- Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/UNICEF-CHILDREN Syria risks losing generation of children - UNICEF
- Date: 12th March 2015
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF REPRESENTATIVE IN TURKEY, PHILIPPE DUAMELLE, SAYING: "Today marks the fourth anniversary of the conflict in Syria and it is a sad anniversary as the conflict enters its fifth year in Syria with a devastating impact it has on the Syrian population and specifically on the children of Syria. Today, UNICEF estimates that 14 million children across the region are negatively, so negatively impacted by conflict in need of our assistance."
- Embargoed: 27th March 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Turkey
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA3Y8KGXZT1OMJOQGPPS5L4SX7L
- Story Text: The UNICEF representative in Turkey said on Thursday (March 12) that Syria risked losing an entire generation of children, with nearly 15 million children suffering from the conflict which has entered its fifth year.
The conflict began in March 2011 as a popular uprising by peaceful protesters against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. After a government crackdown, the war has expanded into a civil conflict with regional backers.
New figures from UNICEF show 14 million children are affected by the conflict in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, with millions trapped in areas cut off from help due to fighting.
"Today marks the fourth anniversary of the conflict in Syria and it is a sad anniversary as the conflict enters its fifth year in Syria with a devastating impact it has on the Syrian population and specifically on the children of Syria. Today, UNICEF estimates that 14 million children across the region are negatively, so negatively impacted by conflict in need of our assistance," said Philippe Duamelle.
The conflict has killed some 200,000 people, created more than 3.9 million refugees, mostly in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, and displaced 7.6 million people within Syria, U.N. figures show.
The war-torn country risks losing an entire generation of children said Duamelle.
"The risk is to lose a generation of children. Those who left Syria very young, those who were born outside Syria -- over 100,000 children since the beginning of the conflict were born outside Syria. So the risk is that and of course no-one wants to lose an entire generation of children," said Daumelle.
"The fear, the perception of insecurity, seeing loved ones being killed or being maimed or being injured or disappear. And, so it creates a very particular framework, a wrong framework in which children are developing at the moment. So, it is very important to change this reference frame, to bring to these children a sense of security, a sense of safety and make sure that they project themselves in the future in a much more positive way," he added.
The militant group Islamic State joined the fighting, and now controls a self-declared caliphate in a swathe of territory in Syria and Iraq, attracting foreign recruits and world attention with military advances and slickly produced videos.
Both Islamic State and the Syrian government have been accused of crimes against humanity by the United Nations.
In the fourth year of the conflict, government forces carried out at least 1,450 indiscriminate attacks from the air, Human Rights Watch said last month.
Humanitarian groups are finding it hard to alleviate the plight of civilians caught up in the conflict.
The United Nations Security Council is "failing Syria" by not implementing its own resolutions, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and 20 other aid groups, including Oxfam and Save the Children, said on Thursday.
The unanimously passed resolutions, which authorise U.N. aid missions to enter the country without the Syrian government's consent, have been "ignored or undermined", the report said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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