Today we celebrate World Refugee Day.
More than 20 million refugees, half of whom are children, have been forced to flee violence in places such as Syria, Somalia, South Sudan and Central African Republic. Only 1% of them resettled, according to UN. Being forced to leave your home, your extended family and community is a very disruptive experience which exposes children to mental and physical trauma, school dropout, higher risk of sexual violence and recruitment in armed groups. These can have lifelong negative impact on children’s well-being.
Over the last decade, ICDI has been working to promote the rights of refugee children around the world, ensuring they can access education and shelter, have a fair chance at integrating in their hosting community and be reunited with their families.
In our projects in the Netherlands and Ukraine, we developed guidelines for rapid interventions and psychosocial support to children & youth affected by armed conflict and promote their integration in the hosting communities, through non formal education activities.
