The statistics of human suffering in Syria are devastating. Over 400,000 dead, and 50,000 of those victims are children. Approximately 4.8 million Syrians have fled the country, and another 6.3 million have been displaced within the country itself.
But statistics are made up of numbers, and a number is an inanimate symbol. There is a necessary disconnect between communicating the toll of Syria’s civil war in a statistic, and seeing what that number actually means in human form. In a certain sense, the numbers are almost a lie, masking beneath their ambivalent statement of fact incomprehensible depths of human suffering.
Which is why a video just released by UNICEF is so powerful. In the two-minute film, a young Syrian refugee named Ahmed tells of his terrifying journey out of his home country. He is seated next to Harry, an elderly man who was also once a refugee, a young Jewish boy fleeing the Nazi terror in Europe.
I had the privilege of asking the U.S. CEO of UNICEF, Caryl Stern, a few questions about this remarkably powerful film.
1. This brings the current refugee crisis out of headlines and into reality, the real struggle of two humans trying to survive. That is powerful, but is so rare. What can we do to bring more of these stories into Americans’ lives?
UNICEF is committed to its mission to save and protect the world’s most vulnerable and we must share Ahmed’s story and the stories of 28 million other children who have been uprooted by conflict. One in four of the world’s children lives in a country affected by conflict or disaster. From Syria to Yemen to Iraq, from South Sudan to Nigeria, children are under direct attack and are being killed and injured in their homes, in schools, in hospitals and on playgrounds. Their futures are in peril. The U.S. has a long and proud tradition of protecting children fleeing war and persecution, and this film is a stark reminder that these children want exactly what we take for granted every day of our lives. Safety, shelter food and water. We need to wake — and shake — the world up.
2. Are you optimistic that President Trump’s recent executive order barring Syrian refugees from America can be overturned? And do you think Americans would be more open to accepting just children as a starting place?
The U.S. Fund for UNICEF believes a child in need knows no politics, and we’ll continue to work in a bipartisan fashion with all policymakers to save and improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children. The only side UNICEF is on is the side of children, and our goal continues to be to put children first. Across the globe, Ahmed and nearly 50 million children have been uprooted – 28 million of them driven from their homes by conflicts not of their making, and millions more migrating in the hope of finding a better, safer life. We should not simply see them as refugees or migrants, but as children first.
A few things stood out to me in these answers, which I think Americans would do well to keep front and center as we confront policies that refuse to recognize the number of children affected by wars started and perpetuated by adults.
First, there are 28 million children who are currently displaced because of violence in their home countries. We need to ask ourselves what moral duty we have to them, as an extraordinarily wealthy country with the resources to help.
Second, it is our American tradition to offer help and generosity to those in need. I don’t want to be remembered as part of the generation that acted out of fear, rather than compassion.
Finally, “We should not simply see them as refugees or migrants, but as children first.” These words from Stern are exactly right.
These are kids. They’re suffering and in grave peril. It’s time to step up and insist we’re on they’re side.