Statement by His
Excellency Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi
Permanent Observer
of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in
Geneva
at the 28th
Session of the Human Rights Council
Item 4 - Report of
the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic
Geneva, 17 March
2015
Mr. President,
Conflicts forced a staggering 5.5 million people to flee
their homes in the first six months of 2014. This represents a major addition
to the record of 51.2 million worldwide who already were forcibly displaced by
the end of 2013.[1]
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic
recently informed that, since the start of the crisis, “more than 10 million Syrians
have fled their homes. This amounts to almost half of the country’s population,
now deprived of their basic rights to shelter and adequate housing, security
and human dignity. Many are victims of human rights violations and abuses and
are in urgent need of protective measures and support.” To compound this
tragedy, more than 3 million people, most of them women and children, have fled
the Syrian Arab Republic and are refugees in neighboring countries.[2] Violence continues to produce victims in the
Middle East in particular, but elsewhere as well, where hatred and intolerance
are the criteria for inter-group relations.
The human rights of these forcibly displaced people are systematically
violated with impunity. A variety of sources have provided evidence on how
children suffer the brutal consequences of a persistent status of war in their
country. Children are recruited, trained and used in active combat roles, at
times even as human shields in military attacks. The so-called Islamic State
(ISIL) group has worsened the situation by training and using children as
suicide bombers; killing children who belong to different religious and
ethnic communities; selling children as slaves in markets; executing large
numbers of boys; and committing other atrocities.[3] In camps
throughout the Middle East, children constitute approximately half of the
refugee population and they are the most vulnerable demographic group in times
of conflict and displacement. Their life in exile is full of uncertainty and
daily struggles. “Many are separated from their families, have difficulties
accessing basic services, and live in increasing poverty. Only one in two
Syrian refugee children in the neighboring countries is receiving education.”[4] Beyond
the specific conditions faced by internally displaced children and those in the
refugee camps of the region and beyond the enormous tragedies affecting them,
it seems important to envision their future, by focusing on three particular
areas of concern.
First, the world
must deal with the situation of millions of stateless children, who as such
according to the law, were never born. The United Nations estimates that
approximately 30.000 of these children can be found in Lebanon alone. Moreover,
due to the Middle Eastern conflicts and massive uprooting of families, several
thousand unregistered children are scattered in camps and other asylum
countries.[5] These
are “phantom kids” whose parents have escaped from Syria but whose name and
date of birth were never registered at any office. In fact, UNICEF reports that
3.500 children “officially” do not have a family or an identity. This occurs
because all personal documents have been destroyed under the rubble of war or,
at times, simply because their parents did not have the time or the money to certify
their birth. Stateless children cross international borders alone and find
themselves completely abandoned. The number of stateless persons in the world reaches
10 million. While all face grave difficulties, those fleeing Syria face challenges
that are even more dramatic: a child below eleven years of age and without
documents has no access even to the most basic services. These children
obviously cannot go to school and they are likely to be adopted illegally,
recruited in an armed group, abused, exploited, or forced into prostitution.
Every child has the right to be registered at birth and thus to be recognized
as a person before the law. The implementation of this right opens the way for
access to the enjoyment of other rights and benefits that affect the future of
these children. Simplifying mechanisms and requirements for registration,
waving fees, advocating for refugee inclusive registration legislation, represent
steps to solve the plight of stateless children.
Second, another key
component that shapes the future of uprooted children is education. Both in
Syria and in refugee camps in the region, provision of education has become
extremely problematic. Some 5,000 schools have been destroyed in Syria[6] where
more than one million and half students no longer receive an education and
where attacks against school buildings continue. The extremists from ISIL
already have closed a great number of schools in the zones under their control.
The dangerous condition of the country does not permit children to attend
school nor to have access to a proper education. The international community as
a whole seems to have misjudged the extent of the Syrian crisis. It was thought
by many that the Syrian refugee flow was temporary and such refugees would
leave their countries of asylum in a matter of months. Now, after four years of
conflict, it appears likely that these refugees will remain and the locals have
to learn to live side by side with them. As a result of the conflict, children
are behind in their education and are missing the enjoyment of their childhood.
In the camps, there are only 40 teachers for more than 1.000 students, aged 6
to 17. Most of the teachers are volunteers, and often refugees themselves.
Classes focus on drawing and music to help ease the trauma; writing and
mathematics are taught when books are available. In Turkey, children face additional
problems because of the language barrier. These refugees speak Arabic or
Kurdish so, they cannot attend public schools where only Turkish is spoken. For
different reasons, whether in their home countries or in the refugee camps,
children find an inadequate education system that jeopardizes their future.
Everywhere there is an urgent need for an education system that could absorb
these children and bring some normalcy to their lives.
Third, another
disruptive consequence of the continuing violence that torments the Middle East
is the separation of family members, which forces many minors to fend for
themselves. The root of the destabilization of society is the generalized
violence that leads to the breaking down of the family, society’s basic social
unit. To prevent the further exploitation of children and to protect them
properly, an additional effort should be made to facilitate the reunification
of minors with their respective families.
Mr. President,
The right to a legal
identity, to an adequate education and to a family are key elements and
specific requirements in a comprehensive system of protection for children. Such
measures require the close collaboration of all stakeholders. Access to quality
education and psycho-social care, together with other basic services, is
extremely important. However, children cannot benefit from such services unless
they are registered at birth and their families and communities are supported
to protect them better. If the violence does not stop and the normal pace of
education and development is not
resumed, these children are at risk of becoming a lost generation.
Peace in Syria and the Middle East is
the priority for healthy growth of all children. With conviction, during his
pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Francis stated: “May the violence cease and
may humanitarian law be respected, thus ensuring much needed assistance to
those who are suffering! May all parties abandon the attempt to resolve issues
by the use of arms and return to negotiations. A solution will only be found
through dialogue and restraint, through compassion for those who suffer,
through the search for a political solution and through a sense of fraternal
responsibility.”[7]
Thank you, Mr. President.
[1] UNHCR, Mid-Year Trends 2014, pg. 3.
[2] Report of the Independent International
Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Human Rights Council (Twenty-seventh
session). 5 February 2015.
[3] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the
combined second to fourth periodic reports of Iraq, pg. 5, point 23 (a), 4
February 2015, Geneva.
[4] A. Guterres speech
at the opening session of the "Investing in the Future" conference in
Sharjah, 15th October 2014.
[6] Report of the Independent International
Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Human Rights Council (Twenty-seventh
session). 5 February 2015.
[7] Address of His Holiness Pope
Francis to the Meeting with refugees and disabled young people, Latin Church,
Bethany beyond the Jordan, Saturday, 24 May 2014.
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