A global organization warns: An alarming increase in suicides among Syrian children

Writer Bill Tru said, in a report published in the British newspaper “The Independent”, that the “Save the Children” organization recorded an increase in the number of children who attempted suicide or actually committed suicide in northwest Syria, with a rate of one child out of every 5 recorded cases under the age of 18.

The international charitable organization warned of a mental health crisis that would seriously affect children. She said that the total number of suicides in the region jumped by 90% at the end of 2020 compared to the same period the previous year. The organization also recorded 246 suicides and 1,748 suicide attempts in the last three months of 2020.

Among those who attempted suicide, at least 42 children, aged 15 years or younger, and 18% of adolescents and youth between the ages of 16 and 20 years. Last week, Save the Children partners announced the latest suicide case of a 14-year-old boy from a camp for the displaced in Hama.

This is a modal window.

We are facing an unexpected issue, check and try again shortly

Error code: MEDIA_ERR_UNKNOWN Session ID: 2021-05-03: 1829ee271595a868b1c00a7 Trigger object ID: vjs_video_3

Human rights organizations condemned the difficult conditions that children live in in the war-torn region, including poverty, lack of job opportunities, education, domestic violence and minor marriage, and considered them the main factor that led to the sharp increase in suicide attempts.

Majd, a mental health specialist from the “Horace Network” organization affiliated with Save the Children in northern Idlib, said that about 15% of adult patients have suicidal thoughts, while children express their “emotional struggles” through their aggressive behavior, tendency to isolation, or even Revenge.

“The situation is very worrying, after 10 years of conflict, we see children resorting to suicide. It is very sad that children reach a point where they see no other way out of their lives that they cannot.” In it, the enjoyment of their most basic rights, such as education, adequate food, or adequate shelter. “

Syria continues to suffer from the effects of a devastating conflict that has lasted for more than a decade. The country’s last opposition enclave in the northwest has been the hardest hit, with many struggling to secure basic needs such as food and medicine.

About 3 million displaced people live in that region and in other parts of Syria, 1.6 million of whom live in overcrowded camps and in unsanitary conditions.