Education for Iraqi children key to their country’s future, UN official says

A senior United Nations official traveling in Damascus has called for Iraqi refugee parents to send their children to public schools in Syria, pointing out that these young people hold the key to Iraq’s future.

Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees L. Craig Johnstone made his comments on Thursday as he continued his first visit to the Middle East for UNHCR.

“The Syrian government allows your children to register in public schools. Make the most of this opportunity; send your children to school,” Mr. Johnstone told a gathering of more than 400 Iraqi refugees at the UNHCR Registration Centre in Damascus.

"The education of your children will secure the future of Iraq and the future of your families. Spread the word – we want all Iraqi families in Syria to know that they have the right to send their children to school," added Mr. Johnstone, who arrived from Jordan on the second leg of his first visit to the region since joining UNHCR in June.

His visit to main host countries Syria and Jordan coincides with the launch of a joint campaign by the UN refugee agency and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to increase the number of Iraqi children in schools in Syria from the current 33,000 to 100,000 by the end of the 2007-08 school year.

An appeal last week for extra funds for UNHCR’s Iraq-linked programmes noted that most Iraqi children were not attending school. Outside Iraq, the agency plans to focus on education, health, food, social and legal counseling and shelter for the refugees. A recent survey in Damascus indicated that a significant number of children were not yet enrolled in school.

Mr. Johnstone voiced UNHCR’s gratitude to the Damascus Government for offering refuge to the estimated 1.4 million Iraqi refugees living in Syria.

The UN refugee agency has been appealing for increased international support for the Governments of both Syria and Jordan as they struggle to cope with the influx of refugees. In last week’s appeal, UNHCR issued a revised budget of $123 million for its programmes, up from US$60 million in January.

“UNHCR has already registered more than 150,000 Iraqis in the region and many of them have special needs, including help in getting their children in school and serious medical problems. The needs are enormous and these governments should not have to cope alone,” said Mr. Johnstone.

Meanwhile, the displacement of Iraqis in the face of extreme violence continues unabated, with a significant impact on the surrounding region. To date, over 4 million Iraqis have been uprooted, according to UNHCR. The more than 2 million refugees in surrounding countries include some who fled their country during the pre-2003 regime of Saddam Hussein. The outflow has escalated in the past eighteen months.

The displacement continues at a rate of about 100,000 a month, the UN estimates.