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Protecting the Children of Foreign Fighters in Syria

Children of Foreign Fighters
The children of foreign fighters, specifically those in Syria, are among the most vulnerable groups in the world. Estimates state that there are close to 29,000 foreign children in Syria, most of them under the age of 12. Around 20,000 are from Iraq and more than 9,000 are from 60 other countries. According to UNICEF, these children live in appalling conditions and have little family support; most of them live stranded with their mothers or other caregivers and many live entirely alone.

Unfortunately, many countries have refused to repatriate their citizens, including those born in the conflict zones. Repatriation includes accompanying children back to their legal countries and reintegrating them into their extended families. So far, countries have repatriated only a fraction of them. Non-receiving countries usually give reasons that involve security concerns and often pass judgment on young children who have suffered from blatant manipulation or the decisions of their caretakers.

Most children of foreign fighters started their lives in or traveled to Islamic State-controlled conflict areas, but many are also young boys who armed groups manipulated into support. UNICEF’s call to action urges that countries maintain the international standards for a fair trial, especially with children over the age of criminal responsibility. Receiving countries should work to prevent the harsh scrutinization of foreign fighters’ children who have not committed serious crimes.

Working to Protect Stateless Children

There are also a number of Syrian refugees and children of foreign fighters who are stateless, meaning that they possess no civil documentation to prove their nationality. Without documentation, it is difficult for refugees to build their lives beyond reintegration. When it comes to stateless children, most of them are born abroad after their parents have fled conflict and estimates determine that parents do not register 70 percent of them at birth. According to the U.N., a stateless child is born every 10 minutes.

Many large organizations are working to counter statelessness. UNICEF has pressed outlying nations to prevent the children of foreign fighters from becoming stateless and to provide all citizens with civil documentation. In 2014, the U.N. launched the 10-year I Belong global campaign to rid the world of statelessness. Currently, there are over 96,000 signatures on the U.N.’s petition to end statelessness.

Importance of Mental Health Care

Successful reintegration requires more than placing the children of foreign fighters into schools and providing housing and jobs. Nearly half of all Syrian children display symptoms of PTSD and a quarter face intellectual and developmental challenges. By living in conflict zones, children are at high risk for depression, anxiety and other forms of mental illness. This includes making them vulnerable to radicalization due to post-conflict distress and anger.

Furthermore, the unfamiliar surroundings, foreign languages and a lack of familial support during repatriation can worsen symptoms. One study on reintegrated children in Sierra Leone showed that children abducted at younger ages were less likely to return to school. The study also found immense psychological challenges when trying to reintegrate children into schools; children would often have heightened symptoms resembling traumatic stress in reaction to war and grief.

There are a number of health care NGOs working to help those the war affected. The International Psychosocial Organization is training counselors in Syria’s conflict zones. In Palestine, the Médicins San Frontières partnered with Al-Najah University to establish a graduate psychology program, with its main purpose to bolster the mental health workforce in Syria.

Right now, the world has received an opportunity to counter violent extremism by helping women and the children of foreign fighters reintegrate into their original communities. The damage done to the three million children born since the beginning of the Syrian War will be present for many years, requiring a multilayered and multinational response. In this complicated and brutal war, it is incredibly important to help protect these children and return them to their intended families and communities.

– Isadora Savage
Photo: Flickr

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Stage One Emergency: The Hepatitis E Outbreak in Chad and Niger

E Outbreak in Chad and Niger
An area rife with conflict and large refugee populations, the Lake Chad region is one especially vulnerable to diseases. The most recent concern is the hepatitis E outbreak in Chad and Niger, which has been declared a stage one emergency by the WHO.

Hepatitis E is caused most often by exposure to fecal-infected water or undercooked meat and thus is prevalent in areas with poor water sanitation resources. Symptoms include a mild fever, reduced appetite and occasional vomiting. As the virus progresses, this becomes jaundice, dark liver, pale stools and sensitivity of the liver. In rare cases, acute liver failure is possible and often leads to death. Though the virus is often overlooked for the better-known hepatitis A, B and C, it is responsible for over 20 million infections and 40,000 deaths worldwide every year

In terms of treatment, infections typically do not require hospitalization, as the symptoms resolve by themselves after four to six weeks. However, in cases where liver failure occurs, hospitalization is required immediately. People with immunodeficiencies and pregnant women are especially at risk, and hospitalization is recommended for these populations.

In Am Timan, Chad, nearly 700 unique cases and 11 deaths occurred between September 2016 and January 2017. Since then, 70 cases have been reported each week. In the Diffa region of Niger, over 1,100 cases and 34 deaths were reported by the end of June. Additional cases have been reported in the large at-risk refugee population. In both countries, the WHO has declared the outbreak an emergency and is working alongside the Minister of Health to identify the epicenter.

The WHO’s investigations into the root of the hepatitis E outbreak in Chad and Niger are the first and most important step in keeping the people of the Lake Chad region safe, but more must be done in the meantime to ensure the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of at-risk people. The organization Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) has worked hard to treat the proliferation of cases, but as the epidemic spreads from the city of Am Timan to the surrounding region of Salamat, more needs to be done.

Medicins Sans Frontieres has called for help in water sanitization, but the response was minimal. Due to this, the medical organization has taken it upon themselves to chlorinate 72 water stations in the city. In Diffa, it has treated 27,900 gallons of water and provided sanitation supplies to nearly 17,000 families. In order to curb the Hepatitis E outbreak in Chad and Niger, the WHO and Medicins Sans Frontieres need help. Their good work has mitigated the original outbreak, but money, supplies and volunteers are still needed to create the infrastructure to ensure such an outbreak is prevented in the future.

– Connor S. Keowen

Photo: Flickr

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Muslims in Myanmar Face Health Crisis

muslims-in-myanmar
In the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, also known as Burma, displaced Rohingya Muslims face a severe health crisis as malnutrition spreads, and treatable illnesses and injuries go unattended.

The country’s recent history of ethnic tension has disfavored the minority Muslims, pushing them to regions along coastal Myanmar where many of the displaced are settled in refugee camps. The plight of the Rohingya has caught the attention of international aid organizations that set up medical centers and ration distribution facilities.

However, medical aid to the ostracized group was all but completely cut off by government officials who accused Medicins Sans Frontieres-Holland (Doctors Without Borders-Holland) of favoritism to Muslims in Myanmar, promoting anti-government sentiment, and ordered them to leave in February of 2014.

As a result of the expulsion, the 700,000 people that depended on MSF’s service were left without proper medical care. By late July, when the government declared that MSF could return, the Rohingya had already endured months of a bleak health crisis with no help to turn to.

In a Reuters report from one of the camps, Aisyah Begum told the story of her husband who was injured while working in the forest. The man would have been taken to the nearby MSF clinic had it been open. The couple was left with no other option but to drive two hours to the nearest private doctor in Maungdaw who then refused to help. The man eventually passed away from what was most likely a treatable infection.

Around the time MSF was granted permission to return, the United Nations publicly commented on the refugee camps’ inhumane conditions. Yanghee Lee of the UN human rights envoy for Myanmar released a 10 page report, calling the living situation of the camps’ inhabitants “deplorable,” noting concern that “the government’s plan for peaceful co-existence may likely result in a permanent segregation” of the two groups.

Ethnic tensions between the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and the dominant Rakhine Buddhists spans back a few years. It erupted in 2012, leaving 200 dead and an estimated 140,000 internally displaced – 135,000 of which were Rohingya. The clash between the ethnic groups left the bitter taste of mistrust in the mouths of both sides, with one side much more disadvantaged than the other.

The Rohingya suffer from continued apathy and exclusion on part of the Rakhine, and face the threat of violent attacks if they cross the wrong person, keeping them isolated in their lacking communities. They essentially live as prisoners, eating only donated rice and chickpeas, fishing their protein from the nearby ocean.

Ethnic persecution is systemic in Myanmar, to the point where those in the minority group are not even recognized as citizens by the government. They are classified as illegal Bengali immigrants and therefore have no legal rights or representation. They severely lack the means to sustain themselves.

Conditions have reached such a critical point in recent years that tens of thousands have tried fleeing by boat. Human Rights Watch has accused the government of leading an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Muslims in Myanmar.

“By virtue of their legal status (or lack of), the Muslim community has faced and continues to face systematic discrimination, which includes restrictions in the freedom of movement, restrictions in access to land, food, water, education and health care, and restrictions on marriages and birth registrations,” said Lee in her report.

Myanmar is a country of 55 million people. In sheer numbers alone, it is clear what the Rohingya are up against as the nation’s abhorred minority. Years of military rule subjected them to hard labor, rape, torture and relocation, extending from a 1982 citizenship law that declared them stateless. However, the increasingly democratic reform of its government brings some hope.

Many Rohingya retain complete skepticism of the future and MSF is “cautiously optimistic” about their invitation to return. However, it appears that the bind of Myanmar’s displaced Muslims may quickly improve with increased international attention and the possibility of greater involvement by the United States.

“We’re working to continually help address problems on the ground,” said Derek Mitchell, the US ambassador to Myanmar. “What we are doing out here is in anticipation of continued reform, although we need to remain patient as the country deals with increasingly difficult issues going forward.”

– Edward Heinrich

Sources: Reuters, Helsinki Times, Al Jazeera
Photo: Reuters