Dundee experts have been researching the trauma experienced by child refugees and the effects it can have on their later lives.
A team led by Dundee University have been speaking with children from five conflict zones who have been displaced by war.
The research found there is an urgent need to understand how young people are affected by forced migration over the course of their lives, with some 600 million displaced people and refugees under the age of 18.
As part of its work, the group, led by post-doctoral researcher Laura Prazeres, recruited and trained youngsters living in refugee camps as researchers, who conducted interviews and surveys among their peers in Uganda and Jordan.
The young people living in Uganda had travelled from conflicts in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, while those living in Jordan had escaped strife in Syria, Iraq and the Gaza Strip.
Dundee University has hosted events showcasing the work its staff do to help those living in theatres of conflict, including a symposium which explored the possibilities and difficulties faced by refugees trying to settle in Dundee.
In an article for The Conversation, Ms Prazeres said: “Young refugees face a myriad of challenges as they strive to build successful adult lives.
“Each young refugee in this project expressed having faced discrimination, struggles with education and work, questions of identity and belonging, as well as uncertainty towards marriage and family life in the future.
“Despite feelings of despair, most young refugees maintain a hopeful outlook onto the future. They demonstrate incredible resilience in the midst of adversity.
“Among stories of tragedy in their home countries and along the journey to becoming refugees, the one fortitude that young refugees maintain is hope.
“They are resourceful and driven, and they persevere through their precarious and protracted situation to better their lives and that of those around them.”
The Dundee University team was commissioned by the UK government’s Department for International Development.
