Displacement, family separation and the experience of conflict create a situation where girls and boys are extremely vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and violence. Children of all ages are at risk to violence at home and in public spaces.
Domestic violence: the majority of available assessments indicate that over 60% of interviewed people fled to homes of relatives and friends, leading to overcrowded houses of host families.64 In Amran, 53% of the respondents feel that most of the IDPs have either poor or very poor privacy in their new host environment.65Domestic violence can be increased by the stress and overcrowding shared by multiple families.
Early marriage: child marriage is a prevalent issue in emergencies. A study from the Syrian context, indicates that raising money from bride price is not the primary motivation for most families who marry their children. Child marriage is supposedly seen as a form of ‘protection’ and a way for families to keep the ‘honor’ of their daughters. It is also seen as a way to reduce the number of people in a household and the related economic burden of feeding their child, clothing her, etc. Older unmarried girls start to feel the rejection from their families as they are seen as an added burden to protect and a source of worry regarding their so-called ‘honor’.66
