Syrian refugee children face ’catastrophic’ life in exile, UN says | Global development | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/nov/29/syrian-refugee-children-catastrophe-exile-un
Hundreds of thousands of Syrian children already traumatised by war are facing a life of “catastrophe” in exile, without education or normal childhood freedoms, the UN refugee agency has warned.
Child labour is a huge problem across the refugee communities of Jordan and Lebanon, with children as young as seven taking on the role of breadwinner for their fractured families.
More than a million Syrian children are refugees, most of them in neighbouring countries. The report, the Future of Syria: refugee children in crisis, published by the UNHCR on Friday, involved four months of research across Jordan and Lebanon, speaking to children and the international workers supporting them.
Registration workers at refugee camps are used to recognising the signs of acute distress or depression in the children and families they register each day. Sheeraz Mukhaimer, a case manager with the International Medical Corps, described children telling her about seeing family members killed and then having to bury the bodies. Parents report children suffering sleep problems, flashbacks to the war, bedwetting and speech difficulties. Constant crying is common.