* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Concern grows for disabled refugees, including many injured in war
The numbers are staggering - more than 1.3 million Syrian refugees forced to flee to neighboring countries, with an estimated 8,000 new arrivals every day. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR), there will likely be 3.5 million Syrian refugees by the end of the year. The U.N. agency estimates that 50 percent of the refugees are children, most under the age of eleven. Many women have fled without their husbands.
In any refugee situation, women and girls are at particular risk of abuse and exploitation. When the scale of humanitarian need far outstrips the funding available, the risks soar. This is the case in the Syria crisis where the U.N. humanitarian appeals for refugees and those in need inside Syria are only about 50 percent funded. With inadequate funding, increasing numbers of refugees, serious gaps in assistance, and limited opportunities to work, refugee women and girls are in an increasingly untenable situation.
Donors must act now to fully fund the humanitarian appeals for Syria. Even as efforts are intensified to secure the needed funds, it is incumbent on all parties to ensure that those programs that are funded meet basic protection standards in their design and implementation. Women and girls, as well as men and boys, must have safe and equitable access to assistance.
In addition to its advocacy on behalf of refugee women and girls, the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) has been helping to lead an effort in recent years with UNHCR and other partners to improve refugees with disabilities’ access to and inclusion in humanitarian programs. Imagine the challenges these refugees face when they are forced to flee their homes and communities. Yet, too often, refugees with disabilities are overlooked and underserved in humanitarian response, denying them the opportunity to contribute their skills and capacities to programs and communities.
At the request of UNHCR in Lebanon, the WRC’s disabilities program officer spent a month in the country to conduct a review of disability inclusion in current programming. We provided advice to UNHCR staff and partners on how to improve registration and case management processes for refugees with disabilities, streamline the processes that link them with aid programs, and identify potential strategies to improve access to education for refugee children with disabilities.
As global estimates suggest that people with disabilities make up 15 percent of any population, there may be as many as 64,000 refugees with disabilities living in Lebanon. Many have new disabilities as a result of war-related injuries, including amputated limbs and paralysis. With Handicap International and UNHCR personnel, WRC also met refugees with developmental delays and hearing and vision impairments, along with their families. Many are living in collective shelters they share with other families, using what little funds they have left to rent rooms in buildings still under construction or living in tented settlements. Agencies are coordinating with one another and Lebanese health services to provide the most urgent medical care, but there is virtually no funding for longer-term rehabilitation services, which are critically important if persons with new disabilities are to develop maximum functional independence in their community.
Refugee children with disabilities have the right to be in school and to be included in community life. Quality education also provides safe spaces for children, reducing the risk of exploitation and abuse, as well as promoting their psychosocial and cognitive development. However, children with disabilities are often excluded from school and education due to societal attitudes and physical and environmental barriers.
In Lebanon, UNHCR and UNICEF are working with Lebanese colleagues to improve access to education for Syrian children with disabilities. They are working to ensure that all new facilities are built to be physically accessible and are launching transportation programs to bring children to and from schools. But more strategies are needed to raise awareness among parents of children with disabilities and to promote disability inclusion skills among teachers. This will ultimately benefit both Syrian and Lebanese children with disabilities.
The humanitarian workers the WRC met with recognize the magnitude of the challenge. They are very concerned about the size of the population of persons with disabilities and the many protection concerns these refugees face. They need funding to better support refugees with disabilities. And they would like additional training and practical guidance on how to make their programs inclusive of refugees with disabilities. The WRC hopes to return to Lebanon in late May to provide this additional support, drawing on tools and materials we have developed for the humanitarian community.
What I have described here is but a tiny snapshot of need in this massive humanitarian crisis. As I said at the start, the numbers are staggering. The UNHCR warned last week that the crisis in Syria may be the worst humanitarian crisis it has dealt with – half the Syrian population, the High Commissioner said, will need aid by the end of the year. But we cannot let ourselves be numbed by these numbers. Public and private donors, humanitarian and development organizations, all must come together to better meet immediate humanitarian needs and develop strategies for longer-term support for refugees and their host communities now that the Syrian conflict is in its third year.
