Child protection in times of crisis. What is being done?

In the days after the earthquakes, it was hard to tell which of the children here still had parents. As local officials tried to match survivors with their mothers and fathers, they found they had never known some of the families at all. 

After 12 years of civil war, this pocket of northwest Syria is home to millions of people from across the country, their names and histories often obscured by displacement and isolation. As aid workers scoured hospitals for the missing, families hoped and prayed. 

“We couldn’t check on databases, we couldn’t check on lists,” said Nour Agha, a relief worker in the shattered town of Jinderis. “Some of the children couldn’t even tell us their names, they were so shocked.” 

More than a week removed from the disaster, with the death toll above 41,000, extended families and authorities on both sides of the Turkey-Syria border are still trying to figure out how many children have been orphaned, and how to care for them. 

As Louisa Loveluck and Salwan Georges reported for The Washington Post; they are spread across tents and hospital wards, sleeping in cars or in the apartments of the closest relatives they have left. 

THE NEED FOR AN IMMEDIATE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE 

Thousands of children in Syria are at risk of abuse in the aftermath of a powerful earthquake that has killed more than 42,000 people and resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of children left unaccompanied, humanitarian groups told The National. 

Amanda Brydon, global head of child protection policy and advocacy at Save the Children, told Mina Aldroubi of The National that most vulnerable were those children who had been separated from their families. 

“What is very difficult to know is the numbers. It can be very difficult to track and to see where the children end up and if they are with the right people. This is why it’s critical to have strong safeguarding measures and protection for these children.” 

“Girls and children with disabilities are often more vulnerable, so keeping families together is what we recommend,” she said. 

There is a child protection system within Turkey, but in Syria it depends on where the child is — whether they are in government-held areas or non-governmental regions — and that is where aid organisations play a critical part in filling in the gaps, Ms Brydon said.