Three years ago, on a cold winter night, Ibrahim Osman went out to pray and returned home to a newborn baby girl abandoned in front of his village mosque in Syria. He decided to name her Hibatullah, which means “Gift of God,” and raised her as if she were his own daughter. This case is not unique, as dozens of babies are abandoned in front of mosques, hospitals, and even under olive trees in Syria, a phenomenon that has worsened due to the poverty and desperation caused by more than 12 years of war in the country.
Prior to the outbreak of conflict in 2011, the Washington-based organization Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), which records human rights abuses in Syria, documented only a few cases of child neglect. However, between the beginning of 2021 and the end of 2022, more than 100 abandoned children have been found in the country, and the actual number is estimated to be much higher. According to STJ, the causes of this dramatic increase include poverty, instability, insecurity, child marriages, sexual abuse, and out-of-wedlock pregnancies.
Although adoption is forbidden in Syria, Ibrahim Osman sought permission from local authorities to raise Hibatullah and assured his children that, in the event of his death, she would have part of his inheritance, even if she could not be officially recognized as a family member. In the midst of the war that has left more than 500,000 dead and millions displaced in Syria, the country’s infrastructure is devastated.
In different government and rebel-held areas in Syria, facilities have been set up to care for abandoned children. In the rebel-held province of Idlib, social workers care for abandoned babies in the main center, providing them with care and ensuring they receive proper treatment. Monitoring is also carried out to prevent child trafficking and ensure their welfare.
The war in Syria has left more than four million people living in areas controlled by jihadists and Turkish-backed groups in the north and northwest of the country, where 90% are dependent on aid for survival. Both the war and the difficult circumstances in which families find themselves are cited as the causes of these child abandonments. Abandoned babies are considered victims of this situation.