Mapping the Syrian crisis in hosting countries: Syrian refugee children out of Lebanese school

The aim of this article is to analyse issues associated with the education or the absence of education of Syrian people, who are in a refugee situation, using both Human Rights Theory and the Capability Approach. The case of Syrian refugee children is presented in Chapter 2 in the context of Lebanon as the hosting country, analysing children’s deprivation of their fundamental rights, including the gap in the access to Lebanese education. In Chapter 3, the analysis of the status of children refugees is made through the Human Rights Theory lens, with respect to their physical and legal circumstances and the deprivation they are facing living in hosting countries, despite the legal framework, which should protect them. Chapter 4 begins with an overview of the capability approach of Sen and Nussbaum, and issues related to refugee children and the Education in Emergency (EiE) response. The approach is based on the expanded understanding of the existing concept of development. The Capability Approach highlights the difference between means and ends, and between substantive freedoms (capabilities) and outcomes (achieved functionings). In view of the approach, it is obvious that refugees, especially refugee children, are not in substantive freedom. The article concludes by analysing what capabilities Syrian refugee children have been deprived of, using the Capability Approach, and presenting some of the short and long-term effects of this deprivation on Syrian future generations.