Through Their Eyes: Children and Youth from Syria and Iraq reflect on Migration
By Shayan Nuradeen
Why would 136 million people around the world leave their homes, belongings, and loved ones—often risking their lives?
“Nobody leaves his/her country for no reason.” That is what young Ali, 15, a Syrian refugee in Jordan, said.
According to UNHCR, there are currently 136 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, including refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people. Of these, 42.5 million are refugees, 40% of whom are children. Syria is among the top three countries with the highest number of refugees in the world. Behind these numbers are real stories of children, families, and communities—among them Ali and his peers from Syria and Iraq.
Ali was among eight children and youth participants in a session run by World Vision Middle East and Eastern Europe, World Vision Syria Response, and World Vision Iraq ahead of the International Migration Review (IMRF) 2026, that will be taking place this May in New York. Through this session, children and youth voiced their feelings and opinions about what migration means to them, how it impacts them, what can be done to support them in having a better and smoother experience, and what they would wish world leaders to hear.
Migration—what does it truly mean? What might a child feel when forced to move to a new place?
Most children echoed Ali’s strong statement. Indeed, nobody would want to leave their country and loved ones behind to go to a place where new beginnings are often characterised by difficulties in adaptation, language barriers, and differences in culture, food, and traditions. Ali added, “The first thing when one migrates is that he is scared.” At the same time, Mohammed, 14, reflected on what Ali had said and added, “Migration affects children a lot because they need to adapt to a new environment. A child will face linguistic and cultural difficulties; that is why children need support and encouragement to express their feelings and be provided with supportive environments in schools and societies.”
Yet, despite all these difficulties, migration is often a matter of survival and necessity. For children and youth in Syria, it means escaping conflict, years of civil war, and economic hardship. As of June 2025, Jordan continues to host a significant number of Syrian refugees, with over 586,000 individuals officially registered. However, the total Syrian population in the country is estimated to exceed 1.3 million, suggesting that many remain unregistered and may face challenges in accessing essential services and support. Nearly half of this population are children, underscoring the scale of need for education, protection, and child-focused assistance. This highlights the importance of sustained, long-term support to ensure that a generation growing up in displacement is not left behind.
For young Mohammed, 17, despite all the challenges of migration, it has become a safe haven away from conflict. “When I hear the word Migration it affects me because I went through it. Migration takes away from me my stability and separates me from loved ones, relatives, and friends.” Mohammed continued, “But migration is still a way to be in a more secure place. When we migrated from Syria, our migration was not for one reason, but for several reasons. First of all, the streets had become very unsafe for us, and we heard the sound of guns. What makes one feel comfortable after migration is that he/she is out of a place that was (once) a nightmare for him/her. When we arrived in Jordan, it was a slightly different feeling. I felt safe and comfortable because Jordan was a safe place. In my country we already had several civil wars.”
While for Syrian children migration is often about survival, for children in Iraq it carries another meaning. For children in Iraq, migration often represents the hope for better living standards, education, and employment opportunities.
Abrar, 16, has never had to leave her country, but she reflects deeply on the challenges many young people face in Iraq, such as limited access to higher education. Many students achieve very high exam scores, yet universities—especially in competitive fields like medicine and engineering—have limited seats. As a result, even high-achieving students cannot enter the programmes they want, as admission depends on very small differences in scores. For Abrar, migration means securing a better future. Abrar said, “The word migration means to migrate to secure our futures. To migrate from one country to the other to secure our futures and study. It will be difficult for us in the beginning, but later we will get used to the values and the traditions of this country and we continue.”
This reflects a broader structural challenge, where high achievement does not necessarily translate into opportunity, pushing many young people to consider migration as their only viable path forward.
As of early 2026, Iraq’s unemployment rate stands at about 15.5%, with more than one million people out of work. Youth and women are particularly affected, with youth unemployment estimated at around 20%. Although infrastructure projects are underway to support the non-oil economy, job creation continues to lag behind the expanding labour force.
How climate change affects children’s lives and causes them to move
According to a study by the World Vision Middle East and Eastern Europe Office, children across Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Jerusalem–West Bank are experiencing significant emotional distress linked to extreme weather conditions. Conducted between May and June 2023, the study engaged children aged 8–17 and young people aged 18–24, capturing their lived experiences and perceptions of climate change.
The findings show that climate change is deepening existing challenges across multiple areas of life. It is disrupting access to quality education, limiting economic opportunities, and intensifying environmental pressures such as water scarcity, extreme heat, and food insecurity. These impacts are not isolated—they are interconnected, affecting children’s daily lives through reduced school access, strained household incomes, and the need to adapt to worsening environmental conditions, including travelling long distances to access water or coping with declining crop quality. At the same time, children and young people are experiencing increasing psychological distress, including anxiety, fear, and a sense of uncertainty about their future.
The study also highlights that these challenges disproportionately affect women and girls. Across all contexts, girls face higher risks of early marriage, barriers to education, and exposure to physical and emotional violence, often linked to resource scarcity such as water and food. Women and girls are also more likely to experience limited access to employment and economic opportunities, further compounding existing inequalities.
For Yar, 10, from Iraq, the seriousness of these impacts is already clear. She shared, “So like the weather is very important to be normal, but the earthquake, flood and fire might come and these are very dangerous for children. So they might have to move to different countries and they would have to learn new things. And some people might die in this condition and a lot of bad things might happen. So if bad thing happens, we might all die.”
Even if children have not migrated themselves, they still feel the effects of migration through the experiences of their relatives and loved ones
For many children and young people who did not migrate themselves, or who experienced migration indirectly through their relatives, the impact was still deeply felt. Separation from loved ones and the challenges faced by migrating family members shaped their emotional experience even before any physical move, through the early experience of relatives relocating to new places.
For young Abrar, this separation from relatives who moved to Turkey was especially difficult. She shared, “They faced great difficulties but with time they adapted. They faced great difficulties because of language and accent differences. They didn’t learn (language) fast. There were differences in food. And product prices were higher there than in Iraq.”
Not only do children feel their relatives’ struggles from a distance, but when an immediate family member migrates abroad, the impact can be even more profound. For young Mahmoud, his father moved to Turkey when he was younger in search of work to support the family. Mahmoud felt the absence of his father strongly, experiencing a sense of instability and emotional loss, as though there was no one to stand beside him, guide him, or provide support. Mahmoud said, “I remember when my dad travelled to Turkey to look for for a job for better life opportunities. I didn’t like it. It was like no one is there to support us. I needed to have my father by my side to help me, to motivate me, and to stand by me. But with time and when he had returned, I felt complete confidence to have all my family together in the same house. But when they are away, I feel broken, I talk less, and I become introverted.”
For Mahmoud, his mother played a vital role in filling this gap. He expressed gratitude for her constant support, as she helped him with his homework, stood by him emotionally, and tried to reduce the impact of his father’s absence. Similarly, Ammar, 15, shared a strong bond with his uncle, who was a key source of support in his life. However, his uncle also had to leave for Turkey in search of work, and his absence was deeply felt despite the presence of Ammar’s parents. Ammar said, “I was very sad then when he left to Turkey. He stayed for two years in Turkey. But when he returned I was very happy. My father was always there, but I always relied on my uncle.”
For many children, mothers often become the strongest source of stability and care during periods of separation from loved ones. This highlights the essential role women play in sustaining family wellbeing and filling emotional and practical gaps in the most difficult circumstances.
What might make a child feel scared or worried when moving—and what can help them feel safe again?
While the children all agreed that migration is scary, difficult, and harsh in the beginning, support remains critical. Migration does separate children from their loved ones, taking away stability and forcing them to adapt to new realities.
Most children acknowledged the difficulties of starting over in a new place, but they also believed that supportive environments and access to basic services can significantly improve their experiences and mental well-being. Many emphasised the importance of mental health support, along with access to essential needs. For example, young Waleed, 15, said, “There was humanitarian assistance in place for us. These aid packages helped a lot in provision of basic needs. .”
For others like Mahmoud, emotional support and a sense of belonging are equally important: “I see that (it is critical) to help any newcomer with anything he needs. To make him feel like he belongs (to the country/society). Like he is your brother, like he was travelling away and returned back to his country of origin. Not to make him feel like a stranger or a migrant. Also, you have to treat the migrant the way you treat the citizens of the country. And to help them because these people have been traumatised and had particular experiences in their lives. We must pay attention to their feelings.”
Across these voices, a pattern emerges: migration is rarely a choice, but a response to systems that fail to provide safety, stability, and opportunity.
Messages to world leaders
At the end of the session, when children were asked what they would like world leaders to hear, excitement filled the air. The children and youth took a few moments to reflect. They expressed a shared desire to address the root causes of migration, including poverty, conflict, war, and climate change. Abrar highlighted the importance of policies that protect children during migration and prevent separation from their parents or caregivers. Others, like Waleed, emphasised the need for psychological support.
Mahmoud ended by saying, “If this truly goes to world leaders , and specific leaders, and if this is taken seriously, I as a Syrian child living in another country—true that this country offered me everything—but still all this doesn’t give me all I want. Syria is just out of war, I hope they help Syria. Improve the economy, the currency, the roads, and living standards. If I return to Syria, I prefer that my country gives me the right education, standard of living, and the provision of basic services. Now in Syria basic services are very limited, like water, electricity, and healthcare.”
What emerges from these voices is a simple truth: children in the Middle East and around the world have already suffered immensely, and many have lost parts of their childhood. While the children who joined the session were very young—and some too young to remember their countries of origin—they still feel the impact of war, conflict, poverty, and climate change on their lives. They expressed how deeply migration has affected them emotionally. Yet, despite these challenges, they all echoed that migration, for them, represents safety, security, and opportunity.
Their voices are not only reflections of hardship, but also a call to act. Ensuring access to education, mental health support, and basic services is not optional—it is essential to safeguarding their futures. Creating inclusive communities where children feel safe, supported, and able to belong can transform their experiences.
Listening to these children means more than hearing their stories; it means taking action through policies, programmes, and sustained commitment that tackle the root causes of migration and safeguard those forced to move. In answering the question of why 136 million people leave their homes, the answer is clear: no one leaves without reason—but every child deserves more than survival—they deserve to hope, to rebuild, to belong, and to truly thrive.