More than 400,000 Syrian refugee children living in Turkey are not receiving an education, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said Sunday in a 62-page report [text, PDF]. The report and accompanying press release [text] note that, although the Turkish government has formally granted entry into public schools for over two million Syrian refugees, unofficial obstacles continue to block education access. These obstacles include low rates of fluency in Turkish and a drought of residency permits.

The Syrian refugee crisis is directly related to human rights abuses committed by the Islamic State (IS) [JURIST report], also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. In July US and Turkish officials agreed [press briefing] to establish a “safe zone” [JURIST report] for Syrian refugees fleeing the IS. In November 2014 Amnesty International [advocacy website] reported [press release] that Syrian refugees in Turkey face destitution if not human rights abuses [JURIST report]. In March 2014 the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic [official website] urged the international community to respond to recent and recurring crimes against humanity perpetrated by both governmental and non-governmental entities.