The Horror For Women And Children In Syria’s Forgotten ‘Widow Camps’

A new report by aid agency, World Vision investigates what life is like for tens of thousands of women and children in Syria’s so-called “widow camps” and reveals the horror of everyday life.

The report, Syria’s Widow Camps: Hardest to Reach, Most at Risk, exposes the harsh reality of “widow camps”, where widows and other women who are divorced or whose husbands are missing, live with their children.

It finds that eleven years into the war, the ongoing humanitarian crisis unfolding behind the shielded camp gates is worse than ever before. Children are in desperate need of safety and protection. Their mothers have little or no means to take care of their children while they suffer trauma and abuse themselves.

Aid agencies are denied access to these camps, and World Vision warns that this is having a dire impact on the women and children there.

The overwhelming majority of women surveyed (95%) report feeling sad or hopeless. They have almost no access to mental health support. Shockingly, 88% of women report a lack of essential services, including healthcare, proper shelter, and protection.

Children are also experiencing abuse and neglect, with more than a third saying they have experienced some kind of violence. The report also finds that 60% of women have witnessed child marriage in these camps.

Boys over the age of 11 are forced to leave the camps and fend for themselves outside. As a result, they are often recruited into terrorist groups because this is their only option for survival.

Eleanor Monbiot, World Vision’s Regional Director for Middle East and Eastern Europe says children are paying the highest price in the ongoing war.

“Our research shows that children are bearing the brunt of their mothers’ economic deprivations and living conditions. Traumatised, distressed, and isolated, women are unable to care for and protect their children.

“Children are being left behind, neglected, and almost half of those we spoke with, have lost hope and have no aspirations for the future. Mothers are at ‘breaking point’ with alarming mental health needs and no income to care for their families, driving them to adopt harmful survival strategies for themselves and their children,” she says.

While most displacement camps offer some form of humanitarian assistance and are explicitly included in humanitarian operations, the residents of “widow camps” have limited access to humanitarian aid.

The camps are spread across Northwest Syria where it remains extremely challenging to respond to increasing needs as there is currently only one point of access for humanitarian assistance.

To date, no international humanitarian organisation has been granted access to the widow camps and only a few agencies that specialise in protection or mental health, including some World Vision partners, have had access to a selected number of sites.

World Vision New Zealand National Director, Grant Bayldon, says the women and children in “widow camps” face an unimaginable existence and are being denied basic rights.

“The everyday horror faced by women and children in these camps is absolutely unjustifiable. It’s imperative that agencies, like World Vision and its partners, are allowed access to these camps to provide basic humanitarian assistance to the thousands of women and children suffering daily. We know we can make a difference to the lives of these families if we can reach them,” he says.

World Vision is calling on the United Nations and donor governments to use their diplomatic leverage to advocate for humanitarian workers’ to be allowed access to widow camps across Northwest Syria.

“As the world rightly reaches out to support refugees fleeing Ukraine, we urge those who have political power to prioritise Syrian children’s lives too. They have experienced war and displacement for eleven years now, and they too deserve safety and protection”, adds Monbiot.

Read the full report Syria’s Widow Camps: Hardest to Reach, Most at Risk here.

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