TURKEY: UNICEF Regional Chief of Emergency Andrea James says the organisation's priority in Syria is to secure the protection of children

Record ID: 280191

  • Title: TURKEY: UNICEF Regional Chief of Emergency Andrea James says the organisation's priority in Syria is to secure the protection of children
  • Date: 3rd February 2012
  • Summary: HATAY, TURKEY (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLAYING AT A MAKESHIFT PLAYGROUND AT REFUGEE CAMP
  • Embargoed: 18th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEBYQ5MWYNUKPHX9VCYJN44KJD
  • Story Text: There is an urgent need to offer protection to children in Syria, an official of the United Nations Children Fund said on Thursday (February 2).
    UNICEF Regional Chief of Emergency Andrea James said children are the most vulnerable group in a conflict.
    "In all of these types of situations, children are always the most vulnerable. They are always at the bottom of the pile. They are seldom listened to. They rarely have a voice. They are just quite simply the most vulnerable and when you get into a situation where there is a crisis that vulnerability increases significantly and it manifests itself in many ways. Some of the more obvious ones is when schools close down they don't have access to schools," James told Reuters in Ankara.
    UNICEF last week said at least 384 children had been killed in the uprising.
    "Our deputy executive of director report a figure of 384 children have been killed. We have collected this information from credible sources within Syria. Over more recent times, we know that the situation is getting worse across many parts of the country. We can also see the violence on television etc. I mean often with bitter experience, that this of course will impact on children," James said.
    He outlined his organisation's priority.
    "I understand that the priority in the country at the moment is to offer better protection to child-friendly spaces and that seems to be the major issue at the moment," he said.
    UNICEF said it was concerned that the situation was getting worse.
    "Access is becoming increasingly difficult. So our best guess is that the situation is deteriorating. We are not in a position to be able to say what any credibility if numbers are increasing, what those numbers might be. But for sure, we feel that there is a very strong possibility for that to be the case but we can't verify that," James said.
    The agency receives information from human rights groups who review doctors and hospital reports, interview families of victims and gather witness testimony.
    The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed by Syrian forces. Syria says over 2,000 security forces have been killed by militants.
    END
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