March 13, 2015

A forgotten generation „Trauma“

editor:	Ama Lorenz

“I think about my father all day and night. Sometimes I can’t sleep”, Amira says. “When we arrived, there was no food. We begged for food on the streets. I have been receiving counselling to help me overcome the horrible experiences I went through. I also get more food now and I feel a lot better. I can walk again but not as before.” Amira is just 7 years old. After seeing her father killed in Homs, Syria, she went into shock. After seeing more relatives killed, she stopped eating and was not able to walk anymore. She is now a refugee in Lebanon.

14 million children suffer from the civil war in Syria and Iraq. They are killed and maimed, displaced and traumatized - for four years. Last year the UN reported already the disgusting figure of 5 million children. The new report "Failing Syria" by the United Nations and a global coalition of aid agencies reveals facts that are an embarrassment to the international community: In Syria alone, more than 200 000 people were killed, among them at least 10 000 children. 5.6 million people are in a "desperate situation". Up to two million are living in areas that are largely cut off from humanitarian aid.

“Grave violations have been committed against children since the beginning of the conflict by all parties involved,” says UNICEF Regional Child Protection Advisor Laurent Chapuis. “This is affecting very large numbers of children and the situation keeps deteriorating”.

A whole generation of children and youngster grows up in violence and persecution without their human rights for health care, education and a sheltered childhood. Their homes bombed or abandoned. Loved ones and friends lost. Their education interrupted, or never begun.

Already last year UNICEF lacked of financial support to implement all the planned aid projects. "We estimate that we will need 297 million US dollars for our operations this year in Syria. So far we received only three percent," said Hanaa Singer of the UNICEF office in Damascus. UNICEF now puts the hope in a donor conference in late March in Kuwait.

In our world of increasing radicalization it is time to address not only the consequences, but to engage in particular means and resources to address the causes at international level. A whole generation of traumatized can’t be forgotten by us. In what has become the worst humanitarian crisis in recent memory, and the apparent inability of adults to bring an end to this horrific conflict, these children still have courage and determination to build better lives. What they need is our support.

Photo: From the UN report "Conflict in Syria and Iraque"/Lebanon-2015/Romenzi