Women and children who live in some of the hardest-to-reach camps for internally displaced people face chronic and high levels of violence and depression. Some women are forced into “survival sex.”
A new report has revealed the grim reality for women and children displaced by the ongoing war in Syria. In the northwest, women and children live in so-called “widow camps,” where conditions are even worse than in general camps.
There are a whopping 2.8 million Syrians in camps for internally displaced people in the northwest of Syria.
Mothers are at a psychological “breaking point,” with more than 80 percent of women saying that they are deprived of adequate healthcare, and almost all women, at 95 percent, expressed feelings of hopelessness.
Children in the camps were found to be severely neglected, and many were abused and forced to work, with child labor being a huge issue. About half of all boys and girls are forced to work at age 11 or older, with 58 percent of boys and 49 percent of girls. About 34 percent of children have experienced at least one form of violence. Two percent have been forced to marry young.
NGO World Vision interviewed women at 28 camps for the report, now the home to tens of thousands of single women. Some are divorced, others’ husbands are missing, detained, or killed.
One in four women said they had witnessed sexual abuse inside the camp on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Nine percent were sexually assaulted themselves.
Women cannot freely leave the camps. They cannot seek paid employment in order to support families. Some have been forced into a situation where they need to engage in “survival sex” with male guards and camp managers.
Since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, millions and millions of Syrians have become refugees and millions more have become internally displaced. Nearly 7 million are internally displaced, with 2.8 million living in about 1,300 camps located in the northwest.
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