NEW DELHI: Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has called for immediate global Endeavour to solve the Syrian refugee crisis, and said the goal of providing security and education to children and safeguarding their independence cannot be achieved without collective effort.
The child rights activist recently visited several refugee camps in Turkey, now home to a massive number of Syrians escaping the war in their country that began in 2001.
An estimated 2.75 million Syrians are registered in Turkey, around 3.5 per cent of the country’s population, according to International Crisis Group, an independent body working to prevent wars and shape policies for a more peaceful world.
“Most of the refugees in these camps are victims of violence in Syria and Iraq,” Satyarthi told PTI-Bhasha.
He said trafficking, slavery and a lack of education are the main vulnerabilities staring at the refugees. “We need to bring these issues at the centre of public discourse.”
More than 13 million people in Syria are in need of humanitarian assistance, several studies have suggested. Healthcare centers, schools, and water and sanitation systems have been damaged during the course of the war between the Syrian government troops and the rebels.
Historic structures and landmarks have been reduced to rubble.
More than 5.6 million Syrians have fled the country as refugees, according to the UNHCR. Half of people affected are children.
Describing the troubled scenes at the camps, Satyarthi said: “I met a father outside one of these camps. He was trying to fix the marriage of his 12-year-old daughter. That man was shaken by reports of sex and slavery at the camps and wanted to marry the child so that his daughter could be saved from the harrowing practices.”
“This is the brutal truth of this world we live in. We need immediate and collective global effort to stop this (cruelty),” he said.
The 64-year-old Satyarthi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, said: “It is impossible to provide security to children, preserve their independence and education without collective effort. If children are not safe, humanity is not safe.”
Satyarthi has established the Laureates and Leaders for Children to work on these issues. The second summit of the organization will be held on March 26-27 on the historic banks of the Dead Sea in Jordan.
The summit will be attended by Jordan’s King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Satyarthi, Panama President Juan Carlos Varela Rodriguez, India’s Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi.
Satyarthi said to develop the political will, the summit will focus on collective responsibility and strong moral agreement. -PTI
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