Conflicts and Displacements in Syria: Exploring Life Trajectories of Separated Refugee Minors

This paper explores how unaccompanied refugee children from Syria made their way to destination countries and how they become unaccompanied and the consequences of being unaccompanied. This paper is based on interviews with Syrian child refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, and aid workers of international organizations who provide support with child refugees. The long-standing conflict has caused Syrian children to suffer immensely, both physically and psychologically. Data show that majority of the children became conflict orphan and left Syria. Some reported that they became separated or unaccompanied from their parents or relatives while crossing the border in the mass exodus. Some parents were arrested and killed in Syria by both the government and combatants. Some children were left alone by their relatives on the border in order to avoid violence in Syria, and some were smuggled into the destinations countries.