Lost and Alone – Addressing the Crisis of Unaccompanied and Separated Children in Post-Earthquakes Northwest Syria and Southern Türkiye – Syrian Arab Republic
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report presents the findings from a unique piece of research conducted by World Vision Syria Response in Northwest Syria (NWS) and Southern Türkiye. It is the first of its kind to specifically explore how the February 2023 earthquakes in the region have impacted unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) and who were separated from their families during the disasters. The study brings together the diverse perspectives and experiences of caregivers, community members and most importantly, Syrian UASC in some of the worst earthquakes-affected areas. The report underlines the critical role of community-based alternative care systems in caring for unaccompanied and separated children and emphasises the severe gaps in existing services for children without parental care. Finally, it calls for increased prioritisation of Syrian unaccompanied and separated children in both NWS and Southern Türkiye in the overall humanitarian response to the Syrian conflict.
The earthquakes that struck NWS and Southern Türkiye on the 6th of February 2023 killed over 56,000 people1 and affected a staggering 26 million people including at least 7 million children, in some way. These disasters decimated critical infrastructure and destroyed building and houses, leaving millions homeless and without access to lifesaving services. The earthquakes caused physical, mental and emotional harm, wiped out families and livelihoods, and worsened the impacts of overlapping crises that were already severely causing immense hardship to some of the most vulnerable populations. In NWS, children and their families have been enduring years of conflict and violence and deteriorating living conditions. In Southern Türkiye, Syrian refugee children have been bearing the brunt of the socio-economic impacts of multiple shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the country’s near economic collapse, and which have aggravated society’s increasingly negative and hostile attitudes towards the millions of forcibly displaced who have fled war.
While in the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes, family separation was reported as significant concern in the NWS and Southern Türkiye, the lack of data on unaccompanied and separated children, and their extreme vulnerability was also highlighted by humanitarian actors. Yet, very little attention was paid on addressing the needs of existing unaccompanied and separated children and those at risk or that lost parents and carers in the disasters, with those “invisible” children falling through the cracks of the response. What is more, the distinct needs and heightened vulnerability of some groups of unaccompanied and separated children, including Syrian refugee children in Southern Türkiye, was absent from the narrative and meagre data collected that did not include details on the gender, disability or refugee status of UASC. UASC both as a group, and in their diversity, are largely invisible.
The research provides critical new evidence on the situation of unaccompanied and separated children in NWS and in Syrian refugee communities in Southern Türkiye. It highlights the alarming data gap on unaccompanied and separated children, and makes a strong case for specific actions, programmes and policies that protect unaccompanied and separated children, and support informal care arrangements in the region.
