Gordon Brown: get Syrian refugee children into school or risk them being radicalised or victimised

Syrian refugee children at camp in Akka, Lebanon

If young Syrian refugees don国产视频檛 get an education, they will run the risk of becoming radicalised or falling into child labour or child marriage.

The warning came today from Gordon Brown, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education 国产视频� as he called for urgent international help to get more refugee children into schools in Lebanon.

Mr Brown told the BBC: 国产视频淯nless you invest in educating children and getting them into school you deprive a whole generation of hope.

国产视频淚t国产视频檚 hope that education gives that you can return to normal, that you can plan for the future, that you can have children who are going to be properly educated for jobs, even if they国产视频檙e in camps or in settlements for 10 years.国产视频�

The education envoy is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week. He called for an emergency fund for education in crisis-hit countries and told delegates that a shortfall in funding meant only 100,000 Syrian children were being educated in Lebanese schools.

Mr Brown told the BBC that only 2% of humanitarian aid is targeted at education 国产视频� and unless that improves it will deprive refugee children of hope.

Gordon Brown meets Lebanon education minister Elias Bou Saab Picture:听Instagram/eliasbousaab

Hundreds of thousands of refugee children have fled the Syrian war with their families into neighbouring countries including Lebanon. Mr Brown said there was a plan in place through the 国产视频済enerosity of the Lebanese government国产视频� to get 500,000 children into existing schools. He said it would cost about $500 per child per year.

Mr Brown said听the danger is that with every month that 听the international community refuses to fund the plan 国产视频渨e have more and more young people who become discontented, disenchanted and of course lose the opportunity to make a contribution through their skills国产视频�.

He added:听国产视频淲e know that if children are on the streets, if they国产视频檙e ignored, if they国产视频檙e neglected there国产视频檚 a danger of child slavery, of child labour, child marriage, child trafficking.

国产视频淭here国产视频檚 also a danger of childElias Bou Saab 国产视频� who meet Mr Brown in London before the Davos summit 国产视频� also told the BBC that if refugee camps were exploited by extremists, the international community would also be 国产视频減aying a price国产视频�. Referring to the killing of innocent people in Paris reently, he said: 国产视频淭hese terrorists, those extremists have no boundaries.国产视频�