By Wendy Bruere

RAMTHA, Jordan, 19 June 2012 – Reem* and her six children fled their home in southern Syria in February after her husband Abood* was abducted by armed men. The children were between ages 5 and 18.

©UNICEF Jordan/2012/Bruere Amjad, 8, attends psychosocial activities and remedial education classes run by UNICEF partner Noor al-Hussein Foundation (NHF) in Jordan. The activities include group counselling, educational games, crafts and drawing.

“The children were scared and insecure when we first came to Jordan,” Reem said. “When they saw cars [like the one that took their father], they would start screaming.”

But in the months since they arrived in northern Jordan, living in the Bashabshe transit facility, Reem has noticed things starting to improve. The children have been attending psychosocial activities and remedial education classes run by UNICEF partner Noor al-Hussein Foundation (NHF). The activities include group counselling, educational games, crafts and drawing.

VIDEO: UNICEF correspondent Anja Baron reports on mounting displacement pressure amid new insecurity in north-western Pakistan.

By David Youngmeyer

JALOZAI, Pakistan, 20 June 2012 – More than 200,000 people – over half of them children – have been registered as displaced from Khyber Agency, in volatile north-western Pakistan, since January. They are joining families displaced by earlier insecurity, creating a total displaced population of close to 720,000 people in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

© UNICEF Yemen/2011/Rasheed
Amani Ali (standing second from right) and Saleh Salim (far right) teach other displaced children about hygiene. Amani and Saleh are members of a WASH committee of volunteers trained by UNICEF to provide awareness on hygiene and sanitation in the Belqis school, which is sheltering the displaced from Abyan.

By Ansar Rasheed

ADEN, Yemen, 15 September 2011 – It is the fourth day of Ramadan in Aden, a port city in the south of Yemen, and the temperature has reached over 40 degrees centigrade. Although it is summer holiday, the yard of Belqis School in Aden is full of children. Some play under the sun, while others attend educational sessions in a tent organized by UNICEF. The children are from families displaced by fighting in the restive region of Abyan between government troops and militants suspected of links to al-Qaeda.