Impact of Refugee Experience on Unaccompanied Minor Refugees

Executive summary:

The document of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights clearly paid attention to the segment of unaccompanied minors and detailed their rights due to the host countries, especially regarding securing global protection, securing their basic needs and protecting them from exploitation. Many international, humanitarian and human rights organizations have also given special attention to this segment. As it is one of the most psychologically fragile segments affected by the repercussions of war and refuge, and the most vulnerable during its hard labor to its destination.

For the situation of unaccompanied Syrian minors in Turkey, official information and statistics are absent. The situation of unaccompanied Syrian children who are covered by the provisional protection clause and whose registration is supervised by the General Directorate of Migration differs from the situation of unaccompanied children of other nationalities who are in Turkey whose registration processes are supervised by international organizations.

The temporary protection system is missing any details of this segment, which makes it in a weak position, and may deprive it of obtaining valid legal documents; Consequently, this segment may have been deprived of its rights to education and health insurance, or to benefit from other services such as Turkish language education services, vocational training, or even financial support.

This study attempts to identify the reality of this segment (the segment of unaccompanied minors residing in youth hostels) since years their presence in Turkey, where 12% of this research sample is under the age of 18, while the majority of the research sample of this segment has become legal adults, The results indicated that the year 2015 constituted the peak year for the arrival of minor refugee waves to Turkey, with a rate of 31%, followed by the years 2016, 2014 and 2020.

Most of this segment, 57%, came to Turkey due to the poor living and economic situation in Syria, and a desire to obtain a job opportunity to secure income for this segment and its families primarily, and then to evade compulsory military service and find safety, and then settle down to escape the battles and military operations in Syria, then to travel to Europe or for treatment.

Most of this segment arrived at the age of over 12 years; As the largest proportion of them were aged 15, 16, and 17 years, which means that they spent their teenage years without their families and in an environment that differed culturally and socially from the environment from which they came, and without any supervision or direction.

The results of the questionnaire indicate that 84% of them are still single young people; 5% are married, but their families are in another place, and 11% answered “other”, which may mean the existence of a relationship that has not been formalized, and 22% of this segment received only primary education, while 44% of them obtained education middle school, and 29% have secondary education. On the other hand, 47% of this segment speaks the Turkish language well, while another 36% are still at an average level.

On the health status, the results of the questionnaire indicate that 85% of this segment does not suffer from any health problems, except some minor diseases, while the rest suffer from war injuries by 8%, movement disabilities by 3%, and genetic diseases by 4%; Consequently, about 16% of them need health care and medicine permanently, and 18% intermittently.

Also, the results of the questionnaire indicate that 96% of the surveyed segment joined the labor market, including 44% of this segment working continuously since its arrival, and 52% working intermittently, while this segment working mainly in the fashion sector, followed by industrial workshops and workshops Carpentry, then building and construction, then in the restaurants and bakeries sector, then in companies and shops with a percentage of 4%.

On work conditions, the results of the questionnaire indicate that only 3% work for 8 hours, while 88% of the respondents work between 9-12 hours, while 9% work more than 12 hours. With long working conditions, salaries seem very low; More than 70% of this segment receives salaries below the minimum wage, while 24% of them receive salaries ranging between 2500-3500 Turkish liras per month, and only 6% receive salaries above 3500 Turkish liras.

On the other hand, 92% of this segment works informally; Among them, 80% of this segment has a legal residency status that allows it to obtain an official work permit, and 89% of the respondents contribute to financial aid that they send to their families in Syria on a regular or intermittent, which means that this segment lives with very low economic potential given their salaries And what they cut out of it to help their families.

The results of the questionnaire indicate that one-third of the surveyed segment believes that its commitment to obligatory religious duties such as prayer and Friday prayers and that its commitment to the teachings of religion has generally declined in comparison with the period before it arrived in Turkey, and that 35-40% of this segment has acquired bad habits, and 34% of respondents have declined Their relationship with their families and the rates of communication between them decreased to a large extent.

The results of the questionnaire show a significant decline in the psychological status of this segment – according to the self-evaluation of this segment – by 73% among the respondents and a decrease in hope for improvement in conditions in the future by 45% of the respondents. However, this experience, despite its harshness, raised the degree of self-confidence among 38% of this segment; Facing the harsh conditions of life and the new environment forced them to rely on themselves, especially with the absence of families.

This segment was obligated to live in youth hostels, which was not considered a healthy environment that mitigated the effects of the new community and environment; Rather, it was an environment that encouraged deviation and the acquisition of bad habits, which weakened the ability of this segment to resist negative changes; This is due to the absence of the previous establishment, the absence of the role of the family and the community, and the absence of sufficient alternative activities that targeted these groups and provided them with the support they needed.

The paper made a set of recommendations that would highlight some of the gaps in the prevailing dealing with this segment, especially since the possibility of new batches of refugees entering by <smuggling> Translator. across borders, if observed any increase in violent levels and military operations or continued security or economic instability in northern Syria <liberated areas> Translator.

Recommendations:

From the above, as a result, can be said that the experience of asylum for unaccompanied minors in Turkey was a harsh experience as in other countries, but it was different in many aspects from the experience of asylum in Europe; The minors relied on themselves in literally a new community without helping of the Turkish government or from whether both Syrian or Turkish NGO and faced the difficulties of life alone and entered the labor market early without any legal protection, which exposed them to exploitation and sometimes dangerous circumstances.

The hostel’s environment that this segment has not been suitable was not a suitable environment for its natural growth at this critical age, and therefore it was greatly affected in terms of religious, moral and behavioral aspects.

In an attempt to help this segment and alleviate the difficult circumstances it is experiencing, this report made a set of recommendations:

1- Reconsidering the legal status of this segment in Turkey, and developing some regulations and laws that would benefit from the previous experience and some of the loopholes in it to protect this segment from exploitation, especially since the waves of asylum and cross-border smuggling are still and continuing to increase with the renewal of military operations in regions of northern Syria.

2- Supporting the regions of northern Syria under the supervision of the Turkish government, and enhancing their economic, administrative and security stability in partnership with donors and international organizations, thus mitigating the reasons that could push families to send their young adults to Turkey or Europe.

3- Attention to supporting the educational process in the liberated areas, and developing plans to accommodate all segments, reduce dropout rates and raise the efficiency of the educational process; to encourage children, adolescents and young adults to complete their education in their countries instead of thinking about leaving them.

4- Establishment of special youth hostels to receive minors under the supervision of some organizations or associations that provide accommodation and food services required at subsidized prices, in addition to some orientation activities that help these youths understand the nature of the society to which they have moved.

5- Encouraging Syrian and Turkish organizations to target this segment with entertainment, awareness, religion, guidance and skill programs and activities that help them develop their expertise and develop their skills.

6- Providing psychological support projects for this segment, in an attempt to alleviate the psychological effects of the refugee experience, the absence of a supportive family and the difficult working conditions.

7- Providing vocational training that helps this segment to obtain experiences and professions in the Turkish labor market.

8- Providing higher education scholarships for flexible university studies via the Internet, which helps this segment to complete its university education.

9- Establishing legal consultancy offices that help in solving the legal problems of young people and resolution their status.

10- Conducting more detailed studies that track and absorb the social, psychological and intellectual shifts that have occurred in this segment and provide detailed suggestions on how to deal with negative shifts and promote positive.

11- observing the efforts presented to this segment, whether by the Turkish government or by Syrian and Turkish civil society organizations, and developing them in terms of legal, financial, and psychological needs, both quantitatively and qualitatively.