THOUSANDS OF SYRIAN CHILDREN FLEEING COUNTRY ALONE, UN AGENCY WARNS

THOUSANDS OF SYRIAN CHILDREN FLEEING COUNTRY ALONE, UN AGENCY WARNSNewYork, Sep 20 2013  3:00PMMore than 4,000 Syrian children have crossed
borders into neighbouring countries without parents or adult
relatives, the United Nations children’s agency said today, warning
that without the protection of guardians, they remain extraordinarily
vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Marixie Mercado told
journalists in Geneva that many of the children “were working to
provide income back to families, and were desperate to get back to
school.”

Of the 4,150 Syrian children identified and registered, at least 1,698
are in Lebanon where in the
Beka’a Valley area, many are swept up and used for agricultural child labour.

In Iraq, the UN agency estimated that there were 300 newly-arrived
unaccompanied and separated children in the north.

Jordan is home to about 1,170 children, including some as young as
nine-years-old. Most of these children, Ms. Mercado said, are in
Za’atari camp, which despite being a makeshift camp housing more than
120,000 people is Jordan’s fourth largest city.

“Each of those children had witnessed, or been a victim of horrific
levels of violence,” Ms. Mercado said, adding that some children ran
for their lives from the fighting, while others went to find relatives
who had earlier left. Still others were being sent away to avoid
conscription.

UNICEF was working with partners to identify the children and make
sure they are being protected, as well as to provide medical,
psychosocial and educational support.

She told a story of 11-year-old Aya who lived with her uncle in a
settlement in an almond orchard, taking care of her younger siblings.

“She started going to UNICEF-supported recreational activities, and
last Thursday, for the first time, she spoke about seeing her father
hacked to pieces in front of her,” Ms. Mercado said.

Also today, the UN food relief agency called for safe passage to
people trapped in conflict areas in Damascus, Rural Damascus and
several other areas in Syria, particularly families relying on WFP’s
food rations to survive month to month.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) “was not giving up and would deploy
all its logistical possibilities and its experience in this field to
reach those people,” spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs said.

She added those logistics were increasingly difficult. Since the
beginning of the year, the WFP had recorded close to 50 incidents of
theft and confiscation against food trucks by armed groups.  This
week, a WFP warehouse in Rural Damascus was caught in the crossfire
when three mortar bombs hit the building, causing structural damage.

Since mid-2012, the UN agency had been unable to access 38 locations
such as Moadamiyeh, Daraya, Armouk, Hajar Aswad, Yalda, Babila,
Sbineh, Douma, Jobar, Qaboon, Zamalka and Erbeen which were some of
the most deprived areas where even the most basic items were in scarce
supply, Ms. Mercado said.

Elsewhere, in Northeast Syria, the WFP last month was unable to
deliver food rations to its three partners in Al Hassakeh as the roadsfrom both Ar Raqqa and Deir Ezzor were blocked by armed groups.Sep 20
2013  3:00PM
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For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news