Syria, the war on children in Unicef's photographs
Rights — di Andrea Barolini
Unicef photographs and footage document the terrible impact of the war in Syria on the millions of children born since the conflict began — and beyond.
Syria, the war on children in Unicef's photographs
Unicef photographs and footage document the terrible impact of the war in Syria on the millions of children born since the conflict began — and beyond.
Saja is twelve years old. Her blue eyes are full of hope. A smile is fixed on her face, in spite of everything she has been through. She lives in Aleppo, Syria. To get to school she has to pick her way through the rubble of her city. It is not easy, because during a bombing raid she lost a leg, as well as two friends. "But I'm happy to walk all the way there, because I love school."
Her story is that of millions of Syrian children, forced to live surrounded by war. Three million seven hundred thousand of them were born after 15 March 2011: their first cries, therefore, were mingled with the roar of bombs and the thundering din of fighter jets. Because the conflict had already begun.
A report published on 14 March by Unicef — entitled "No place for children" — describes the impact of the war on the lives of the youngest: days, months and years spent in a context of violence, fear and flight. Overall, according to the United Nations agency, 8.4 million children are currently affected by the conflict: around 80 per cent of all minors living in Syria.
After the ceasefire, children in Aleppo emerge from their basements
"It has been six years since the start of hostilities," explains Peter Salama, Unicef's director for the Middle East and North Africa, "and millions of children have grown up too fast. They drop out of school, they are forced to work. Many girls marry very young."
For them, the ceasefire of 27 February, which preceded the start of negotiations between Bashar al-Assad's regime and the rebels, represents a small glimmer of hope. According to an AFP correspondent, in Aleppo — the country's second city — some children were able to attend classes outside the basements in which they had been sheltering to escape the bombs.
Unicef recorded 1,550 "grave violations" committed against children during 2015. More than a third of the minors killed lost their lives while they were at school. As a result, attendance rates have plummeted, and over two million children are now "out of school": among them, 700,000 are refugees in neighbouring countries.
Child soldiers in the war in Syria
And these are the lucky ones. The UN agency highlights its concern over the growing recruitment of children — increasingly young ones — by armed groups: "At the beginning," the report reads, "it was mainly teenagers. But more than half of the child soldiers sent to the front in 2015 are under 15 years old."
They are taught how to fight, how to handle weapons, how to carry ammunition. Houda, just fourteen years old, was forced to shoot: "I was terrified. The commander gave me a weapon and told me to stay ready." She managed to flee, reaching a refugee camp in Jordan. Like her, hundreds of thousands of Syrian children have crossed their country's borders. Fifteen thousand have done so alone, without parents or relatives.