EGYPT, Sunday, February 25 (VOP) – Eighty-five percent of Syrian refugee children in Jordan live below the poverty line and the Syrian refugee families are increasingly struggling to meet their needs, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Sunday.
“Eighty-five per cent of Syrian children registered as refugees live below the poverty line,” the organization said in a study on the situation of Syrian refugee children in host communities in Jordan.
“Syrian refugee families in Jordan are finding it increasingly difficult to meet their basic needs,” she said.
“94% of Syrian children under the age of five and living in host communities suffer from poverty + multiple dimensions, that is, they are deprived of a minimum of the five basic needs: education, health, water, sanitation and protection.”
“Given the unprecedented nature of the Syrian crisis, Jordan needs constant support to deal with the impact of the crisis and meet the needs of the most vulnerable children,” said UNICEF Representative Jordan Jenkins in Jordan.
“Seven years after this crisis, we must all continue to do everything in our power to support refugee children and their families who are struggling to meet their basic needs,” he said.
The study concluded that “4 out of 10 Syrian families in Jordan are food insecure and 26% are vulnerable.”
“45 percent of children aged 0-5 years do not have adequate health services,” she said.
“38 percent of children are not enrolled or dropped out of school because of the distance, cost and lack of places,” she said.
“Sixty percent of children aged between 0-5 years do not have birth certificates, which will present them with additional challenges and risks in the future,” she said.
“For children between the ages of 6-17 years, child labor and violence are their biggest challenge,” she said.
“It works with the Jordanian government, donors and partners to alleviate poverty and other challenges facing vulnerable children … to engage positively in communities, complete their education, and receive training and employment opportunities,” the agency said.
According to the United Nations, there are about 630 thousand Syrian refugees registered in Jordan, while the Kingdom says it hosts about 1.4 million refugees since the outbreak of conflict in Syria in March 2011.
