Child Refugee Crisis

STORY OF THE MONTH

Borak* and Nina* are from eastern Syria and fondly remember their lives before the war spending time with their family and friends. They felt so safe because they had so many loved ones around them. 

When the war hit, Borak and Nina fled Syria with their three children. They now live in a camp on the Greek island of Lesvos while they wait for their asylum application to be processed. All their children attend Save the Children’s Child Friendly Space and non-formal education activities in the camp. Their son Coban wants to be a civil engineer when he’s older, Ezin wants to be a doctor and Ester wants to be a famous gymnast or artist. Borak says he’s seen a big improvement in his children’s language skills since they started attending our programs.

Context:

More than 1.3 million people have crossed the Mediterranean since 2015, taking potentially perilous journeys to flee conflict, instability and persecution across the Middle East and Africa. So far this year, 3,165 migrants or refugees have arrived Europe by sea. 1,344 people have died or gone missing while crossing the Central Mediterranean to reach European shores this year. 

Along the route, children face extortion by smugglers, sexual abuse and exploitation, violence and trafficking. Many have been living for months in detention centres, which lack the right protection, information, and services they so desperately need.

Learn more about how Save the Children is keeping kids safe across these travel routes in the attached update. 

• EuropeanRefugeeCrisis_Program_updates_July2017.pdf (PDF)