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| Syria: UN child specialists warn of new 'lost generation' amid crisis | Syria: UN child specialists warn of new 'lost generation' amid crisis |
| (2 months later) | |
| In Zaatari, the day that Britain welcomed a new future king, another 12 newborn babies joined the swollen population of the Zaatari camp in Jordan. | In Zaatari, the day that Britain welcomed a new future king, another 12 newborn babies joined the swollen population of the Zaatari camp in Jordan. |
| They face a grim future. Syria's civil war is taking more of a psychological toll on the young than most other conflicts, child specialists say, warning of a new "angry and illiterate" lost generation. | They face a grim future. Syria's civil war is taking more of a psychological toll on the young than most other conflicts, child specialists say, warning of a new "angry and illiterate" lost generation. |
| More than half of the 1.8m refugees to have left Syria are children and two and a half years of ever-worsening war has deprived most of education, shattered societal and family ties and caused unprecedented levels of untreated stress among the most vulnerable of refugees. | More than half of the 1.8m refugees to have left Syria are children and two and a half years of ever-worsening war has deprived most of education, shattered societal and family ties and caused unprecedented levels of untreated stress among the most vulnerable of refugees. |
| "They are full of anger," the UN's special representative for children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougi said. "And if it continues, we will face a generation of illiterates." | "They are full of anger," the UN's special representative for children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougi said. "And if it continues, we will face a generation of illiterates." |
| In Jordan's Zaatari camp, by far the largest regional refugee hub, Unicef child protection specialist Jane MacPhail said the young who had fled Syria were displaying levels of violence that were unusual even in societies exposed to prolonged levels of trauma. | In Jordan's Zaatari camp, by far the largest regional refugee hub, Unicef child protection specialist Jane MacPhail said the young who had fled Syria were displaying levels of violence that were unusual even in societies exposed to prolonged levels of trauma. |
| "Many of the kids we are seeing have been through an immense amount," she said. "They're in total survival mode, they don't feel pain or hunger, they are focusing on instant needs and they've lost their ability to control impulse. | "Many of the kids we are seeing have been through an immense amount," she said. "They're in total survival mode, they don't feel pain or hunger, they are focusing on instant needs and they've lost their ability to control impulse. |
| "When you have experienced so much there is part of the system that goes, 'I am just going to switch off for a while.' Soon that little while becomes a long time. That is what is happening here." | "When you have experienced so much there is part of the system that goes, 'I am just going to switch off for a while.' Soon that little while becomes a long time. That is what is happening here." |
| MacPhail, who has worked in Liberia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, among other places, before arriving in Jordan said the sheer scale of brutality in Syria had caused chronic damage to children and also to parents. She cites an example of a father who was caught in crossfire during a battle. "He picked up what he thought was his son, ran out of harm's way and was devastated when he got through the firing to find out that he had a goat in his arms. | MacPhail, who has worked in Liberia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, among other places, before arriving in Jordan said the sheer scale of brutality in Syria had caused chronic damage to children and also to parents. She cites an example of a father who was caught in crossfire during a battle. "He picked up what he thought was his son, ran out of harm's way and was devastated when he got through the firing to find out that he had a goat in his arms. |
| "He was in total survival mode. He had a cognitive moment when he wanted to see his son and the goat as the same thing. He had reached such a maximum overload of stress. Many of the people that have got here themselves are the same and they don't recognise it any more." | "He was in total survival mode. He had a cognitive moment when he wanted to see his son and the goat as the same thing. He had reached such a maximum overload of stress. Many of the people that have got here themselves are the same and they don't recognise it any more." |
| Unicef says 53% of refugees in Jordan are children and the numbers are similar in Turkey, Lebanon, and Iraq. Schools in Jordan and in parts of Lebanon have begun working double, and in some cases triple, shifts, in a bid to make up for lost months and years of schooling. | Unicef says 53% of refugees in Jordan are children and the numbers are similar in Turkey, Lebanon, and Iraq. Schools in Jordan and in parts of Lebanon have begun working double, and in some cases triple, shifts, in a bid to make up for lost months and years of schooling. |
| The educational backlog is largely being funded by the UN, which is aiming to channel a large chunk of the $5bn it is now trying to raise for a humanitarian response to the Syria crisis to children's needs. Other issues are also increasingly being faced, such as forced, or early marriages of young girls, child labour, and re-integrating boys who have fought as soldiers to their stolen childhoods. | The educational backlog is largely being funded by the UN, which is aiming to channel a large chunk of the $5bn it is now trying to raise for a humanitarian response to the Syria crisis to children's needs. Other issues are also increasingly being faced, such as forced, or early marriages of young girls, child labour, and re-integrating boys who have fought as soldiers to their stolen childhoods. |
| Poor nutrition, never a systemic issue in pre-war Syria, is now becoming another factor for Syrian children in exile, especially those in camps where access to the right types of food can be variable. | Poor nutrition, never a systemic issue in pre-war Syria, is now becoming another factor for Syrian children in exile, especially those in camps where access to the right types of food can be variable. |
| "There were very few starving kids in Syria," MacPhail says, "But when you go from that to a reduction in nutrition, your whole body changes." | "There were very few starving kids in Syria," MacPhail says, "But when you go from that to a reduction in nutrition, your whole body changes." |
| MacPhail said: "All we can do for now is help them with ways to reconnect. That means lots of listening, understanding, care and love. That's the best we can offer. And they might make it through." | MacPhail said: "All we can do for now is help them with ways to reconnect. That means lots of listening, understanding, care and love. That's the best we can offer. And they might make it through." |
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