T&T children in Syrian war zone

The Syrian civil war which started a decade ago and has claimed more than 400,000 lives, has created “the biggest humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time and a continuing cause for suffering,” according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. Among the approximately 6.1 million children affected by that conflict are 65 who are T&T nationals or children of citizens of this country. Information obtained by Guardian Media is that 53 of them are under the age of 12, while at least 18 are under the age of five.

In 2013 and 2014, some 130 T&T nationals left to join the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq, lured by promises of paradise in a caliphate. Some of them took their children with them but were later killed in battle, leaving families behind in a land torn apart by the horrors of war. At present, 72 children with links to T&T are in refugee camps in Syria and Iraq, including some born to Trinidadian parents in the Middle East who have been left stateless. More than 6,300 miles away from his home in T&T, Amral Khan’s five grandchildren live in a tent in the Al-Hol refugee camp in Syria. They don’t have adequate access to clothing, food, healthcare, clean water or electricity.

“Once you have a family member there, whatever activity you are involved in at home, from the moment you wake up in the morning if you even have to brush your teeth or get some water, you imagine what is taking place on that side,” Khan said. His two daughters and five grandchildren ages two, three, four, six and seven, have been at the camp, run by Kurdish authorities, since March 2019. Only his eldest grandchild was born in T&T.In 2013, Khan’s daughters told him they were going with their families on a pilgrimage in the Middle East but failed to return on the date they said they would.

“It was a surprise, a shocker. We didn’t know their final destination. It was only months later that we got the call of where they were,” Khan recalled. While he misses his daughters, he said his constant worry about his grandchildren is a pain unlike any other. Khan admits that his daughters made a grave mistake but insists that his grandchildren do not deserve to suffer.“Every aspect of human dignity is appalling. They eat beans and rice every day. You find that malnutrition is rampant. All that goes through our mind as grandparents/parents,” Khan lamented. As the largest camp for displaced persons in Northern Syria, it is estimated that more than 70,000 people live at Al-Hol. The camp is primarily a shelter for people who were part of ISIS and the Levant. Approximately 66 per cent of the camp’s inhabitants are children.

Between December 2018 and September 2019, 339 children died at the camp, according to the International Rescue Committee. The main causes of death were severe malnutrition, diarrhoea, dehydration and pneumonia. Freezing temperatures during winter have also killed many children.

Khan, who lost a grandchild to the winter is determined not to lose another.

Read more T&T children in Syrian war zone – Trinidad Guardian