Published : 12-06-2018
The consequences of the war in Syria were not limited to the victims, the wounded and the displaced, but extended to threaten the future of hundreds of Palestinian-Syrian children who were forced by the economic conditions in their places of displacement and their families to leave their studies and seek work to help their families secure their living expenses and the house rents.
In the face of these harsh conditions, hundreds of refugee children have been forced to work in a manner that does not suit their age and the nature of their vulnerable bodies. They work in difficult occupations such as heavy carting, garbage collection, or washing cars, or professions that do not suit them.
While activists attribute the main cause to the Palestinian-Syrian child labor, especially in the neighboring towns to Syria, to the failure of UNRWA in meeting its obligations towards the refugee children and their families, in addition to the absence of no serious role for the Palestinian embassies in working to alleviate the suffering of refugees.
UNRWA's decision to reduce its financial assistance to the Palestinian refugee families displaced from Syria to Lebanon, has pushed them to make more difficult decisions at all levels (education, immigration, return to Syria, employment of women and children, etc.)
As an example, the vegetable market in Ain Al-Hilweh camp is crowded with children who drop out of school as workers in vegetable and clothing shops or with craftsmen and professionals inside the camp.
The economic factor played a major role in the spread of the phenomenon of "child labor" among the Palestinian refugees from Syria and their school dropout. For example, the fare for the transfer of students in the areas of Palestinian refugees in Turkey is a major obstacle to the continuity of education. The minimum transportation fare is 75 Turkish pounds for one student, therefore if a family includes more than one child, it is considered draining of the family’s financial assets.
In Lebanon, dozens of children were left out of school, when some families were forced to drop their children's education to help raise household incomes to cover high expenditures, amid the cutting of aid overall and UNRWA’s reduction of its assistance.
For example, the number of students enrolled in an UNRWA school in the Ain Al-Hilweh camp, in the first and second stages of primary school for the 2015-2016 academic year, of the refugees living or the refugees from Syria, reached 496 students. However, the actual number of students enrolled in UNRWA schools who reached the school, was 342 students. The number of students from the same segment during the academic year 2014-2015 was 604 students.
In Syria, the situation of children of the Palestinian-Syrian refugees in Syria is similar to those who were displaced outside Syria, due to the spread of unemployment, security tension and the lack of schools in some of the cities in which they were displaced to within Syria.
The siege imposed on a number of camps, including Yarmouk camp, by the Syrian regime forces and the Palestinian factions affiliated to it, forced the people to search food and water and to urgently find a source of income for the children. While some of the children went out looking for jobs that clogged their guts, even if they will receive grass. Not only the students did this, but also the teachers. The teachers of the "Jarmak" school in Yarmouk suspended education on 8 February 2015 at the school, to go out in search of food for their families.
It is noteworthy that thousands of Palestinian refugees have been displaced from Syria during the ongoing war in Syria, and in their countries of displacement, they have experienced great difficulties on the living, educational and social levels and the loss of their rights to education and decent living.
The consequences of the war in Syria were not limited to the victims, the wounded and the displaced, but extended to threaten the future of hundreds of Palestinian-Syrian children who were forced by the economic conditions in their places of displacement and their families to leave their studies and seek work to help their families secure their living expenses and the house rents.
In the face of these harsh conditions, hundreds of refugee children have been forced to work in a manner that does not suit their age and the nature of their vulnerable bodies. They work in difficult occupations such as heavy carting, garbage collection, or washing cars, or professions that do not suit them.
While activists attribute the main cause to the Palestinian-Syrian child labor, especially in the neighboring towns to Syria, to the failure of UNRWA in meeting its obligations towards the refugee children and their families, in addition to the absence of no serious role for the Palestinian embassies in working to alleviate the suffering of refugees.
UNRWA's decision to reduce its financial assistance to the Palestinian refugee families displaced from Syria to Lebanon, has pushed them to make more difficult decisions at all levels (education, immigration, return to Syria, employment of women and children, etc.)
As an example, the vegetable market in Ain Al-Hilweh camp is crowded with children who drop out of school as workers in vegetable and clothing shops or with craftsmen and professionals inside the camp.
The economic factor played a major role in the spread of the phenomenon of "child labor" among the Palestinian refugees from Syria and their school dropout. For example, the fare for the transfer of students in the areas of Palestinian refugees in Turkey is a major obstacle to the continuity of education. The minimum transportation fare is 75 Turkish pounds for one student, therefore if a family includes more than one child, it is considered draining of the family’s financial assets.
In Lebanon, dozens of children were left out of school, when some families were forced to drop their children's education to help raise household incomes to cover high expenditures, amid the cutting of aid overall and UNRWA’s reduction of its assistance.
For example, the number of students enrolled in an UNRWA school in the Ain Al-Hilweh camp, in the first and second stages of primary school for the 2015-2016 academic year, of the refugees living or the refugees from Syria, reached 496 students. However, the actual number of students enrolled in UNRWA schools who reached the school, was 342 students. The number of students from the same segment during the academic year 2014-2015 was 604 students.
In Syria, the situation of children of the Palestinian-Syrian refugees in Syria is similar to those who were displaced outside Syria, due to the spread of unemployment, security tension and the lack of schools in some of the cities in which they were displaced to within Syria.
The siege imposed on a number of camps, including Yarmouk camp, by the Syrian regime forces and the Palestinian factions affiliated to it, forced the people to search food and water and to urgently find a source of income for the children. While some of the children went out looking for jobs that clogged their guts, even if they will receive grass. Not only the students did this, but also the teachers. The teachers of the "Jarmak" school in Yarmouk suspended education on 8 February 2015 at the school, to go out in search of food for their families.
It is noteworthy that thousands of Palestinian refugees have been displaced from Syria during the ongoing war in Syria, and in their countries of displacement, they have experienced great difficulties on the living, educational and social levels and the loss of their rights to education and decent living.
