ECHO: Half Million Syrian Children Risk Becoming Lost Generation

Caroline Gluck, a regional information officer for the European Commission's Humanitarian and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) said in a press briefing on Thursday in Ankara that many of the half million Syrian children in Turkey have not received any education for the last three years and are at risk of becoming a lost generation.

The delegation from ECHO said they will continue to support food security, health needs, medical assistance and the education of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Turkey.

Noting that the lack of international aid has been criticized, Gluck said ECHO provides basic education to young Syrian and Iraqi children using a portion of the European Union's 2012 Nobel Peace Prize money that has been channeled to the Children of Peace initiative.

Jean Christophe Pegon, a technical assistant from ECHO, said ECHO supports a variety of projects in close coordination with Turkish authorities, especially in the southeastern provinces of Turkey such as Kilis, Şanlıurfa and Mardin.

Pegon said the most important issue at the moment is working towards long-term solutions such as integrating the refugees into Turkish social life and access to education, adding, “We are committed to staying longer to support refugees and support institutions helping refugees.”

Admitting that the 11 million euros ECHO contributed in 2014 is not much, Pegon went on to say: “We believe we can contribute to a stronger system with our partners inside and outside of Turkey. We are here to help.”

Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis ECHO has contributed around 28.45 million euros in total, of which 11 million euros has been contributed in 2014, to assist Syrian refugees in Turkey.

While resources were initially allocated to assist refugees inside the camps, ECHO says it is now focused primarily on helping refugees living outside of the camps, especially new arrivals, including Iraqi refugees and Syrian families who fled Kobani.

Projects include cash assistance, distribution of non-food items and vouchers that can be exchanged for relief items. ECHO allocated an additional 1.75 million euros in support of education in emergencies in partnership with UNICEF and Concern Worldwide in 2014.

The government estimates that there are currently nearly 1.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, which includes the most recent mass influx of over 190,000 refugees from Kobani since mid-September 2014.

Arif Tekdal (Cihan/Today's Zaman)