The price of inaction: a lost generation of Syrian children
Sally Ko urges help for the five million put at risk by the conflict
Tomorrow, Syria will enter its fourth year of conflict. Ceaseless bloody fighting between the Syrian government and opposition forces has claimed more than 100,000 lives, and pushed almost half the country's population of some 22 million into desperation.
Thousands are fleeing Syria every day to take refuge in nearby countries. The region is facing a boiling refugee crisis, the worst since the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
On February 22, the UN Security Council finally passed a unanimous resolution demanding unhindered humanitarian access across conflict lines and borders. However, to advance this diplomatic breakthrough and make it genuinely humanitarian, the resolution must be translated into meaningful action on the ground.
In war, innocent civilians often pay the highest price. Nothing illustrates this better than the plight of Syrian children.
More than one million Syrian refugees are children; over 425,000 of those are under the age of five. Most have fled to neighbouring nations, including Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq. The situation for more than three million displaced children inside Syria is even worse.
Many parties to the conflict are increasingly using children as combatants. The desperation for survival has left many without a choice.
Children are dying from malnutrition and disease outbreaks, on top of the many killed in indiscriminate bombings.