- Title: Lost children are legacy of battle for Mosul
- Date: 30th July 2017
- Summary: EASTERN MOSUL, IRAQ (JULY 28, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF ABANDONED BUILDING WHERE RECENTLY REUNITED IRAQI FAMILY LIVES VARIOUS OF NINE-YEAR-OLD MERIAM, WHO WAS RECENTLY REUNITED WITH HER FAMILY, AND OTHER CHILDREN NEAR ENTRANCE OF HOUSE HASSAN, MERIAM'S FATHER, STANDING WITH HIS CHILDREN MERIAM STANDING BEHIND BRICK WALL VARIOUS OF HASSAN SITTING WITH HIS CHILDREN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI MAN RECENTLY REUNITED WITH HIS DAUGHTER, HASSAN, SAYING: "(Meriam) stayed with my parents and I was in the east side (of Mosul) but when the bridges were shut down, I could not cross over to get her. We escaped and went to the camp, but my parents stayed in the west side." HASSAN WITH HIS DAUGHTER MERIAM MERIAM'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI MAN RECENTLY REUNITED WITH HIS DAUGHTER, HASSAN, SAYING: "I never thought I would see them again, not just (Meriam), also my parents. They were in the west side, and every day we would hear that an airstrike would take place, and that Daesh (a commonly used Arabic acronym for Islamic State) were killing families, we didn't believe they would ever come back. I didn't think they would return, but thank God they did." MERIAM AND HER SISTER SITTING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRL RECENTLY REUNITED WITH HER FAMILY, MERIAM, SAYING: "(The aid worker) asked me, where is your father? I said, he is in the Khazer camp. She then asked, do you want me to take you to your father? I said, yes I want to go to my father. So she said, tomorrow morning, at 9, I will take you." VARIOUS OF MERIAM PLAYING WITH HER SIBLINGS ERBIL, IRAQ (JULY 29, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REUTERS JOURNALIST SPEAKING TO UNICEF CHILD PROTECTION SPECIALIST, MARIYAMPILLAI MARIYASELVAM (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF CHILD PROTECTION SPECIALIST, MARIYAMPILLAI MARIYASELVAM, SAYING: "We have got quite a number of children. It's very difficult to give accurate numbers, however child protection agencies have recorded over 3,000 separated children and around 800 unaccompanied children." MARIYASELVAM TALKING TO JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF CHILD PROTECTION SPECIALIST, MARIYAMPILLAI MARIYASELVAM, SAYING: "We need to also prepare the children to rebuild their life before they are mainstreamed, they are reunified with their community. So there is a lot of task ahead, it is going to be taking a lot of time and it requires a lot of resources and specialised services for those children to really rebuild their lives to bring them to their normal life." JOURNALIST TALKING TO MARIYASELVAM
- Embargoed: 13th August 2017 11:19
- Keywords: Iraqi children displaced children Iraq Islamic State displaced refugee children battle for Mosul
- Location: EASTERN MOSUL AND ERBIL, IRAQ
- City: EASTERN MOSUL AND ERBIL, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA0016RWQZ47
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Thousands of children have been separated from their parents in the nine-month battle for Mosul and the preceding years of Islamic State rule in northern Iraq - some found wandering alone and afraid amongst the rubble, others joining the refugee exodus from the pulverised city.
Families have been split up as they fled street fighting, air strikes or Islamic State repression. Many are traumatised from the horrors they have endured.
Nine-year-old Meriam left her family one day last October to visit her grandmother in West Mosul, then under Islamic State rule. The government offensive to recapture the city began, so she stayed there.
Her father Hassan told Reuters that he thought he would never see Meriam or his parents again, saying he would hear airstrikes every day and heard that Islamic State were killing families.
After government forces liberated their neighbourhood in June, Meriam and her grandmother made it to the Khazer camp. Her father asked UNICEF for help and they managed to track his daughter down. They were reunited in Hassan Sham later that month.
UNICEF's Mariyaselvam, speaking to Reuters in Erbil, said the number of children coming out of Mosul had increased in the past few months as the battle reached its climax. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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