In crises, girls’ rights are rarely realised – four ways displacement affects girls
The effects of the crisis in the Middle East are far-reaching and could be permanent if the humanitarian emergency is not addressed. In the midst of crises, the situation of girls is usually the most urgent.
Humanitarian crises affect the well-being of the younger generation in many ways. The violence in Gaza and Lebanon has had a particularly strong impact on children and the women who care for them.
More women and children have died in Gaza in the past year than in any other conflict in two decades, according to a recent analysis by aid agency Oxfam. According to UN Women, 70% of civilian casualties in Gaza are women and children.
In Lebanon, up to one million people are estimated by the authorities to have left their homes and fled to safer areas. As the crisis intensifies, more than 241,000 people have sought refuge across the border in Syria (UNHCR 8.10.2024). A significant proportion of those fleeing are children and women.
The rights of children and refugees are rarely respected. This is especially pronounced for girls. Here are four examples to explain why.
1. Conditions in refugee shelters are challenging
When people are forced to leave their homes in a crisis, girls, along with their families often seek shelter in refugee shelters such as those set up in schools, churches and hospitals. With thousands, tens of thousands and eventually hundreds of thousands of people on the move, the shelters quickly become overcrowded. The rights of girls and other refugees to privacy, clean drinking water, food and hygiene are rarely realised.
2. Health is at risk
In a humanitarian crisis, there is also a sudden shortage of health care.
The sick and wounded may not receive adequate care. In poor conditions, diseases spread and vaccination programmes are not available. Even if a child remains healthy, adult caregivers may become sick, injured or die.
Lack of health care, basic services and privacy affects everyone, but the situation for girls is particularly difficult. For example, menstrual hygiene is difficult without clean water and the risks of infection sharply increase.
Where clean drinking water is available, girls may limit their drinking to avoid frequent visits to dirty and unsafe toilets. Access to hygiene supplies and sanitation in crisis situations are essential for the well-being of girls and women in particular.
3. Increasing risk of violence and abuse
In insecure and protracted crisis situations, girls are more vulnerable to violence and abuse. Girls may be surrounded by fewer trustworthy adults, like as relatives and teachers, who would usually protect them and ensure their rights are respected.
The risk of child marriage also increases if the crisis is prolonged. In some cultures, there are misconceptions that early marriage in insecure situations protects the girl child. Risks increase if contraceptive and sexual counselling services cannot be provided because of the prevailing crisis.
4. Breaks from school affect future opportunities
In crisis situations, training is often disrupted or interrupted. Closing the learning gap is important for well-being, development and further education, as the loss of opportunities also robs children of their faith in the future. School also provides children with routines and psychosocial support in times of instability.
Only a small proportion of girls in Gaza have been able to participate in non-regular school-like activities during the year. The longer the interruption in education, the less likely they are to return to school. In turn, interruptions in education can have a direct impact on future livelihoods.
This is why we must try to keep school interruptions as short as possible in times of crisis.
+1. FCA’s work to help girls in crises in the Middle East
It is clear that many girls living in crisis in the Middle East will carry the consequences of the conflict with them for the rest of their lives. The important thing now is that we do everything we can to help, so that the impact is minimised.
Finn Church Aid is working to help girls in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria who have been displaced by the war.
In Gaza, the work aims to get more children involved in school-related activities and to support them in dealing with their trauma. In Lebanon and Syria, we help displaced families meet their basic needs in refugee shelters.
Text: Merja Färm, Erik Nyström, Ulriikka Myöhänen Photo: ACT network member, DSPR, meets the needs of Gazans by providing medical and psychosocial support 18.1.2024. Photo courtesy of DSPR
More than a million have fled attacks in Lebanon – FCA’s new work helps IDPs in emergency shelters
FCA’s partner organisation, War Child Alliance in Lebanon, has been working in Lebanon for a long time. The joint relief work supports internally displaced people. Photo: War Child Alliance in Lebanon.
Displaced people in Lebanon need food, hygiene supplies and psychosocial support. FCA is working with its partner organisation to help the refugees.
FINN CHURCH AID (FCA) has begun relief work in Lebanon. The work is part of FCA’s new programme to help those affected by the crisis in the Middle East and focuses on supporting those fleeing the war in Lebanon. According to official estimates, more than one million people have already been displaced.
FCA has allocated €80,000 from its Disaster Relief Fund for the work.
“The situation in the Middle East is extremely volatile, and we have watched with horror the impact of the crisis on the civilian population. Families and individuals fleeing danger are often in need of immediate protection and emergency assistance. The situation is particularly difficult for those who are already vulnerable, such as people with disabilities,” said Ikali Karvinen, FCA Deputy Executive Director.
FCA will work with its partner organisation, War Child Alliance in Lebanon. War Child is an international aid organisation that has been working in Lebanon for a long time and is already helping victims of the recently escalated crisis.
“FCA wants to start work quickly and with a reliable partner. This partnership will enable us do that,” says Karvinen.
Families need food and support to deal with trauma
The humanitarian situation in Lebanon has deteriorated significantly since the end of September 2024.
Air strikes and other military operations have forced people to flee, particularly from southern Lebanon, the capital Beirut, the southern parts of the Beqaa Valley and the Baalbek-Hermel region.
Almost 900 reception centres for internally displaced persons have been set up in the country. FCA and War Child will work together to help refugees in the Beqaa Valley and Baalbek-Hermel.
“The aim is to meet the basic needs of the refugees. The work includes food aid, as well as improving hygiene and sanitation in refugee shelters,” says Karvinen.
“People have been in a really traumatic situation. That’s why we also focus on emotional first aid, child protection and psychosocial support,” Karvinen continues.
Currently, FCA is significantly expanding its work to help those affected by the crisis in the Middle East. Already 185,000 people (UNHCR report, 4.10.2024) have fled from Lebanon to neighbouring Syria, where FCA also works to support those newly arrived and in need.
Gaza is one of the most dangerous places in the world to learn and teach – over 400 teachers have died in the war
On 5 October, World Teachers’ Day, our thoughts turn to Gaza, where children and young people living in the midst of war have been deprived of formal education for almost a year. FCA’s new work in Gaza focuses on education and psychosocial support in a difficult humanitarian situation
GAZA is currently one of the most dangerous places in the world for learning and teaching.
“The situation in schools in Gaza is catastrophic and children are severely traumatised. They have not been able to go to school for a whole year, which is particularly important for children in crisis. Schools and professional teachers offer children a routine and a chance to forget about the war, if only for a moment,” says Sabina Bergholm , FCA Country Director.
World Teachers’ Day is celebrated on 5 October to remind people of the importance of the work that teachers do and the importance of investing in their training and working conditions.
In Gaza, teachers do not have the opportunity to work in a safe environment.
Over 10,000 school children and more than 400 teachers and other education professionals have been killed in the Gaza war this year. In addition, more than 16,000 students and 2,400 teachers have been wounded, according to data from the Ministry of Education in Gaza, available via the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) as of 2 October 2024.
Around 625,000 schoolchildren and students in Gaza have no access to formal education. 87% of school buildings have either been destroyed or severely damaged.
In September 2024 alone, 17 air strikes hit Gaza schools. According to OCHA data, 14 schools were occupied by refugees at the time of the attacks. Attacking schools is a violation of international humanitarian law.
“Schools should never be the target of bombing. During the war in Gaza, schools have also been used as shelters for refugees. Attacks on schools have killed and injured a huge number of civilians. When the war ends, it will also be difficult to resume teaching in schools, because either there are no schools or they have been damaged in the war,” said Bergholm.
FCA starts education and psychosocial support work in Gaza
Education in emergencies is at the core of FCA’s work. In the midst of crises and disasters, schooling offers children both the opportunity to continue learning and a sense of security and routine.
Working with partner organisations, the programme will focus on reaching out to traumatised and war-affected children, teachers, and other adults around them.
“A temporary school will be set up in Gaza City to provide a range of after-school activities, support and additional education. Gazan teachers will be involved and will be offered psychosocial support and the opportunity to participate in training on teaching in crisis situations,” said Bergholm.
The project is also significant because students who have been caught up in the war have been without formal education for almost a year. Only a small number of children and young people in Gaza have been able to participate in non-formal school activities during the year.
“Teachers are both facilitators of learning for children and important adults who provide security and support during difficult times in their lives. This is why FCA is investing in supporting and further training teachers in the midst of the crisis. We have seen the positive impact that a competent teacher can have on their students,” says Bergholm.
The war in Gaza has also complicated the situation in the occupied West Bank, where FCA’s volunteer network Teachers Without Borders has continued to support teachers over the past year.
Further information and interview requests:
Country Director Sabina Bergholm, +358 40 669 3930, sabina.bergholm@kua.fi
Photo shows Gazan children attending a lesson in a tent school in the town of Deir-al-Balah in central Gaza on 28 September 2024. Only a small number of Gazan children have been able to participate in a school-like activity in the past year. File photo from Xinhua.
Finn Church Aid is one of 670 organisations from 80 countries to call for an Immediate Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Israel to Prevent a Humanitarian Catastrophe and Further Loss of Innocent Lives.
WE HAVE WITNESSED unfathomable death and destruction in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Thousands of people have been killed, injured, displaced, and nearly two hundred remain held hostage, including children and elderly.
In Gaza, the UN has said that water, food, fuel, medical supplies, and even body bags, are running out due to the siege. The UN warned that people – particularly young children – will soon start dying of severe dehydration. Neighbourhoods have been destroyed and turned into complete rubble. Palestinians in search of safety have nowhere to go. Many of those who relocated from northern Gaza to the south after the relocation order by the Israeli army were reportedly bombed as they attempted to flee or once they arrived in southern Gaza.
The events of the last week have led us to the precipice of a humanitarian catastrophe and the world can no longer wait to act. It is our collective responsibility.
ON SUNDAY, October 15th, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator to the Occupied Palestinian Territory appealed to all parties to the conflict, and to Member States with influence, to urgently agree to a humanitarian ceasefire.
Today, we put our voices together and call on all Heads of State, the UN Security Council, and actors on the ground, to prioritize the preservation of human life above all else. During this ceasefire, we call on all parties to unconditionally:
Facilitate the delivery of lifesaving assistance, including food, medical supplies, fuel, and the resumption of electricity and internet to Gaza, in addition to safe passage of humanitarian and medical staff
Free all civilian hostages, especially children and elderly
Allow humanitarian convoys to reach UN facilities, schools, hospitals, and health facilities in northern Gaza and commit to protecting them along with the civilians and staff inside them at all times
Rescind orders by the Government of Israel for civilians to depart northern Gaza
Allow patients in critical condition to be medically evacuated for urgent care
The UN Security Council, the UN Secretary General and all world leaders with influence must take immediate action to ensure a ceasefire comes into effect. It remains our only option to avert further loss of civilian life and humanitarian catastrophe. Anything less will forever be a stain on our collective conscience.
Civilians are not bargaining chips. Families need a chance to bury and mourn their dead. The cycle of violence against innocent civilians needs to stop.
Join thousands in calling for a #CeasefireNOW in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Sign and share the petition and demand the protection of civilians NOW.
FCA is assessing the start of humanitarian aid work in the Palestinian territories
The decision is based on Egypt’s announcement on Thursday to open the Rafah border crossing point for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
FINN CHURCH AID (FCA) sends a humanitarian emergency aid expert to find out the possibilities of delivering aid in the Palestinian territories. The person appointed by the FCA will start the assessment work in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, where several UN and other aid organizations that are relevant, especially in terms of easing the humanitarian situation in Gaza, operate.
The background of the decision is Egypt’s announcement on Thursday to open the Rafah border crossing point for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“The task of the expert placed in the area is to find out the need for humanitarian aid, the refugee situation and to provide us with information on how we can best and most efficiently help people in need, says FCA’s Deputy Executive Director Ikali Karvinen.
Finn Church Aid is Finland’s largest humanitarian aid organization, which was founded in 1947. We currently operate in 12 countries where the need is greatest. FCA works on the development of the education sector in the West Bank, provides afternoon activities for Palestinian children at risk of exclusion in East Jerusalem, and discussion tools for teenagers in Israel.
FCA volunteers leave West Bank due to security situation – work on right to quality education continues
FCA’s work in the education sector in the West Bank and East Jerusalem also includes organising psychosocial support for children and school staff. PHOTO: FCA
FCA stresses that development cooperation in the Palestinian territories and Israel must continue despite the crisis.
FINNISH VOLUNTEERS for Finn Church Aid (FCA) working in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, were relocated from the area on Tuesday, October 10. The withdrawal is due to the worsening security situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories caused by the recent military escalation, started by Hamas and followed by Israeli military bombardment of Gaza.
FCA had five EAPPI – volunteer human rights observers and three Teachers Without Borders volunteers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The decision to withdraw the volunteers from the area was made together with the Finn Church Aid’s security and management team.
“All of our volunteers are doing well and have told us that they are satisfied with the arrangements made by FCA”, said Sabina Bergholm, head of FCA’s volunteer work.
The work continues and could take new forms
FCA hopes the violence in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel stops immediately. FCA also calls for the implementation of humanitarian law and human rights in the region. Violence against civilians is always wrong, and according to humanitarian law, civilians must be protected, respected and treated humanely in all circumstances.
FCA also highlights the importance of the work in the Palestinian territories and Israel continuing despite the crisis. The consequences of the possible halt to our work would further damage the lives of civilians suffering from the crisis.
FCA’s work in East Jerusalem and the West Bank focuses on supporting quality and inclusive education for all. The work will continue as far as possible, as education and access to learning are important even in crisis situations. School provides routine and support in the lives of children and young people and, in uncertain times, teachers are important, safe adults for learners. FCA’s work in the education sector also includes organising psychosocial support for learners, teachers and other school staff.
“The work of our country programme continues with the strength of our local employees and partner organisations. We will continue our work in the education sector and in these challenging times with a focus especially on psychosocial support,” says Bergholm.
FCA is in constant contact with its local employees and closely monitors the development of the security situation in the area. FCA is also looking into whether the work of volunteer experts, who have left the area, could continue remotely. The Teachers Without Borders network has significant experience with models created during the Covid pandemic, where remote connections proved to be important tools for sustaining valuable collaboration.
How is advocacy best done for financing of education and the SDG goal 4, especially in situations of emergency and conflict? Is good advocacy about gathering evidence and data, and then meeting influential people with fat check-books? Or is it better to be out on the streets, mobilising grass-roots and sharing stories of injustice? When you have a bunch of very feisty civil society campaigners from across the Arab world and Eastern European countries meeting the regional networks in Africa, Asia, and Latin-America in Beirut for a few days, as happened last week, then the answer is a bit of both.
The Arab Campaign for Education for All, together with UNESCO and the Open Society Foundation, had invited representatives of both national coalitions and education ministries of Somalia, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, and Jordan to meet with their colleagues from Albania, Moldova and Georgia, as well as the coordinators from the regional networks and representatives from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), Education International (EI), the Right to Education Initiative (RTE) and others.
For an organisation like FCA, whose work focuses on linking education to earning opportunities for young people and to peace, the question regarding how to best use our advocacy efforts to secure funding are fundamental. FCA works in several of the countries that were present in the meeting. We are closely involved in advocacy for better funding for development at the global level, especially for emergencies and fragile countries. As such, we try to influence decisions taken by national governments and funding initiatives like the ECW and GPE, either as a single agency, or through ACT Alliance, or via the very close relationship we have with INEE.
However, in a conference that is full of activists, a question that rises for FCA and for INEE as well, is how much should we align ourselves with the street-fighters, for whom every struggle is political and ideological? Whose agenda often springs from very strong social movements in Africa and Latin America, closely linked to teacher unions and other left-leaning organisations, and who work hard to mobilise youth through empowerment and inclusion?
Or should we instead focus on the ‘movers and shakers’ in New York and Brussels, the influential people, who can sway large funding streams and direct them the right way to ensure that as many as possible get their fair share of the cake? But who, on the other hand, also sometimes represent governments and organisations that promote their own interest, and for whom international development is just a source of business and of winning elections.
There are similar fundamental questions considering which funding streams we should be looking at and trying to influence. More than 95 % of all funding to education – in time of peace – comes from domestic sources, not from international aid. Perhaps this means that New York is not the right place to do advocacy; that instead we need to dress up in our jeans and hoodies and support local civil society, and demand that local governments use much more of their budget on education (and less on military), and try to push for tax reforms that make multinationals and the rich pay their fair share. In emergencies, this figure of 95 % goes down drastically, as often the government disappears and there are no taxes. People are on the move, and education systems become reliant on coordination from the outside and on international funding streams, directed from New York, Brussels and Geneva. Therefore we must travel to these places, put on our dark suits and enter the corridors of power, to speak on behalf of local civil society and young learners denied an education.
Whatever the approach we choose – and of course it is always a bit of both! – the meeting produced a very strong sense of a shared responsibility for us all to stand up – either in front of influential people or out on the streets – and to demand that financing for education in emergencies must be quick, meaning available to be disbursed immediately; long-term, meaning disbursed predictably over multiple years; flexible and allocated to non-formal as well as formal solutions; equitable, meaning that it should be spread evenly across all emergencies and intended to reach all children; and lastly additional, in order to not displace other aid and support, but instead to be directed to new and necessary evidence based interventions.
The meeting also produced this wonderful poem from one of the participants, outlining the four S’s that must guide all our work:
To build a nation,
You need education
So, governments that care,
Should pay a fair SHARE!
And citizens should always resent
Anything less than 20 percent.
But the budget SIZE
Is the biggest prize;
So, let’s make rich companies face the facts
And force them to pay much more tax.
Then allocate funds with SENSITIVITY
For more equity and creativity
And to make sure that its spent truthfully
Invest in civil society SCRUTINY.
The right to education will materialise
With sensitivity, scrutiny, share and size.
So, the simple message that we should stress is
That education budgets need four S’s.
(copyright David Archer, ActionAid International)
Peter Hyll-Larsen
The writer is seconded by FCA to work as an Advocacy Coordinator for the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), see ineesite.org
In the Palestinian regions, farming is one of the main sources of income for women, and a gateway to education for young people. Before Finn Church Aid’s (FCA) project, the people of Deir Ballout were on the brink of despair.
Cucumbers, okra, tomatoes, pumpkins, onions and plenty of grains. The fields spread out a long way to the left and right of the asphalt road leading to the village of Deir Ballout. A donkey is braying on 48-year-old Ibtisam Musa’s neighbour’s yard. It’s almost 11 AM, and around this time she usually prepares a meal.
”Normally I’m out in the field from 6 to 10 in the morning, and from 5 to 8 in the evening. When it’s this cloudy, though, the scorching sun doesn’t bother me,” shares Musa while doing some weeding.
Deir Ballout is called the bread basket of Salfit Governorate, home to 65,000 people. In addition to the crops, the farmers prepare and sell products such as couscous, honey, olive oil, cheese and za’atar spice blend.
However, the main product is Armenian cucumber, known among the locals as ‘snake cucumber’. According to Musa, everyone knows Deir Ballout for its snake cucumbers, and every year the village holds a festival to honour the plant.
”In the future, we’re also planning on trying to grow medicinal herbs,” says Musa.
For years, the farmers were unable to dream about the future. Before the collaboration with FCA that started in 2015, the villagers were desperate. Wild pigs had spread out in the area, and before long, destroyed crops were threatening to rob the locals of their work and self-sufficiency in food production.
”The wild pigs destroyed almost everything. Many people left their fields in search of other employment,” she says.
Deir Ballout is known as the bread basket of Salfit Governorate. Here, there’s a total of 1,2 km2 of fields, spreading out on each side of the road to the village. Photo Tatu Blomqvist
The ones to suffer firsthand were the women, who are in charge of most of the farming in the Palestinian regions. Musa is a member of a cooperative of 21 people, almost all of whom are women. Her income plummeted from over 7,000 euros a year to about 1,200 euros.
With support from FCA, the villagers solved the problem by building a fence around the fields last summer. The farmers returned, and one year on, the crop has been spared from the wild pigs. Musa’s income is returning to normal. She also praises the project itself for its effect on the community of 5,000 people.
”The building of the fence was carried out as a volunteer project. The success inspires the community to do more volunteer work, and it has increased our productivity”, says Musa.
With her income, Musa has paid for her children’s education. She has two sons and six daughters. Two of her children have graduated as engineers, one as a lawyer, and one as a teacher.
Musa has worked hard for her children’s education and earned the nickname “iron lady” from the other villagers.
”Our children are highly educated. Deir Ballout has produced doctors, ambassadors and members of parliament, working both here and abroad. It’s all thanks to our perseverance.”
Text: Erik Nyström, Photos: Tatu Blomqvist
Finn Church Aid has helped the village of Deir Ballout to build a fence. Thanks to the fence, the farmers’ income is returning to normal. Photo: Tatu Blomqvist
