The Early Childhood Peace Consortium(ECPC) launched a Global Call for Urgent Action and
support to protect Children and Families affected by the recent Earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria,
calling on the International Community to reaffirm its commitment to Human Rights and the Rights
of every child as stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child...
Click here for the appeal and here for the interactive brochure
With Warm Wishes,
Rima
The ECPC Calls for Urgent Action and Support to Protect Children and Families Affected by the Recent Earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria
We reaffirm our commitments to Human Rights and the Rights of every Child as stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and in SDG 16. Let us put those commitments into action with our humanitarian response to the disaster in Türkiye and Syria and uphold the Principles of Justice and equity for all.
THE SITUATION
The world is witnessing an alarming disaster in Türkiye and Syria, following two powerful earthquakes that struck the region on February 6, followed by more than 6,000 aftershocks that devastated 11 Turkish provinces, including cities Adana, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Malatya, and Sanliurfa. 1, 2 In north-west Syria, the Lattakia Governorates and cities Aleppo, Hama, and Idleb were severely damaged.3 As of March 5th, the combined death toll in Türkiye and Syria is reported to have exceeded 50,000 people.4 Recent appeals issued by UNICEF report that at least 9.1 million people in Türkiye are left in need including 2.5 million children, and in Syria at least 5.4 million people are in need including 2.6 million children.5, 6
Homes have been reduced to rubble, leaving millions homeless. Families are separated, suffering without access to basic life necessities—water, food, electricity, health care, and education. Highly contagious diseases such as cholera due to lack of sanitation are also emerging, compounding the suffering. Among Syrians affected, many have already experienced significant trauma, inequities, and injustices given the ongoing war.
IMPACT ON THE MOST VULNERABLE CHILDREN
In crises like this, children suffer first and foremost. They are the most vulnerable and have urgent health and developmental needs that go unmet. In addition to being exposed to violence, many children are experiencing loss or separation from their caregivers as well as the loss of their support systems, including health, welfare, and educational services.
Growing evidence from a range of crises around the world demonstrates that early childhood development (ECD) programming has the potential to mitigate these negative consequences.7 For babies and young children in humanitarian and fragile settings, access to ECD services is thus a matter of life and death. Supporting them and their caregivers is essential to ending preventable newborn and under-five deaths and fostering healthy brain development.8 It is also a key part of helping communities and countries recover from crises by breaking cycles of poverty and violence and building more peaceful and resilient societies.
The Early Childhood Peace Consortium (ECPC) is calling for timely and decisive global action and support, innovatively designed for sustainable solutions to prevent this tragedy from becoming a long-term crisis for affected children in Türkiye and Syria. Children and young people affected by crises need concrete action to protect and promote their rights. This is reaffirmed by SDG target 4.2; by 2030, UN Member States shall ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality ECD, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.10
We urge for greater investment in support of a coordinated response that will meet the unprecedented needs of this growing crisis, before it is too late. We urge donors to prioritize funding to safeguard the development and well-being of crisis-affected young children by providing for their critical needs, including:safe shelter
nutrition and health
mental health and psychosocial support
safe water and sanitation
protection from human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and gender discrimination
early learning, and early childhood development without discrimination.11
Global support efforts must be impartial and lasting. Every child is equally deserving of concern, dignity, safety, and support no matter their background or circumstances—whoever they are, wherever they are.
We reaffirm our commitments to Human Rights (link is external) and the Rights of every Child as stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (link is external) and in SDG 16.12 Let us put those commitments into action with our humanitarian response to the disaster in Türkiye and Syria and uphold the Principles of Justice and equity for all. The time—is now.
support to protect Children and Families affected by the recent Earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria,
calling on the International Community to reaffirm its commitment to Human Rights and the Rights
of every child as stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child...
Click here for the appeal and here for the interactive brochure
With Warm Wishes,
Rima
The ECPC Calls for Urgent Action and Support to Protect Children and Families Affected by the Recent Earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria
We reaffirm our commitments to Human Rights and the Rights of every Child as stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and in SDG 16. Let us put those commitments into action with our humanitarian response to the disaster in Türkiye and Syria and uphold the Principles of Justice and equity for all.
THE SITUATION
The world is witnessing an alarming disaster in Türkiye and Syria, following two powerful earthquakes that struck the region on February 6, followed by more than 6,000 aftershocks that devastated 11 Turkish provinces, including cities Adana, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Malatya, and Sanliurfa. 1, 2 In north-west Syria, the Lattakia Governorates and cities Aleppo, Hama, and Idleb were severely damaged.3 As of March 5th, the combined death toll in Türkiye and Syria is reported to have exceeded 50,000 people.4 Recent appeals issued by UNICEF report that at least 9.1 million people in Türkiye are left in need including 2.5 million children, and in Syria at least 5.4 million people are in need including 2.6 million children.5, 6
Homes have been reduced to rubble, leaving millions homeless. Families are separated, suffering without access to basic life necessities—water, food, electricity, health care, and education. Highly contagious diseases such as cholera due to lack of sanitation are also emerging, compounding the suffering. Among Syrians affected, many have already experienced significant trauma, inequities, and injustices given the ongoing war.
IMPACT ON THE MOST VULNERABLE CHILDREN
In crises like this, children suffer first and foremost. They are the most vulnerable and have urgent health and developmental needs that go unmet. In addition to being exposed to violence, many children are experiencing loss or separation from their caregivers as well as the loss of their support systems, including health, welfare, and educational services.
Children are especially vulnerable to the negative impacts of disaster and crises in the early years of life when the brain undergoes its most rapid period of development. In this critical period, children with prolonged exposure to extreme stress and deprivation without adequate support can succomb to “toxic stress (link is external), which can have long term implications for their physical cognitive, behavioral, and psychosocial development.
All these impacts are disproportionately felt among children from marginalized groups—refugees, young girls and women, children with disabilities, low-income families, and children and youth living without parents or in rural areas already without adequate services.
This is a major threat to children’s lives and to their long-term health and development, the impacts of which will be felt for generations by families and their communities and countries.
THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
All these impacts are disproportionately felt among children from marginalized groups—refugees, young girls and women, children with disabilities, low-income families, and children and youth living without parents or in rural areas already without adequate services.
This is a major threat to children’s lives and to their long-term health and development, the impacts of which will be felt for generations by families and their communities and countries.
THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
Growing evidence from a range of crises around the world demonstrates that early childhood development (ECD) programming has the potential to mitigate these negative consequences.7 For babies and young children in humanitarian and fragile settings, access to ECD services is thus a matter of life and death. Supporting them and their caregivers is essential to ending preventable newborn and under-five deaths and fostering healthy brain development.8 It is also a key part of helping communities and countries recover from crises by breaking cycles of poverty and violence and building more peaceful and resilient societies.
ECD also fosters conditions necessary for long-term peace and stability and is critical in supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Nurturing Care (link is external) is a multi-sectoral approach for ECD that ensures health, nutrition, safety, responsive caregiving, and early learning. In regions of conflict and crises, ECD services can help build social cohesion and unite parents from disparate groups around the common goal of child welfare.9 In a time of recurring violent conflict and societal shocks, it is vital to invest in long-term solutions that will end cycles of violence, build strong foundations for sustainable development, and promote a Culture of Peace.
CALL FOR TIMELY AND DECISIVE GLOBAL ACTION AND SUPPORT
CALL FOR TIMELY AND DECISIVE GLOBAL ACTION AND SUPPORT
The Early Childhood Peace Consortium (ECPC) is calling for timely and decisive global action and support, innovatively designed for sustainable solutions to prevent this tragedy from becoming a long-term crisis for affected children in Türkiye and Syria. Children and young people affected by crises need concrete action to protect and promote their rights. This is reaffirmed by SDG target 4.2; by 2030, UN Member States shall ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality ECD, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.10
We urge for greater investment in support of a coordinated response that will meet the unprecedented needs of this growing crisis, before it is too late. We urge donors to prioritize funding to safeguard the development and well-being of crisis-affected young children by providing for their critical needs, including:safe shelter
nutrition and health
mental health and psychosocial support
safe water and sanitation
protection from human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and gender discrimination
early learning, and early childhood development without discrimination.11
Global support efforts must be impartial and lasting. Every child is equally deserving of concern, dignity, safety, and support no matter their background or circumstances—whoever they are, wherever they are.
We reaffirm our commitments to Human Rights (link is external) and the Rights of every Child as stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (link is external) and in SDG 16.12 Let us put those commitments into action with our humanitarian response to the disaster in Türkiye and Syria and uphold the Principles of Justice and equity for all. The time—is now.
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