented in the UN Secretary-Generals 2012

report on children and armed confict, some abuses

in Syria are so heinous that they represent grae

iolations o childrens rights under UN Security

Council Resolution 1612.45 Children are being

killed and maimed eery day in Syria. The confict

has claimed the lies o some 70,000 people and an

estimated 300,000 are belieed to hae been injured.46

While we do not know just how many o these

casualties are children, hospital reports show that an

increasing number o children are being admitted with

burns, gunshot wounds, and injuries rom eplosions.47

Eery day, children remain at risk o death and injury,

including permanent disability. Children are not being

spared rom the iolence.

The use o eplosie weapons in populated areas has

killed and maimed children as well as adults. In January

2013 alone, there were more than 3,000 recorded

security incidents clashes or attacks in Syria;

80% o them inoled heay weapons such as mortars,

shells and rockets. This ghting was concentrated

in urban areas; in Damascus, 247 incidents were

recorded in just two communities that were ormerly

home to 1.8 million people.48

The blast and ragmentation eects o eplosie

weapons coer a wide area, and do not discriminate

between ciilians and military targets. All parties

to the confict are using these kinds o weapons in

built-up areas where many amilies remain trapped,

with goernment orces in particular using air strikes

and Scud missiles.49 There are multiple reports rom

across Syria o blasts rom eplosie weapons killingseeral children at once sometimes rom the same

amily, sometimes inants less than three months old.50

NOOR, 8

We were all scared. Because o the shelling, we

were hiding in the bathroom and the kitchen. The

shelling happened every day or a while Every day,

in the evening.

This is what I remember o Syria. No, nothing good,

no good memories. I remember how my uncle and

my grandmother died, because I saw it What do I

remember o Syria? Blood. This is it.

IBRAHIM, 9

Ibrahims mother and two older brothers died

when their home came under attack.

When I heard shelling in Syria at night, it always

woke me up. Sometimes I stood outside to see wherethe noise was coming rom and sometimes it made

me really araid, so I just stayed inside. I used to

tell my siblings they better stay inside because o

the shelling.

I miss the days my mum took me to the playground

in Syria. My mum is dead, and my two older brothers

too They died rom the shelling o our home.

Nadeem was my brother and my best riend. I wish

I can have un with him and go to school with him

again.I just wish they were still alive. It makes me want to

go back to Syria. When I return, I want to visit their

graves and say I miss you.


18/32

THEIMPACTOF

WARONCHILDREN

11

Aside rom their deastating immediate impact,

eplosie weapons also leae a potentially atal legacy.

As much as 11% o eplosie ordinance does not

eplode on impact; these eplosie remnants o war

are now scattered across Syria, a country where

people hae had no preious eperience o dealing

with such hazards. Children ace the risk o death orserious injury either rom playing with uneploded

shells or simply through being orced to lie and moe

around in a landscape scattered with uneploded

remnants. Een ghters hae been killed rom trying

to deal with uneploded grenades.51

THE THREAT OF SExUAL vIOLENCE

Seual iolence is another grae iolation o childrens

rights. There is some eidence that girls and boys as

young as 12 are being subjected to seual iolence,

including physical torture o their genitals, and rape.52

The prealence o such abuses is hard to establish, as

suriors oten do not report the attacks or ear o

dishonouring their amily or bringing about reprisals.

But ear o seual iolence is repeatedly cited to Sae

the Children as one o the main reasons or amilies

feeing their homes.

There are also reports that early marriage o young

girls is increasing. This can be understood as desperate

amilies like Um Alis struggling with ever-narrowing

options to survive. They may be trying to reduce the

number o mouths they have to eed or hoping that

a husband will be able to provide greater security

or their daughter rom the threat o sexual violence.

However, anecdotal reports rom organisations working

inside Syria indicate that early marriage is sometimes

being used as a cover or sexual exploitation, where

girls are divorced ater a short time and sent back

to their amilies.53 In such a chaotic and dangerous

environment, children and young girls in particular

are at much greater risk o abduction and tracking,especially or purposes o sexual exploitation.

DISPLACEMENT AND SEPARATION

Faced with appalling and indiscriminate iolence, the

only choice let to millions o people has been to

fee their homes. These displaced people may nd

shelter, but they may not nd security: once they

hae let their homes, amilies may be repeatedly

displaced as the ghting spreads, each time carrying

with them harrowing memories and ewer and ewer

possessions. According to one surey o Syrians who

fed to Mara goernorate in Jordan, more than 60%

had been displaced twice or more beore crossing the

border, each time settling or a week or more beore

being orced to fee again.54 In some situations, people

hae no time to pick up een a coat or proper shoes;

they literally hae to run or their lies.

In the panic o escape, many children become

separated rom their amilies. In other cases,

parents make the tough decision to send children

away to relaties in areas deemed less insecure.

This is why, in one area o Syria where Sae the

Children is responding to the crisis, a uarter o

amilies are hosting other peoples children. As the

situation deteriorates urther, many oster amilies

will no longer be able to cope, increasing the risk

that children may be handed oer to institutionsor abandoned to lie on the street and end or

themseles in a country at war.55

THE RECRUITMENT OF CHILDREN

BY ARMED GROUPS OR FORCES

There is a growing pattern o armed groups on both

sides o the confict recruiting children under 18

as porters, guards, inormers or ghters. For many

children and their amilies, this is seen as a source o

pride. But some children are orcibly recruited into

military actiities, and in some cases children as young

as eight hae been used as human shields.56

Drawings by Syrian reugee children


19/32

CHILDHOODUNDERFIRE

12

The use o children in combat is a grae iolation

o their rights; it contraenes international law and

commitments made by both parties to the confict.

It also puts the children inoled at enormous risk

o death, injury or torture. One monitoring group

aliated with the opposition, the Syria violations

Documenting Center, has documented the deathso at least 17 children associated with armed groups

since the start o the confict. Many other children in

armed groups hae been seerely injured; some hae

been permanently disabled.57

Thousands, i not millions o children in Syria hae

eperienced appalling abuses during the war. In ront

o high-leel representaties o the international

community in Kuwait in June 2012, the UNs Under-

Secretary General or Humanitarian Aairs, valerie

Amos, highlighted the urgent need or psychosocialsupport or inants and children like Hammas

youngest daughter to deal with what they are

going through.

EDUCATION UNDER ATTACK

It is dicult to know the ull etent o the disruption

to childrens education caused by the war in Syria,

gien the relatie scarcity o data. But the illustratie

data that do eist, and the inormation Sae theChildren has been able to gather, are deeply worrying.

It is clear that education is part o the ront line

o the war on children. Schools are protected by

international human rights law; they should be sae

places or children to play, learn and deelop. But in

Syria, schools hae come under direct attack, denying

children their right to education in a sae learning

enironment. An eight-year-old boy rom Aleppo

reused to talk or more than two weeks ater feeing

Syria. When he eentually did speak, his rst wordswere, They burned my school. 58

Children like Noura, feeing rom the ghting, just

want to be back at school, back to normality, learning

and playing with their riends.

I liked going to school in Syria. We used to write and play.

When I want to remember something happy, it is playing

with my riends on the swings. We laughed. I miss them.

At the beginning there wasnt shelling at my school, but

ater some time the shelling started. I stopped going to

school when the shelling started. It wasnt sae. I eel sad

that my school was burned because my school reminds

me o my riends. I love going to school.

I would hear the shelling I would get scared and try

to hide. One day I was with my riends playing in the sun

and sand. We were collecting the sand, and putting it in

a bucket, then we fipped it. We made a castle like that,

always. Then a sound rom the mosque shouted RUN,RUN. We ran away to our houses, and sat inside because

we knew the shelling started. We ran very ast. I was

araid that shrapnel would hit me.

We were terried, and cried a lot when this happened.

The mosque speaker sounds the alarm on the incoming

shelling, so we can seek shelter and hide. Sometimes we

heard the mosque alarms and sometimes we didnt.

I came home, we hid in the living room and we prayed.

I prayed that my brother and sisters will stay sae. I also

prayed or my school not to be destroyed.Noura, 10

In Syria, beore the confict, access to basic education

was ree and more than 90% o primary school-aged

children were enrolled one o the highest rates in

the Middle East.59 But the confict is undoing all those

achieements, denying children the right to education,

depriing them o a sae learning enironment, and

threatening their utures as well as that o the country.

In other confict settings where Sae the Children

works, once children hae been orced to drop outo school, their aspirations and aith in the education

system (especially state schools) are seerely dashed.

The longer children are out o school, the less likely

they are eer to return. Millions o children and young

people in Syria may neer regain the chance to ull

their true potential.

Some schools hae closed because displaced amilies

are liing in them, as they had nowhere else to stay.

An estimated 1 million people are liing in schools

and public buildings not designed to be lied in, and so

lacking proper heating and sanitation.60 In one area o

Syria where Sae the Children is responding, during

HAMMA

My other daughter, Sham, is one year and seven

months. Do you know what her rst word was?

Enjar [Explosion]. Her rst word! Thats why we

let, thats why we ran. My daughters rst word is

explosion. It is a tragedy. We elt constantly as i we

were about to die.


20/32

13

um ali

Um Ali has three children.

There has been no school or two

years. Because o this, my son missedhis baccalaureate, and my daughtermissed her 11th grade. Its too dangerous

to go to school they are being shelled,and even i they are still there, you getshot at i you try to get there.

My daughter, she is 16 and she loved school.She was the rst in her class, and she wantedto become an architect. But this war

we were too worried or her. We could notprotect her, so we had to marry her. I knowthat men are hurting women, old women,single women everyone. We needed her tohave a protector.

We couldnt let her go outside at all. And isomeone comes inside your house, you cannotdeend yoursel as just a woman. I theycome in, what will her ather do? Sit asideand watch? They were attacking women.

Her ather told her this is the only solution.There are no schools. One year, two years, noschools. What about marriage? Your cousinis a good man, take him, he is good. So shesaid As you wish. But she did not want to getmarried, she wanted to study. But there wereno more schools. So she was married. Thisis happening a lot within Syria, many womenI know are marrying their daughters even

younger than 16 to protect them.

What do people need most? People in Syrianeed everything. They need help, they needto be saved. People are dying. People aredying and there is slaughter and the rest othe world is just watching. There is no helprom outside. They keep holding meetings andthats it. They are just watching. We arecalling or them, but no one is listening.



21/32

CHILDHOODUNDERFIRE

14

the bitter winter months, school benches were stolen

or rewood; desperate, understandable measures

to stay warm, but urther erosion o childrens

opportunities to learn and play.

Thousands more schools hae been put out o use

by the ghting. Attacks on schools represent grae

iolations o childrens rights because o their direct

and lasting impact on children. Yet according to the

Syrian goernment, 2,000 schools hae been damaged

in the confict; one UN surey ound that a uarter o

schools in one area had been damaged or destroyed.61

This not only makes childrens place o learning

unsae or unusable; it can also make children araid

o returning to school een when the ghting is oer.

There hae also been reports o parents not allowing

their children especially girls, like 13-year-old Saba

to go to school or ear o being attacked, caught incrossre, or directly shot at.62 As a result, attendance

rates, particularly or displaced children, ary widely.

According to one estimate, more than 200,000

children displaced by the ghting in Syria are missing

out on education.63

In one area, Sae the Children has witnessed

incredible dedication on the part o teachers who

hae no materials to work with, but teach what they

can remember by heart. Despite threats against

them, displacement, and the destruction o schools,

do not lessen their coniction that children need to

continue their education. These dedicated eorts are

enough to keep education going or 200 children.64

But they are not able to proide the standard o basic

education that the children hae a right to, and there

are hundreds o thousands more who are getting no

ormal education at all.

The net section describes how the war is

depriing children and their amilies o enough ood

to surie on.

GOING HUNGRY

What we struggled or the most in Syria was to get ood.

Even the water tanks were shot at to leave houses without

water. We almost starved to death.

During the confict, bread supplies were completely cut

o rom my town. I saw it with my own eyes a truckcarrying four into the town to supply the bakeries, and the

truck was orced to turn back, and this is how our bread

supply was cut.

They cut our water, they cut our electricity, our ood and

our bread. We managed to make it through, by uniting. I

one o the neighbours was able to get bread, they shared it

with the rest This is reality.Faris, ather o si

Beore the confict began, although Syria was

considered a middle-income country, it had

relatiely high leels o stunting a result o chronic

malnutrition.65 Acute malnutrition was rare, and

remains so.66 Howeer, as the ghting continues and

amilies are nding that accessing nutritious ood

becomes eer more dicult, epensie, and een

dangerous, there are the rst signs o an increase in

the number o children suering malnutrition.67

According to the United Nations Oce or the

Coordination o Humanitarian Aairs (OCHA),

2.5 million Syrians are in need o emergency oodassistance.68 Howeer, one recent assessment in

the north o the country estimated that 3.2 million

people need ood assistance in 58 sub-districts alone,

suggesting that the situation may be much worse than

preiously thought.69

The ghting has drastically curtailed ood production

in the country. Jamal, like 20% o armers, reports

that it was too unsae to harest any o his crops.

Insecurity has also hampered cross-border trade

We let Syria because there were lots o explosions but

we didnt want to leave our house. We were injured and

we got scared, thats why we let. What do I remember?

People being hurt. People dying In ront o my eyes.

They were hitting schools. Many children would die, so

we got scared and stopped going to school. No childrenwould go to school, it was too dangerous. It makes me

sad that Im not going to school.

Beore the crisis we used to play outside. We werent

scared. Now? We stay inside and be araid. That is it.

We should stop the shelling. For me, explosions lead

to destruction. And more than that the shelling makes

people get injured, and it makes people die. The only

eect is destruction, death and wounded people. Myhome has been destroyed. We were in it when it was

hit, and when it ell. I eel as though all o Syria has

been destroyed.

SABA, 13


22/32

THEIMPACTOF

WARONCHILDREN

15

o ood and other essentials like cooking oil; and in

some cases, road closures and ghting hae disrupted

delieries o ood relie (this is discussed urther in

the net section).70 Shortages o four a key staple

hae been reported in most parts o the country due

to damage to mills, closure o actories, lack o uel or

deliery, road closures, and insecurity.71

We stopped leaving our houses because o the danger,

which meant no work and no more income. It was

impossible to go to the eld and check on my crops.

Beore the confict, we harvested our olives and grapes, but

or the past year, I swear to you not one armer harvested

a single olive. Not one human being. Whoever decided to

visit his crops, knows he is going to die.Jamal, ather o eight

The scarcity o ood has contributed to soaring

ood prices, eacerbated by the closure o manyood markets due to insecurity. This has ended up

centralising supply in priate bakeries and leaing

price-setting in ewer hands.72 In Aleppo, which has

seen heay ghting, the price o bread is now up to

ten times what it was when the confict began two

years ago.73

For many people, the price rises mean they are unable

to eed their amilies. Een or those who hae enough

money to buy ood, the risk o being caught up in the

ghting makes joining the long ueues at bakeriestoo dangerous to attempt. As we see through Sae

the Childrens response to the crisis, ew displaced

amilies hae any ood stocks at all. They are haing

to cut down on the number o meals they and their

children eat each day.74We were living rom the ood

we had stored away jam, a little bread,Hamma told

us. She was heaily pregnant when she fed Syria with

her one-year-old daughter. Prices are so high ood is

ten times as much as it was. All I want or my baby is a

sae lie. That is my only hope.

Access to aordable ood is a daily challenge or

amilies in Syria, but malnutrition in inants and ery

young children can be staed o i they get the right

ood and micronutrients, or which breasteeding

is essential. Traditionally in Syria, the majority o

mothers do not breasteed their inants, but Sae the

Children has seen indications o a urther reduction

between 15% and 50% in the proportion o mothers

breasteeding.75 This is because o a widespread

perception that the stress women are under reducestheir ability to produce enough breast milk. Another

actor is that there has been uncontrolled distribution

o breast milk substitutes such as inant ormula.76

Gien the poor sanitation conditions many amilies

are liing under, described earlier in the report, we

hae seen how this is contributing to more inants

and children suering diarrhoea.77

This is just one small indication o the compleity o

the situation acing children and their amilies in Syria.

The net section outlines some o the main challenges

that Sae the Children and other agencies ace in

trying to help children in Syria in the contet o the

confict raging around them.


23/32

16

The enormous humanitarian needs in Syriaand the widespread iolations o childrensrights demand action. Humanitarian agencies,including Syrian and international NGOs andUN agencies, hae already mobilised to helpall those people they can reach.

But the challenges inoled in the humanitarian

response in Syria are immense. Some o the biggestissues concern ongoing insecurity, limited access,

constraints on implementation capacity, challenges to

coordination, and insucient unding, which are all

described in more detail below.

While it is impossible to say with any certainty, there

are belieed to be millions o people in Syria who

need assistance and who are not receiing enough,

i any at all.78 There hae been recent breakthroughs

in humanitarian access, with some UN agencies

succeeding in negotiating access across confict linesto delier essentials such as ood and blankets.79

While these are much-needed positie signs, the

oerall picture remains bleak. It is likely that millions

o children are not getting the help and protection

they need.

Insecurity: The most eident constraint to reaching

the millions who need assistance is insecurity.

Crossre, indiscriminate use o orce, eplosie

weapons, landmines, uneploded remnants o war,

kidnapping; the list o threats to aid workers goeson, and the threats are real 15 aid workers in Syria

hae lost their lies in the past two years, trying to

get assistance to ciilians caught up in the confict.80

Some o them were directly targeted despite wearing

internationally recognised humanitarian emblems.81

Ambulances hae been directly attacked too: our out

o e Syrian ambulances hae been damaged during

the confict.82

Whether indiscriminate or targeted, attacks on

aid workers and aid conoys make some areas toorisky to operate in. For instance, the UN agency

responsible or proiding assistance or hal a million

Palestinian reugees in Syria (UNRWA) had to close

most o its operations in Yarmouk, where 150,000

Palestinians had been liing.83 Crossre, shelling

and aerial bombardment mean agencies are taking

signicant risks to reach those in need.

Assent o parties to the conict: The confict in

Syria has created a comple patchwork, with dierent

armed groups and orces actie in dierent areas.

There are some large areas where control is relatielyunied, and where large numbers o people can

gain assistance, i security allows. In other areas, the

situation is much more ragmented and dynamic, so

aid agencies must negotiate with numerous actions

to moe around and reach people aected by the

crisis. Sometimes more than 20 checkpoints must

be negotiated or one journey, with each negotiation

taking time; it only takes one checkpoint to reuse

passage to mean that the agency has to halt an aid

deliery, with no one gaining assistance.

For Sae the Children, humanitarian impartiality

is our only passport to respond in Syria, meaning

we hae already been able to proide assistance to

thousands o children. Denying children their right to

receie humanitarian assistance by denying agencies

access to them is a grae iolation o childrens rights

and contraenes international humanitarian law.

Eperience tells us that negotiations to secure access

based on humanitarian principles will continue to be

dicult, and necessary.

Capacity to deliver: Prior to the confict there

were ery ew organisations local or international

with sucient technical and operational capacity

or a humanitarian response in Syria. As the confict

has escalated, the UN and NGOs hae been trying

to increase the scale o their operations, within the

constraints o access and insecurity. To complement

direct operations, many agencies, including Sae

the Children, work with Syrian partners who are

able to delier a humanitarian response on a large

scale. Howeer, there are not enough eperiencedlocal organisations working in accordance with

humanitarian principles o impartiality and neutrality

to match the enormous needs.

humaniTyS beST eorTS?


24/32

naziha, 17

One evening I was at my house with myhusband and I was holding my daughter inmy arms, breasteeding. We heard a noiseoutside. Something hit the house and I dontremember anything ater that All I knowis that ater, I became disabled I cantmove my arm or my leg. Now I cant standor sit without help.

There were many people who wereinjured or who became disabled in Syrialike this. This cannot go on. Someone shouldput an end to it. People are losing their

children, brothers, parents. Some peopleare getting shot. Others are unable to leavethe country. Children in Syria are dying, orbecoming disabled like I was. Until whenwill this keep going?



25/32

CHILDHOODUNDERFIRE

18

For most agencies international and Syrian getting

hold o the commodities needed to delier lie-saing

assistance can be etremely challenging. Whether it

is medicines, ood, blankets and tents, or people with

the necessary epertise and isas, there are signicant

obstacles to increasing the scale o operations in Syria

to meet the immense and urgent needs.

Humanitarian principles and coordination:

Due to the diculties o access and insecurity, there

is no central ocus in the country or ensuring that

humanitarian community has a clear, impartial, national

picture o the needs and the response. For eample,

many o the humanitarian organisations operating

in Syria are not present in Damascus. Conersely, o

those organisations operating rom Damascus, many

are not present in places like Aleppo, in the north.

The UN Oce or the Coordination o HumanitarianAairs (OCHA) has been proactiely working with

non-goernmental partners to nd creatie solutions

to this dilemma. It is not simply an issue o aoiding

duplication and lling the gaps, important though

this is. It is also about ensuring that the response is

based on humanitarian need, rather than political

considerations.

Some Syrian diaspora groups with strong political

aliations have given substantial nancial and technical

support to groups on whichever is their side o theconfict. In addition, the Syrian confict has deeply

divided the international community, with some

individuals, groups or governments unding only

one side or the other, regardless o what is best or

children and their amilies in need. The humanitarian

imperative is that the priority or the fow o essential

aid to Syria must be to reach those who need it most.

Acting on that imperative gives agencies best chance o

security in what is a complex and ast-moving confict.

Operating in this context requires constant vigilance

and negotiation. Given the access challenges described

earlier, all sides to the confict want to have a role in

the targeting o aid into the country. However, it is

vital that agencies delivering humanitarian assistance

remain impartial.

Funding: In 2012, unding or the international

humanitarian appeal or Syria ell $130 million short

o the reuirements identied by the UN a shortall

o more than a third.84 As the humanitarian needs

escalated throughout the year, this not only meant

that agencies in Syria could not proide much o the

necessary assistance; it also meant that they were still

trying to increase the scale o their operations.

By the end o January 2013, the appeal receied a

huge boost: international donors pledged $1.5 billion

to support the aid eort, including substantialamounts rom the European Commission, Kuwait,

the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and

the United States.85

These promises o unding are ery welcome, but

they need to be urgently translated into real unds or

agencies on the ground. At the time o writing this

report, UN gures showed only 2.9% o the reuired

unding or the emergency education response had

been proided, only 2.6% or community serices

(which includes programmes to improe childprotection), and a shortall o $72 million or health

88% o the reuested unds.86

While sucient unding is ital or an eectie

humanitarian response in Syria, the challenges set

out here make one thing clear: unding alone is not

sucient. The net section sets out what Sae the

Children beliees needs to happen to help address

the humanitarian suering.


26/32

19

As the confict continues, so does theimpact o the war on children. Aboeall else, Save the Children calls on theUN Security Council to overcome itsdivisions and urgently unite behind aplan that will bring about an end tothe violence in Syria.

Ending the pain that this report sets out will not be

easy, but it is possible. Just as the waging o this war

is a result o human actions and decisions, so can be

its end. The appalling suering o Yasmine and Ibrahim

and Naziha and the thousands like them demands an

end to the confict now.

Tragically, but realistically, peace will take some time to

realise, and many more lies will be lost or destroyed

in the meantime. The international community

must press urgently and explicitly or parties

to the conict to take specifc measures toimprove and secure humanitarian access and

to ensure the protection o children. Other

recommendations addressed to specic actors are

detailed below.

PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT

Sae the Children takes no side in this confict. All

those who are ghting in Syria hae a responsibility

under national and international humanitarian and

human rights law to protect ciilians and specically

children, who are entitled to special protection. All

parties to the conict should commit publicly,

and take immediate measures, to:

allowunfettered,safeaccessbyhumanitarian

agencies trying to proide assistance to those

in need, including access across the lines o

the confict

easeanybureaucraticconstraintsonagencies

increasing their capacity to respond, allowinghumanitarian agencies, their sta and supplies

to reach those in need. This should apply to

all sectors o humanitarian actiity, including

protection, and clearance o uneploded remnants

o war

ensurethatchildrenandallciviliansandcivilian

objects are not targeted by armed action.

This should include targeting, occupation, or

military use o medical acilities and personnel,

schools, sites or internally displaced people, and

humanitarian agencies and workers. Ciilians

should be allowed sae passage out o areas o

actie military engagement

endtheuseofexplosiveweaponsinpopulated

areas

ceasetherecruitmentanduseofchildrenunder

the age o 18 in armed groups and orces, release

all children currently associated with armed groups

and orces, and cooperate with the return o these

children to their amilies, as well as necessary

systems or recoery and reintegration

cooperatewiththeUNtoensurethatalliolations o childrens rights are documented so

that those responsible can be held to account.

THE UNITED NATIONS

The UN has classied the Syria response as a leel 3

the highest category possible. This is a clear

recognition o the scale and urgency o humanitarian

need in Syria. This categorisation reuires the

appointment o a Super Humanitarian Coordinator,actiation o Clusters or coordination, and the

agreement o a strategic approach. The UN should

take action on the ollowing areas:

The UN Secretary-General, the UN-LAS

(League o Arab States) Joint Special

Representative or Syria, the Special

Representative o the Secretary-General or

Children and Armed Conict, and OCHA

should epressly urge parties to the confict to end

iolations o childrens rights and to take the specicsteps outlined aboe with utmost urgency to ensure

that children are protected rom the confict.

recommendaTionS


27/32

CHILDHOODUNDERFIRE

20

OCHA should:

worktowardsasustainedstaffpresence,where

security allows, in its coordination hubs outside o

Damascus to work with goernment and non-

goernment actors to improe humanitarian access

useitspresenceintheregiontocomplementthe

work o the Damascus Humanitarian CountryTeam to deelop a whole o Syria picture o the

humanitarian needs and response. This is a means

to identiying gaps in coerage and pressing or

humanitarian access through all channels to reach

those people

pressforactivationofallClusters,including

education and protection

prioritise,atthehighestlevels,strengthening

coordination with donors and all aid actors rom

the Gul and the Middle East. This should also

promote decision-making based on impartial needsassessments, as well as aoiding duplication, and

maimising coerage by all actors in the response

undertake contingency planning or humanitarian

needs in Syria with all relevant partners, ensuring

that this inorms planning or the reugee response,

emergency preparedness, and post-confict planning.

INTERNATIONAL DONORS,

INCLUDING THOSE FROMTHE GULF REGION

The pledges made at the Kuwait donor conerence in

January 2013 or the Syria response and the reugee

crisis will allow a signicant increase in lie-saing

assistance. The crisis will be prolonged, howeer: the

need or emergency relie and help with recoery will

continue long beyond any cessation o hostilities. With

this and the wider contet in mind, all donors should:

committosupportingagenciesthataredelivering

assistance on the ground, with support that is: needs-based: in line with the principles o

Good Humanitarian Donorship, prioritisation

should not be linked to any political agenda but

rather according to greatest need, including or

Syrians, Irais, Palestinians, or any other group.87

To acilitate this, donors should strengthen

implementing partners capacity to undertake

needs assessments inside Syria

quickly disbursed: recent pledges should

be turned into committed unding as soon as

possible and disbursed to agencies deliering

assistance on the ground

sustained: humanitarian needs will continue

to increase as long as the confict lasts, and

people will need assistance long ater theconfict is oer

exible, including supporting humanitarian

preparedness to respond i the situation

changes and access improes

coordinated: donors should ensure that their

humanitarian unding is coordinated with other

donors unding

advocateforincreasedhumanitarianaccessby

any possible channel, and or greater humanitarian

presence on the ground

fundintegratedapproachesacrossallsectorsforan eectie holistic response, including:

protection: children need psychosocial

support; mapping and clearing eplosie

remnants o war is essential; and protection

rom all abuses, including grae iolations o

childrens rights, must be supported

education: this is to protect children now,

but also to protect their deelopment and that

o Syria once the confict is oer

continuetosupportthehumanitarianresponse

reaching reugees in neighbouring countries and

work with regional goernments to ensure that

borders are kept open or reugees.

ACTORS DELIvERING

HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

There is a range o actors deliering humanitarian

assistance in Syria, rom established international

NGOs to relatiely new community groups that mayhae strong aliations with one side to the confict.

We urge all these groups to:

committosharinginformationregularlywithother

humanitarian partners, including OCHA, to ensure

that a ull picture o needs and responses can be

deeloped, notwithstanding the need to manage

risks to the security o programme sta and

beneciaries


28/32

RECOMMENDAT

IONS

21

committoupholdingtheRedCross/RedCrescent

and NGO Code o Conduct, ensuring that

assistance is not linked to any political agenda

but is deliered according to where there is

greatest need88

conductjointneedsassessments,coordinatingwith

other agencies to ensure that the methodologyis compatible with that used in other areas o

the country. All assessments should include child

protection elements

workwithcommunitiestohaveIDPcamps,

schools, and hospitals declared as zones o peace,

agreed with armed groups and orces (learning

rom eperience in other countries such as Nepal,

or instance).

NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES

As o March 2013, more than 1 million Syrians had

fed to neighbouring countries, along with thousands

o Palestinian and Irai reugees who had been liing in

Syria. Those goernments who hae maintained open

borders and are generously acilitating the responseto reugees needs are perorming an essential

humanitarian serice. Neighbouring countries should:

keepbordersopenforhumanitarianpurposes,

including allowing entry or all those feeing Syria

to nd sae reuge

continuetoworkwithhumanitarianagenciesto

ensure a reliable humanitarian supply chain or

reugee response and or operations in Syria.


29/32

22

1 UNICEF (2013) Syria Crisis UNICEF Response and Needs, http://

relieweb.int/map/syrian-arab-republic/syria-crisis-unice-response-and-

needs-enar, last accessed 1 March 2013

2 UN News Serice (2013) UN ocials alarmed by eect o systematic

iolence on ciilians in Syria, 18 January, http://relieweb.int/report/syrian-

arab-republic/un-ocials-alarmed-eect-systematic-iolence-ciilians-syria,

last accessed 1 March 2013

3 S Ozer, SR Sirin and B Oppedal (2012) Bahcesehir Study o Syrian

Reugee Children in Turkey, Bahcesehir Uniersity, Istanbul, Turkey. This

report, Childhood Under Fire, cites statistics rom the Bahcesehir study,

which is aailable rom the authors on reuest.4 OCHA (2013) Humanitarian Bulletin: Syria, Issue 18, 22 January

4 February 2013, p 1; UNHCR (2013) Syria Regional Reugee Response:

Inormation Sharing Portal, http://data.unhcr.org/syrianreugees/regional.

php, last accessed 1 March 2013

5 This is an estimate based on dierent indications o a) need, and

b) response. According to the Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response

Plan (SHARP), 4 million people are in need across Syria. Howeer, the joint

assessment oerseen by the Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU) in 58 o

Syrias 128 sub-districts ound that 3.2 million people in these areas alone

needed assistance, suggesting that the true gure may be much higher than

the SHARP estimate. Food assistance has reportedly reached 1.5 million

people out o the 2.5 million identied by the SHARP as in need o ood

assistance. Distributions o non-ood items hae reached only 30% o the

1.5 million people identied as in need o such items. OCHA (2013) SyriaHumanitarian Assistance Response Plan (SHARP, 1 January30 June 2013).

www.unocha.org/cap/appeals/humanitarian-assistance-response-plan-syria-

1-january-30-june-2013, last iewed 1 March 2013

6 Syrian Network or Human Rights, cited in Syria Needs Analysis Project

(SNAP) (2013) Regional Analysis or Syria, 28 January 2013, Assessment

Capacities Project (ACAPS), www.acaps.org/disaster-needs-analysis, p 7,

last accessed 1 March 2013. This gure could not be conrmed without

etensie satellite sureys.

7 UNHCR (2013) Syria Regional Reugee Response: Inormation Sharing

Portal, http://data.unhcr.org/syrianreugees/regional.php, last accessed

7 March 2013

8 Obseration rom Sae the Childrens work; Al Jazeera (2012) Syrian

displaced seek shelter in ruins, 27 Noember, ideo clip, www.youtube.com/watch?=8N6ShEWPSZI&eature=youtu.be, last accessed 1 March

2013

9 UNHCR (2013) (see note 7)

10 Based on NGO assessment data, including rom Sae the Children

11 UNHCR (2013) (see note 7); also interiew with Sae the Children sta

12 IRC (2013) Syria: A Regional Crisis The IRC Commission on Syrian

Reugees, p 8, www.rescue.org/sites/deault/les/resource-le/

IRCReportMidEast20130114.pd last accessed 1 March 2013

13 Obseration rom Sae the Childrens work; SNAP (2013) (see note 6);

OCHA (2013) Humanitarian Bulletin: Syria, Issue 17, 821 January, http://

oodsecuritycluster.net/sites/deault/les/Syria%20Humanitarian%20

Bulletin%20Issue%2017.pd, last accessed 1 March 2013

14 SNAP (2013) (see note 6)

15 Obseration rom Sae the Childrens work; see also Reugees

International (2012) Syrian Women & Girls: No Sae Reuge,

16 Noember, http://reugeesinternational.org/sites/deault/les/Syrian%20

Women%20&%20Girls%20letterhead.pd last accessed 1 March 2013

16 WeatherSpark (2013) Historical weather or 2012 in Damascus, Syria,

http://weatherspark.com/history/32874/2012/Damascus-Ri-Dimash-

Goernorate-Syria, last accessed 1 March 2013

17 Obseration rom Sae the Childrens work

18 USAID (2013) Syria Comple Emergency, Fact Sheet #7, 17 January,

p 2, United States Agency or International Deelopment, http://transition.usaid.go/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/countries/

syria/template/s_sr/y2013/syria_ce_s07_01-17-2013.pd, last accessed

1 March 2013; Aaaz (2012) Suering Syria conronts another winter,

http://en.aaaz.org/1255/suering-syria-conronts-another-winter, last

accessed 4 February 2013; DFID (2012) Syrian reugees in Jordan,

podcast rom Liz Hughes, Humanitarian Adisor or Jordan and Ira, UK

Department or International Deelopment, www.dd.go.uk/Stories/

Case-Studies/2012/Syrian-reugees-in-Jordan/, last accessed 1 March 2013

19 OCHA (2013) Syrian Arab Republic: Non-ood items distribution

(1 Jan31 Dec 2012), distributed to Inter-Agency Standing Committee

(IASC) Emergency Directors meeting, 17 January 2013

20 OCHA (2013) Humanitarian Bulletin: Syria, Issue 17, 821 January, p 3,

http://oodsecuritycluster.net/sites/deault/les/Syria%20Humanitarian%20

Bulletin%20Issue%2017.pd, last accessed 1 March 201321 Obseration rom Sae the Childrens work


23 Obseration rom Sae the Childrens work; see also ACAPS (2012)

Disaster Needs Analysis: Update: Syria; 22 December 2012, p 19; OCHA

(2013) Syrian Arab Republic: Measles, Polio and vit. A vaccination Coerage

o 1,370,000 Children by Status o Location (as o 14 Jan 2013)

24 WHO (2012) Syria: Key Health Facts & Figures; Impact on public health

inrastructure & workorce, Monitoring Report, December 2012, World

Health Organization, p 2

25 ACU (2013) Joint Rapid Assessment o Northern Syria Interim

Report (drat), pp 18, 31; OHCHR (2013) Report o the independent

international commission o inuiry on the Syrian Arab Republic,

pp 2122, www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/IICISyria/Pages/

IndependentInternationalCommission.asp last accessed 1 March 2013

26 WHO (2012), p 1 (see note 24)


28 WHO (2012) Health Situation in Syria and WHO Response,

26 Noember, p 2, World Health Organization Regional Oce

or the Eastern Mediterranean www.who.int/hac/crises/syr/Syria_

WCOreport_27No2012.pd last accessed 1 March 2013; see also IRC

(2013) Syria: A Regional Crisis, p 7 (see note 12)

29 WHO (2012) p 3 (see note 28)

30 Middle East Monitor (2013) Syria: A Modern Humanitarian Failure,

4 January, www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/4931-syria-a-

modern-humanitarian-ailure, last accessed 1 March 201331 ACU (2013) p 34 (see note 25)


endnoTeS


30/32

ENDNOTES

23

33 ACU (2013) pp 412 (see note 25); see also SNAP (2013) (see note 6);

and UNICEF (2013) Running dry: water and sanitation crisis threatens

Syrian children, http://relieweb.int/sites/relieweb.int/les/resources/

Running%20dry%20Water%20and%20sanitation%20crisis%20threatens%20

Syrian%20children%20Eng_0.pd last accessed 1 March 2013

34 SNAP (2013) (see note 6)

35 UNRWA (2013) Syrian Arab Republic: Special Focus on the

Humanitarian Situation o Palestine Reugees in Syria, 4 February, http://

relieweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/syrian-arab-republic-special-ocus-humanitarian-situation last accessed 1 March 2013; see also

UNHCR (2013) 2013 UNHCR country operations prole Syrian Arab

Republic, www.unhcr.org/pages/49e486a76.html last accessed

1 March 2013

36 UNHCR (2012) UNHCR Syria Fact Sheet, December 2012, www.

unhcr.org/4ec630e09.html last accessed 1 March 2013; see also UNRWA

(2011) UNRWA Statistics 2010: selected indicators, p 6, www.unrwa.

org/userles/2011120434013.pd last accessed 1 March 2013

37 UNRWA (2012) Syria, www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=55 last

accessed 1 March 2013

38 UNHCR (2012) (see note 36)

39 Amnesty International (2013) Reugees rom Syria ace urther suering

i Jordan closes border, 18 January, www.amnesty.org/en/news/reugees-

rom-syria-ace-urther-suering-i-jordan-closes-border-2013-01-18 last

accessed 1 March 2013

40 UNRWA (2013) (see note 35)

41 UNHCR (2013) UNHCR Global Appeal Update 2013 Update, p 168,

www.unhcr.org/50a9829a.html, last accessed 1 March 2013

42 UN News Centre (2012) violence in Syria orces more than 10,000

Irai reugees to leae country UN, www.un.org/apps/news/story.

asp?NewsID=42539 last accessed 1 March 2013; see also Reugees

International (2013) Ira, www.reugeesinternational.org/where-we-work/

middle-east/ira; last accessed 1 March 2013


44 Ozer et al (2012) (see note 3)45 UN Secretary-General (2012) Children and Armed Confict: Report

o the Secretary General, April 2012 www.un.org/ga/search/iew_doc.

asp?symbol=S/2012/261last accessed 4 March 2013. The si grae

iolations o childrens rights are: recruitment and use o children, killing

and maiming o children, rape and other grae seual iolence, abductions,

attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial o humanitarian access to

children.

46 N Pillay, UN High Commissioner or Human Rights, cited in UN News

Centre (2013) Security Council must unite to protect ciilians in co

Childhood Under Fire Correct_embargoed

Documents

Transcript of Childhood Under Fire Correct_embargoed