The days drag for Syrian children in Erbil refugee camp
Among the millions who have fled the Syrian civil war over the past four years, around a quarter of a million have headed to Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. They have been joined in recent months by more than 2 million Iraqis fleeing north to escape ISIL jihadists, and half of them are children. UNICEF , the United Nation’s agency for children, says it has been a devastating year” for millions of children caught up in worldwide conflicts. Jeffrey Bates, Chief of Communications for UNICEF Iraq told euronews that many young Syrian and Iraqi children have only known war. “What for us is an emergency, a crisis (he speaks of war and violence), for them is normal. For them, what is strange is normal life.” “So what UNICEF and partners are trying to do is create a normal life. A camp will never be home, but if these children can have places where they can play, go to school, where they can be with their friends and families and just to be safe and secure, it will ...