United Nations To Launch Education Fund For Child Refugees

An education fund for child refugees will be launched next week at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey. United Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Education Gordon Brown made the announcement to reporters in the UN Headquarters in New York.

The fund for child refugees is dubbed Education Cannot Wait. Brown said it seeks to aid 20 million child refugees who have been forced out of school. Child refugees today are members of "the largest population of displaced girls and boy since 1945," Brown said, as per the UN.  

The @UN will fund education for refugee children. We take a look ahead of official launch. https://t.co/mgfiqsyX1K pic.twitter.com/p9xLfefQhg

— EducationHQ NZ (@EducationHQ_NZ) May 17, 2016

Child Refugee Education Fund To Raise Almost $4B in Five Years

According to the UN, the immediate aim will be to raise $3.85 billion for child refugees over the next five years. The education initiative also seeks to find 100 major donors from global agencies, businesses and philanthropic organizations to aid child refugees. The UN eventually seeks "to transform humanitarian aid for the future" through Education Cannot Wait.

The education fund for child refugees has been planned for three years, according to ABC News. It was brought about by the Syrian refugee crisis but the funds are for child refugees all over the world.

Child Refugees Broken Without Hope - Brown

Brown, according to Deutsche Welle, said that the lack of hope is something that breaks the lives of the child refugees. "[It is] the soul crushing certainty that there is nothing to plan or prepare for, not even a place in school," said Brown.

Brown said Syrians would possibly choose to stay close to their war-torn region instead of undergoing a dangerous journey to Europe is they had assurance that their children can study in Syria. Brown said that if no help is given to the children, they could become "a lost generation."

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