Highlights
• In April, UNICEF supported national efforts to prevent and address child marriage. Together with the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services, UNICEF trained more than 600 staff from the Ministry of Interior, who play a key role in the immediate response to child marriage cases.
• UNICEF also continued to expand the provision of non-formal and informal education for out-of-school refugee children in Turkey, which to date has reached over 7,400 children. 715 children enrolled in the Accelerated Learning Programme and 458 children registered for Turkish Language Courses in 24 provinces.
• In Izmit (Kocaeli Province), a key municipal partner for UNICEF’s programme to address child labour, 19 children working on the streets were identified and assessed and 42 children received protection services at the municipal ‘My House’ Child Support Centre.
• As of 13 May 2019, UNICEF’s response in Turkey faces a 43% funding gap under the 2019 3RP appeal. Additional flexible funding is urgently required to continue essential interventions for vulnerable refugee children in education and child protection.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
Turkey remains home to the largest registered refugee population in the world. Over 4 million refugees and asylum-seekers are registered in Turkey, of whom nearly 1.7 million are children.
More than 3.6 million Syrians – including about 1.6 million children – are under temporary protection, 96 per cent of whom live in host communities across the country. Turkey also hosts a sizable community of non-Syrian refugees and asylum-seekers of almost 370,000 (primarily from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran), including some 120,000 children.
In addition, Turkey remains a transit country for unregistered refugees and migrants on the move. In April, nearly 1,900 refugees and migrants made the perilous journey by sea from Turkey to Greece and more than 1,000 crossed by land into Europe, a slight decrease from March. An additional 4,500 people were rescued or apprehended at sea or on land by Turkish authorities. Of those who have successfully crossed so far in 2019, approximately 40 per cent are believed to be children.
In addition, April witnessed a spike in the number of migrants attempting to cross into Turkey from Iran, with approximately 2,000 people – primarily Afghanis and Pakistanis – apprehended along the eastern border.
The Government of Turkey leads the overall refugee response and shoulders most of the financial burden – more than US $30 billion to date, according to latest government estimates. Despite the significant progress achieved since the crisis began, its immense scale and scope continues to strain the country’s basic services and infrastructure.
The situation for refugee children in Turkey remains particularly challenging. An estimated 400,000 Syrian children remain out of school and face difficulties such as a lack of awareness of available services, language barriers, socio-economic obstacles and early school dropout. Refugee and migrant children – particularly those out of school – are also acutely susceptible to numerous protection risks, including isolation, discrimination and various forms of exploitation. Moreover, years of conflict and displacement negatively impact their psycho-social well-being and development. UNICEF, together with the Government of Turkey and other partners, remains focused on improving the lives of the most vulnerable refugee and Turkish children affected by this crisis.