zeinah, age 4, originally of damascus, syria
inside the zaatari refugee camp 04.05.16 12:12 pm

since the syrian conflict erupted over 5 years ago approximately half of the country's pre-war population of 22 million has been killed or forced to flee their homes. more than 3.2 million individuals have sought refuge in neighboring countries, including lebanon, iraq, turkey, and jordan. approximately 650,000 syrians are currently in jordan and 100,000 of those call zaatari home. the remaining 85%, and great majority, are struggling to survive in what are widely know as "random camps" many of which are scattered throughout towns, villages and barren land. like those in zaatari, they have no legal right to work and little access to education, healthcare, water, electricity or social services.

while much of the world has grown tired of hearing about the syrian crisis it does not change the fact that conflict and violence in syria has unleashed one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history, uprooting over 11 million people.

like zeinah, pictured here, approximately 3.7 million syrian children – 1 in 3 of all syrian children – has been born since the conflict began five years ago, their lives shaped by violence, fear and displacement. according to UNICEF, this figure includes more than 151,000 children born as refugees since 2011.

in total, estimates assert that some 8.4 million children – more than 80 percent of syria’s child population – are now affected by the conflict, either inside the country or as refugees in neighboring countries.

as war rages on and as they are neither wholly welcomed abroad nor able to return home the future of millions of syrians remains an uncertain one.