The seven-year long conflict in Syria continues to have a devastating impact on every child across the country. More than 13.1 million people, including 5.3 million children, need urgent life-saving humanitarian assistance in 2018. An estimated 5.6 million people are in acute need due to a convergence of vulnerabilities resulting from displacement, exposure to hostilities, and limited access to basic goods and services.
Children, particularly those who are unaccompanied, separated or living with older or disabled caregivers are particularly vulnerable. More than 3 million children under the age of five require nutrition support, including the nearly 20,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. The suffering of children in specific besieged areas (e.g. Eastern Ghouta) remains a key concern due to the rapid deterioration of the nutrition situation, protection risks and lack of access to basic services. In 2017, 2,896 grave violations were committed against children, representing a 13% increase in the number of verified violations when compared to 2016.
Last year, at least 910 children were killed and 361 others injured due to armed conflict. In addition, at least 961 children, of which 89 girls, were recruited and used in armed conflict, and at least 78 children, including 52 boys and 26 girls, were arrested and detained by belligerents in the context of their alleged association with armed forces or armed groups. In addition, there were 108 attacks on hospitals and medical personnel, 67 attacks on schools and education personnel, and 52 attacks on humanitarian facilities and personnel, as well as 53 verified incidents of removal or blocking of humanitarian supplies.
Access to basic social services has dramatically declined. Lack of access to proper medical and psychological care has prolonged or worsened disabling injuries among children. Millions of children have never known peace, and suffer from psychosocial distress as a result of experiencing the horrors of war.
Over 2 million school-age children are out-of-school (36%) . One in three schools cannot be used because it is either damaged, destroyed or sheltering displaced families or used for military purposes. Half of all health care facilities are either partially functioning or not functioning at all. National routine immunization coverage has declined from 90% in 2010 to 70% in 2017, triggering several outbreaks. In 2017, there were a record 70 vaccine-derived polio virus cases reported among children. Additionally some 14.6 million people require access to safe water, including 7.6 million in acute humanitarian need, in part due to heavy infrastructure damage.
The proportion of people living in extreme poverty (less than US $ 1.90 per day) doubled from 34% pre-crisis to nearly 70% today. 6.5 million people are facing acute food insecurity pushing children as young as three to work or beg to keep families afloat. The delivery of humanitarian assistance remains extremely difficult due to active conflict, insecurity, restriction of movement, removal of items from humanitarian convoys and the imposition of burdensome administrative procedures.