Imagine waking up every morning in a tent, packed with other people. No privacy. Few or no belongings. The same food every day, if there’s any food at all. Uncertainty that stretches for weeks, months, years.

Such is life for girls in refugee camps.

Forced from their homes by war, drought, earthquakes and other crises in record numbers, girls are increasingly seeing their rights and futures come under threat. These crises not only expose girls to harms such as sexual violence and child marriage, but also disrupt access to health services and opportunities for education.

Yet girls are driving change: Across the world, they’re harnessing the power of their own experiences to call for an end to harmful practices such as child marriage and to fight for a future of peace and dignity for all. 

To mark the International Day of the Girl Child, we go inside the lives of girls and young women in refugee camps around the world and highlight the initiatives supported by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, to help them create a more hopeful future.

Bangladesh

Eight years since they were forced to flee their homes in Myanmar, more than one million Rohingya refugees live in the crowded camps of the Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh. More than half are women and girls, living in precarious conditions.

Yet Rohingya girls are becoming powerful advocates for change, learning to challenge harmful practices such as child marriage.

Through initiatives supported by UNFPA and partners, including Girls Shine and Champions of Change, young people are coming together in youth centres, which provide a safe space to access psychosocial support and information on issues such as gender-based violence.

Every adolescent girl has the right to exert agency over her body and future. Realizing this vision requires investments in safe spaces, psychosocial support and programmes that empower girls. 

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Gisèle was 15 years old when she was uprooted from home in the town of Djugu in Ituri Province five years ago amid ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A young mother at the time, she found refuge with her parents and two brothers in the Kigonze displacement camp, near Bunia.

Intense fighting in the eastern part of the country has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, with high rates of gender-based violence reported in camps, linked to minimal security.

Gisèle, now 20, says she is grateful to have learned about contraception from a community outreach programme, supported by UNFPA and partners. Young women and girls across the country are vulnerable to the risks of early pregnancy and sexual abuse amid a lack information on these issues.

Gaza

Amid the devastation of war in Gaza, almost the entire population has been displaced time and again, trapped in a horrifying reality of overcrowding in camps, growing hunger and a lack of basic necessities to survive. With schools closed or destroyed, the lives of girls are in limbo. 

The Girls’ Tent initiative, supported by UNFPA, emerged in response to the urgent need. What began as a small youth-led effort has now expanded into four tents across Gaza. These safe spaces offer a sanctuary where girls can find peer support, protection and a sense of normalcy amid crisis.

“Today, I learned what it means to be a leader,” says Tala, 12, after attending a class on life skills. “I also learned about helping others and many other valuable things.” Sama, 12, notes, “It doesn’t matter if the leader is male or female. Everyone has their role.”

Lebanon

The suffering in Lebanon is staggering. Many families were already teetering on the brink and struggling economically, even before conflict broke out in 2024. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced, packed into temporary shelters such as the Houssein Massoud Public School in Mount Lebanon.

In response to these challenges, UNFPA and partners are providing services including the delivery of thousands of dignity kits, which contain items tailored to needs, such as menstrual supplies, underwear, soap and flashlights that enable girls and women to get to the bathroom more safely in the dark. “I have two teenage daughters,” one mother says. “I am very relieved that they now have access to menstrual pads and new underwear.” 

Pakistan 

As a young Afghan girl in a refugee camp in Pakistan, where many Afghans have sought refuge over the years from conflict, Hira* was seen as a burden to her family. “At the age when I should have been dreaming about school, friends and the future, I was forced into marriage,” she says. “My family married me off when I was only 16.”

The marriage became a nightmare. “I was treated like a servant,” Hira says. “My husband spent carelessly, had other relationships and often beat me.”

When Hira gave birth to a daughter, she became concerned for the child’s future and gathered the courage to leave, returning to her unsupportive family. Her life took a turn when she learned about the Women and Girls Friendly Space, supported by UNFPA, in Peshawar. There, she shared her story with a psychologist and began to heal from the trauma and build her confidence.

UNFPA also referred Hira for livelihood training, where she learned to become a tailor, allowing her to provide for her child. “My dream is to give my daughter a better life,” she says. “One filled with dignity, respect and education.”

Somalia

Nineteen-year-old Deka came to the Taakulo Women and Girls Safe Space in Bosaso, Somalia, as a survivor.

“I experienced severe physical abuse in the past,” she says. “The most painful part was having my dignity and honour violated.” At the facility, which is located near a displacement camp and supported by UNFPA and partners, Deka received a referral to a hospital for care, as well as training in sewing.

For uprooted girls in Somalia, which has long struggled with displacement driven by crises including conflict, drought and flooding, the safe space is a vital hub for dignity and hope.

Syrian Arab Republic

Reem was 12 years old when her world was upended six years ago. She and her family fled escalating violence in in their rural village in northeastern Syria, seeking shelter in the massive Areesheh camp. They arrived to a harsh new reality – a desert landscape and a murky future.

Years of conflict and crisis have shattered the lives of millions of people in Syria. For Reem, daily life suddenly involved trekking to collect drinking water and returning to a family tent with no privacy – just a single room for cooking, bathing, sleeping. 

Reem found inspiration in a UNFPA-supported centre within the camp, providing girls and women with skills training, psychosocial support and reproductive health services. “I took English and computer courses to strengthen my skills,” she says. “We kept learning, no matter how difficult the conditions became.”

Now 18 and working her way through secondary school classes in the camp, Reem says, “My friends and I want to be role models, to show other children and their parents that education is a light that no circumstance can dim.”

*Name changed for privacy.