The ongoing war in Syria has resulted in 6.8 million refugees globally, representing the highest number reported.
A 10-year-old displaced Syrian in Idlib whose story went viral after he was filmed crying out for help last month, has now been given shelter by Qatar Charity.
Mohammed appeared crying in despair for what he said was his inability to provide for his family, in a video that spread on social media.
“I’m crying because I can’t feed my siblings,” Mohammed told Syrian journalist Mohamed Belaas last month.
Since then, influential Qatari media personality Saoud Al Maadeed and Qatar Charity rallied to respond to his cry for help, and this week announced the young child and his family have now been safely rehoused.
According to an Al Jazeera report, Al Maadeed stepped in to provide Mohammed with shelter, moving him and his family from a worn out tent to a proper home.
In video shared online, Al Maadeed is seen with a more hopeful Mohammed at his new house. The Qatari presenter and humanitarian activist also handed the child a key with his name engraved on it.
“It’s so nice!” Mohammed gleefully told Al Maadeed.
In the same video, Mohammed detailed the harsh realities that forced him to halt his education to support his family. The child said he was made to work as a cleaner for a tailor, who then fired him for refusing to work from 8am until 3am.
Mohammed is an example of hundreds of thousands of Syrian children forced out of their homes, stripped of their education and prematurely forced into adulthood due to the ongoing war by the Bashar Al Assad regime.
Denied the right to live an ordinary childhood, Shahid is another child faced a similar reality. The young child echoed the plight of millions of others on New Year’s eve when she simply asked for a tent.
At the time, her video messaged garnered the support of a Qatari donor who tasked a Kuwaiti charity to build her a home.
Qatar Charity has been heavily engaged in humanitarian efforts to help Syrians displaced by the decade-long brutal conflict.
The Qatari charity is now building the Amal Village in Syria – its largest housing project – to provide shelter for at least 13,800 internally displaced Syrians in Aleppo.
The 280,000 square-meter area, expected to be fully completed by 2023, will have 1,400 housing units for displaced Syrians in Azaz, Aleppo.
According to the UN, the total number of forcibly displaced people worldwide reached 89.3 million by the end of 2021. Out of the total reported, 27.1 million are refugees and 53.2 million are internally displaced.
Children make up an estimated 36.5 million (41%) of the total forcibly displaced people reported as 1.5 million children were born as refugees.
The ongoing war in Syria has resulted in 6.8 million refugees globally, representing the highest number reported. The decade-long war waged by the Assad regime has continued to force Syrians out of their homes.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that at least 1,271 civilians, including 229 children, and 104 victims of torture were killed in Syria in 2021 alone.
The UN Human Rights Office estimates more than 306,000 civilians have been killed over the span of 11 years in Syria, with independent rights groups estimating the number to be much higher.
