“Someone who has not studied compared to someone who has studied is like darkness compared to light."
-- Aza, 35, Mille Refugee Camp in Chad
Displaced Children & Youth
The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children is a founding member of the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict. The Watchlist, housed at the Women's Commission, is a network of local, regional and international non-governmental organizations working to protect the security and rights of children in armed conflicts. The Watchlist monitors and reports on the violations against children and adolescents in situations of armed conflict and influences programs and policies to improve their lives.
Learn more about the work of the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict here 
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Ensuring Opportunities for Displaced Children and Youth
More than 43 million children living in conflict-affected areas don’t have a chance to go to school. Of those children, many are doubly disadvantaged by being refugees or displaced within their country’s borders. Girls are worst off of all. Without school or vocational training, displaced teens sit idle in camps all day long without any constructive activities to fill their time. As is the case anywhere in the world, these youth – with growing frustration and little hope for the future – can become a source of violence and insecurity. Meanwhile, their enormous potential as constructive contributors to their societies goes largely unnoticed and unsupported by the international community.
Education is a human right, regardless of the circumstance a child is in, and is essential to the development of a stable society. Often, the only hope of people in war-torn regions is that the coming generations are educated and have the ability to promote peace and sustainable development. When young people do not acquire these skills, their homelands are left with few options for the future.
The Women’s Commission’s Children and Adolescents Program works to ensure that displaced children and youth have opportunities to learn and grow so they can contribute to their communities and be able to one day support themselves and their own families. The Women’s Commission does this through the programs below:
To raise awareness of everyone's right to education, the Women's Commission created Your Right to Education: A handbook for refugees and displaced communities with funding from the Pearson Foundation. Learn more about this illustrated book for children in displaced communities all around the world.