ROME, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- In the impressive setting of the Gardens of Sallust, a 1st-century-B.C. pleasure garden complex in northwest Rome, Italian actors performed Monday short monologues describing multiple risks faced by refugee girls who dropped out of school.
The performance marked the official opening of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) fundraising campaign for the education of refugee girls across the world.
"Forced into adulthood before time, and deprived of their hopes and dreams, refugee girls are left without a choice," Carlotta Sami, UNHCR spokesperson for Southern Europe, told the audience before the performance.
Displacement, economic instability and psychological suffering would plunge refugee girls into miseries including early marriages, sexual exploitation and gender-based abuse.
According to "Turn the Tide" released in August 2018, the latest study of the UNHCR on refugee children education, minors represented 52 percent of 25.4 million refugees worldwide in 2017. About 7.4 million of them were of school age, and at least 3.5 million were out of school.
"Even though in 2017 more than 500,000 refugee children were newly enrolled in school thanks to the far-reaching efforts of governments, the UNHCR, and partners, the rapidly growing refugee population means that, in percentage terms, the picture has not improved," read the report.
As Italian artists brought to stage the plight of refugee girls, UNHCR officials used the event to provide data on the results so far reached by the program "Educate A Child," to which the fundraising campaign was directly linked.
Since 2012, the program has helped some 1.35 million refugee children attend school, while 104,000 children in vulnerable families have received direct financial support, according to the agency.
The fundraising also allowed the UNHCR to train 31,402 teachers, and to provide refugee children with some 3 million schoolbooks and 752,000 uniforms.
"Our decade-long experience on the field has taught us that when allowed to receive education, children show a great ability to react and make the most of what they have learnt," Sami said.
"This is especially true for girls, who take care of their brothers, and often of their entire family, thanks to the education they have received," she added.
Supported by various Italian artists and sport celebrities, the campaign will run until Feb. 17 with all national TV networks as media partners.
