#YouPromised: campaigners won’t stop until every Syrian refugee child is in school

Campaigners are keeping up the pressure on world leaders to stick to their historic聽promise to deliver education to聽every Syrian refugee child in聽this聽school year.

With the heads of the聽G7 countries preparing to meet in May, much has been achieved since that dramatic聽pledge was made a year ago.聽About half of Syrian refugee children in the neighbouring聽countries of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan are now in school.聽

But with the end of the 2016-17 school year only a few months away, close to one million children are still being deprived of an education.

“The job is only half-done,” warned Priti Patel, the United Kingdom’s聽International Development Secretary. “It is now critical that donors deliver on their long-term funding pledges.”

Some countries have made good on the promise that was聽announced at the Supporting Syria and the Region conference聽in February 2016. The talks were co-hosted in London聽by the UK, Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the United Nations and involved more than 60 donors.

In fact, the UK, United States, Germany and the European Union have all delivered more money than they initially pledged and the conference has聽raised more than $12 billion in funding for 2016 and beyond.

But, a year on, only half of the $1.4 billion needed for education has come through.

国产视频 has been campaigning for months for the international community to ensure all Syrian refugee children are in school, where they can learn and be safe from the risks of child labour, early marriage and exploitation.

Our #YouPromised campaign encouraged supporters to send messages to the conference co-hosts that they cannot let down those children still out of school.

“One year ago, a promise was made to 1.6 million Syrian refugee children –聽a promise that their futures wouldn国产视频檛 be abandoned. An education. And the money to make it happen,” Mary Todd wrote on the Facebook page of the German foreign ministry. “We know you agree that a promise like this to children is the kind of promise you don国产视频檛 break.”

That was just one example of hundreds of messages shared on social media. On Norway’s foreign ministry Facebook page,聽Kenfack Foleng Alex wrote: “Education is the key to sustainable development that can change the world.聽So make it a duty聽to respect your promises.”

And Linda Hurrell told Kuwait’s foreign ministry: “The promises to the children of Syria are of the utmost importance. How will they be met? We need to know you can and will do this.”

What happens next?

We need to keep up the pressure on international leaders who will be at the G7 meeting in Sicily, Italy, on May 26 and 27. It will be the first G7 talks聽for the new leaders of the USA, UK, Canada and France. The other members are Germany, Italy and the EU.

Send a message to those leaders using the action button above.

Before the G7 meeting, the EU will host a conference in April on the future of Syria and the region.聽

A major objective of the talks in Brussels will be taking stock of how the commitments made at last year’s London conference have been delivered to the people who need them – including Syrian refugee children.

What has actually聽been delivered on education?

国产视频 tried for many weeks to find out what has happened to the $1.4 billion needed to provide education to聽every Syrian refugee child in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

Our investigation in January聽uncovered the lack of a clear and coherent overview聽of how the education聽pledge is progressing. We found that less than a third of the $1.4 billion funding needed for education was committed in 2016.

A statement by the London conference co-hosts聽was then issued on February 6 – the anniversary of the pledge. It said achievements on education so far included:

• JORDAN聽– an extra聽23,000 Syrian children enrolled in education for the 2016-17 school year, taking聽the total to an estimated 166,000
• LEBANON聽–聽“huge progress” in getting refugee children into public schools. 203,000 now enrolled, compared to聽150,000 in 2015-16
• TURKEY聽–聽nearly 500,000 Syrians enrolled in school聽and 18,000 Syrian volunteer teachers trained

The co-hosts also released聽a report that day that聽broke down the grant聽contributions by sector, including聽education. It said $14.7 million had gone to Turkey, $302聽million to Jordan and $198 million to Lebanon.聽

That total leaves a shortfall of $1 billion.聽

Who has paid what so far?

The 2016聽London conference has raised $12 billion in grants and $40 billion in loans for the region.聽

As already mentioned, the UK, the US, Germany and the EU have聽all delivered more than they pledged last year.聽

The UK, Germany, the EU and Norway have also made considerable promises of long-term funding – 60% of the total pledges of humanitarian aid up to 2020 come from the EU, the UK and Germany.

But less聽than half of the promises for 2017 to 2020 have been honoured – and only 31% of the loans聽have been delivered.聽

Notable names on the list include China, which promised $35 million but has delivered only $3 million, and Saudi Arabia, which pledged $200 million and so far has聽paid $28 million.

Who is saying what now?

The UK’s Priti Patel warned: “The protracted crisis in Syria is the defining humanitarian challenge of our time and history will judge us if the international community does not deliver on the support Syrian refugees and the region needs.”

Gordon Brown, the UN Special Envoy for Global Education,聽told an inquiry at the British parliament: 国产视频淲e have to ask what kind of world it is when we do least for those children who are most vulnerable and most in need国产视频he girls and boys out of sight, out of mind, out of school and out of hope.”

The UN聽itself has asked for $3.5 billion over two years to improve education and living standards for the 2.8聽million Syrian refugees living in Turkey. A spokesman for the UN refugees agency UNHCR said until recently Turkey had been the lowest-funded of the host communities.

The UN said:聽“Many families have resorted to negative coping mechanisms, such as child marriage, polygamy, child labour, reduced quality or quantity of food consumption, substandard housing聽and street begging.”