A/HRC/43/CRP.6 69. Starting in 2012, displacement figures rose dramatically and have remained at extremely high levels throughout the war.44 From those displaced inside Syria, an estimated 2.6 million are children.45 Approximately 2.5 million girls and boys are living as refugees. Accordingly, the protection and assistance concerns of children remain precarious throughout Syria, in particular when relocated to settlements where access to basic services is limited, non-existent or restricted by parties to the conflict. In the first half of 2018 alone, more than one million Syrian men, women and children were displaced when warring parties carried out battles in Aleppo, northern Homs, Damascus, Rif Damascus, Dar’a and Idlib Governorates.46 In March 2019, at the peak of the United States-led coalition’s support for SDF’s operation to oust ISIL, the destruction of towns and villages in and around Hajin city and Baghouz town in Dayr al-Zawr Governorate led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people. The displaced, who were predominantly women and children with familial links to ISIL, ended up living in displacement camps, including al-Hol in Hasakah Governorate.47 In Idlib governorate, escalating battles, forced up to 600,000 women, men and children to seek refuge in communities in Idlib, western Aleppo, and Hama Governorates.48 Lastly, in late 2019, approximately 80,000 children were displaced due to fighting in Northeast Syria. 70. Violations were particularly widespread in large camp settings where prolonged displacement is prevalent, including in al-Hol, Ain-Issa,49 al-Roj, Atma and Rukban camps. Adolescent girls were disproportionally affected by sexual and gender-based violence, child marriage and exploitation. Often left without a guardian, children suffered from malnutrition, war-related injuries, and preventable diseases caused from the lack of medical care and medicine. 71. Children’s access to education has been blatantly denied by parties to the conflict. In addition to schools being repeatedly damaged and destroyed, education facilities have been used for military purposes, including as depots, barracks or launching sites. In conflictimpacted areas, even where schools still operate, parents were compelled to keep children at home, fearing for their safety. Qualified teachers have been killed or have fled many areas of the country, curricula have been modified, and, even in situations where a child has managed to finish steps in their formal education, authorities often do not recognise educational certificates issued by others. 72. To date more than 2.1 million girls and boys within Syria have ceased to attend school on a regular basis. When children do attend formal education, issues of overcrowding are significant with the Commission receiving reports that some classes comprise 120 children. In al-Hol camp for example, access to education remains insufficient, with 26,000 children out of school. These children had missed years of education prior to their displacement. In Rukban, scores of children have missed classes for the past five years, with many are reportedly illiterate. 73. With medical facilities repeatedly damaged countrywide and regularly put out of service, children’s access to healthcare has been severely undermined. Most acutely, the complete breakdown of health services in many areas has affected prenatal and postnatal care for women and their children, which, combined with poor water and sanitary services as well as the absence of routine vaccinations, resulted in numerous cases of preventable deaths. In camp settings, health conditions remain deplorable with food, medicine and other life-saving supplies scarce or no longer available. For example, in the “annexed” section inside al-Hol 44 45 46 47 48 49 Peaks of displacement have been reached during 2013 as well as 2017 with up to 3.5 million and 2.9 million new displacements per year respectively. See https://www.unicef.org/mena/media/4086/file/SYR-FastFActs-En.pdf.pdf Towards the end of 2018, 1.6 million new displacements have been registered in Syria. Thousands of other civilians were forcibly displaced pursuant to “evacuation agreements” negotiated between warring parties. See therefore also https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoISyria/PolicyPaperSieges_29May2018.p df at page 6. See A/HRC/42/55, para. 83 See https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/nw_update_sitrep_9-_final.pdf Renewed hostilities in the northeast in October 2019 led to reports that the camp was abandoned. At the time of writing, the Commission was in the process of obtaining additional details regarding the events. 17