- Title: NGOs seek to increase education funds for refugee children
- Date: 24th May 2016
- Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (MAY 24, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CEO OF WAR CHILD UK, ROB WILLIAMS, SAYING: "Lots of people are talking about a lost generations, there are children who are stuck on the borders between Syria and neighbouring countries. There are children moving across Europe now who aren't properly documented and who will fall between the cracks. I don't think there is a risk of a lost generation, there is actually a lost generation and this system - the humanitarian actors - need to get the funding to go and find these children and reunite them with their families and make sure that they are back in school and safe and actually have a viable future." CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF SAVE THE CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL, HELLE THORNING-SCHMIDT, TALKING TO WOMAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF SAVE THE CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL, HELLE THORNING-SCHMIDT, SAYING: "One of the things that we can do to help these girls is to give them education, because education actually is not just about learning something from books, it is also something that can enable every girl, or every boy, to not be married too early, to not be prone to child labour, to not be sexually abused, or all the other horrendous things that can happen to children when they are not protected by their parents. If they are not protected by their parents we as a global community need to protect them." VARIOUS OF PAINTINGS BY CHILDREN AFFECTED BY CONFLICT DISPLAYED AT SUMMIT CLOSE OF DRAWING (SOUNDBITE) (English) DHL HEAD OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS AND RESPONSIBILITY, CHRISTOF EHRHART, SAYING: "With projects as we run them like using our own employees to teach kids the language, or by providing educational tools such as books and we do that for example with partners - we have a whole parcel of books delivered to our colleagues in Germany, with which they can then teach language - that really makes a difference. So education is without any doubt the key issue to be taken care of." HALL AT U.N. HUMANITARIAN SUMMIT (SOUNDBITE) (English) BURUNDIAN HUMANITARIAN, MARGUERITE BARANKITSE, SAYING: "We need that all those children, they must not become orphans, because there is enough houses in Turkey families. I call on Turkish families to welcome those children, to give them tenderness, love, what they need - they don't need shoes, or food, they need first, love."
- Embargoed: 8th June 2016 16:09
- Keywords: United Nations humanitarian summit children education NGO charity War Child Save the Children 100 lives Marguerite Barankitse
- Location: ISTANBUL, TURKEY/ URUYIGI, BURUNDI / NORTH KIVU, CONGO
- City: ISTANBUL, TURKEY/ URUYIGI, BURUNDI / NORTH KIVU, CONGO
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: Government/Politics,United Nations
- Reuters ID: LVA0054J64PJB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Millions of children are missing out on school and are vulnerable to exploitation because of war or natural disasters non governmental organisations said at the first ever World Humanitarian Summit being held in Istanbul.
Children make up about half of the rising numbers of people affected by conflict and disasters, and there are many more who are caught up in slavery or suffer sexual abuse, Rob Williams the CEO of War Child UK told Reuters TV on Tuesday (May 24).
"The conflicts that we see in the world today, including the Syrian conflict, are disastrous for children," said Williams on the sidelines of the two-day summit.
"Children make up half of those people who are fleeing the bombing, fleeing their homes. So of the 60 million refugees and displaced people that is 30 million children. And children are particularly vulnerable in a conflict area, if they are very young they are unable to look after themselves, but children are at risk of sexual abuse, they are at risk of abduction by armed groups and we see that a lot in conflicts," said Williams, who warned children were missing out on a chance for education.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who called the summit in Turkey, has said the world is facing its worst humanitarian situation since World War Two.
About 130 million people are affected by war or natural disasters, and some 60 million have been forced to flee their homes.
EU police reports earlier this year revealed that some 10,000 unaccompanied migrant children who had fled to Europe had disappeared, many of them believed to have fallen into the hands of traffickers.
Williams said a whole generation of children had been lost as a result of conflict.
"Lots of people are talking about a lost generations, there are children who are stuck on the borders between Syria and neighbouring countries. There are children moving across Europe now who aren't properly documented and who will fall between the cracks. I don't think there is a risk of a lost generation, there is actually a lost generation," said Williams.
He added protection of children needed to be addressed by humanitarian bodies: "This system - the humanitarian actors - need to get the funding to go and find these children and reunite them with their families and make sure that they are back in school and safe and actually have a viable future," said Williams.
Nearly 75 million children living in areas affected by war or natural disaster had their education disrupted last year, leaving them prey to child labour, trafficking and extremism, according to research published in March.
Chief executive of Save the Children International, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, says funding is needed provide education for children affected by conflict.
"Education actually is not just about learning something from books, it is also something that can enable every girl, or every boy, to not be married too early, to not be prone to child labour, to not be sexually abused, or all the other horrendous things that can happen to children when they are not protected by their parents," said Thorning-Schmidt, a former Danish Prime Minister.
"If they are not protected by their parents we as a global community need to protect them," she added.
U.N. special envoy Gordon Brown announced on Monday (May 23) a crisis fund had been launched to raise $3.8 billion to help the millions of children missing out on school.
The fund aims to help more than 13 million children and young people over the next five years, and 75 million by 2030.
On average, only two per cent of global humanitarian appeals are dedicated to education. Despite growing needs, funding for education in emergencies has almost halved since 2010, according to the London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
An average of four schools or hospitals are attacked or occupied by armed groups every day, the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) said ahead of the summit.
In Syria alone, more than 6,000 schools are out of use - attacked, occupied by the military or taken over as an emergency shelter. And in conflict-hit Central African Republic, a quarter of schools are not functioning, UNICEF said.
Burundian activist Marguerite Barankitse, a former teacher, who is credited with saving thousands of children's lives during a 12-year ethnically charged civil war in the east of her country told Reuters vulnerable children needed love above anything else.
Barankitse who founded the Maison Shalom (the house of peace) orphanage in eastern Burundi in 1993 to house a growing number of children orphaned during the conflict that devastated the country until 2005, called on Turkish families to open their homes to Syrian children being sheltered in camps. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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