Growing number of abandoned children in Syria

It was a very cold winter night. Ibrahim Usman had left the house alone to pray, but when he returned, he had a little girl in his arms. A few hours after his birth, his parents abandoned him on the steps of the village mosque.

“I brought this girl to my house and told my wife, ‘I brought you a present,'” said Ibrahim, 59, who lives in Hazanoo village in the northwestern Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib. They named the baby girl Hibatullah, which means, “God’s gift,” and decided to raise her as a member of their family.

In war-torn Syria, such newborns are abandoned by their parents in mosques, hospitals and even under olive trees, officials say, as poverty and desperation run rampant in more than 12 years of war. is on

According to Syrians for Truth and Justice, a Washington-based group that monitors human rights abuses in Syria, before the war began in 2011, there were “only a few cases of child abandonment” reported.

The group issued a report in March. According to this report, between early 2021 and late 2022, more than 100 children have been found abandoned across the country and 62 of them were girls. According to reports, the actual number may be much higher. The group says cases of child abandonment have “increased dramatically” since the start of the conflict. Because the social and economic impact of war is affecting both government-controlled and rebel-held areas.

In its report, the group has also identified factors such as poverty, insecurity, child marriage, sexual abuse and out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Children cannot be legally adopted in Syria. But Ibrahim Usman says he will seek permission from the local authorities to raise Hibatullah. “I have told my children that if I die, he should get a share of my inheritance,” Ibrahim said in a loud voice. Although I know she can never legally inherit my family property.”

Three-year-old Hibatullah, with flowing hair and pink sandals, jumps and jumps, unsure of her future, calls Ibrahim Usman “Dada”. An innocent girl.”

More than 500,000 people have been killed in the war in Syria and millions more have been displaced. More than a decade of war has also destroyed the country’s infrastructure. Health department official Zahir Hajoo said that 53 abandoned newborns, 28 boys and 25 girls, were registered in government-controlled areas during the first ten months of last year.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree this year calling for special facilities for children. Such orphans will now be automatically registered as Arabs, Syrians and Muslims, and the place where they are found will be declared as their place of birth.

Social workers care for these children at the largest center for abandoned children in rebel-held Idlib province. Men and women work in these centers and efforts are made to provide all facilities to the children.

The head of this aid center, Faisal Al Hamoud, said that he found a girl under an olive tree, who had been scratched by a cat. Faisal said, “Blood was dripping from her face. handed over to a family.”

Hammood said that their workers try their best to ensure that such children are treated well and we also ensure that these children are not trafficked.

Abdullah Abdullah, an officer working with rebels in Idlib, said 26 children have come to the center since it opened in 2019. Among them 14 are girls and 12 are boys. He said that nine children have arrived this year so far.

More than four million people live in areas controlled by jihadists and Turkish-backed groups in Syria’s north and northwest, with 90 percent living on aid. Abdullah Abdullah says, “Both war and their families are responsible for leaving children behind. These children are innocent.”