♪ >> welcome to this special edition of "amanpour on pbs." tonight, the plight of syrian refugees -- we see the impact of president trump's travel ban on the ground, and we speak to one family who may be among the last to get asylum in america. and i take my teenage son to meet refugees his own age. ♪ >> "amanpour on pbs" was made possible by the generous support of rosalind p. walter. >> good evening, everyone, and welcome to the program. i'm christiane amanpour in london. just days after he came into office, president trump signed

an executive order banning citizens from several muslim countries from entering the united states, including syrian refugees. u.s. courts put a lid on the ban for months, but, just before the end of this year, the supreme court ruled for the trump administration by allowing the latest version of the ban to take effect, pending appeal. it is hardest for refugees fleeing war, like almost 5 million syrians now living in neighboring countries. the united states has taken in only around 20,000 since the war began, while refugees make up 10% of the entire population in jordan. earlier this year, i witnessed their plight firsthand. i found the vetting for travel to the u.s. to be intense, and i met a family preparing to fly there -- a bittersweet moment for them. [ child babbles ] >> walk into this registration center at the u.n. refugee agency in amman, and, suddenly, something about this

millennium's desperate refugee story speaks to the last millennium's -- ellis island, circa 1900. that was the storied gateway to america. here, some 1,000 refugees a day come dressed in their best, hoping to find their own gateway to somewhere. mindful of the trump administration's efforts to ban syrian refugees, the unhcr's paul stromberg tells me vetting here is about as extreme as it gets. >> it involves many different agencies in the u.s., different security databases, several different in-face interviews over a period that can last up to two years, biometric verification at different stages of the process. it's basically the hardest way to get to the u.s. if you're a syrian. globally, less than 1% of refugees are resettled. >> that's tiny. >> that is. >> a quick walk-through reveals endless interview rooms, waiting rooms, biometric testing areas,

creating an unprecedented and vast databank. in this game of human lottery, the weakest often wins. a father moves his face in close for the mandatory iris scan, and he tells us the family fled war and home in damascus, 2013. mother um ali says her very young children have been traumatized. >> [ speaking arabic ] >> translator: at first, we were moving from place to place for fear of the bombings. nowhere was safe for us, and the children suffered. they were in constant fear, and whenever they heard a noise, they hid. they started to have some sort of post-traumatic stress. >> civilians started to pour out of syria six years ago, and now more than half a million live here. and a new type of refugee camp has been born. this is zaatari, a sprawling refugee city of 80,000, that has morphed from tents and

tarpaulins to fixed abodes with electricity. most of this camp's inhabitants fled when the war erupted in daraa, and many don't want to move any further away, just in case. imagine living in this camp and knowing that home is 20 kilometers away, across the syrian border. the last big refugee resettlement saw one in every four families asked didn't want to go to the west. the truth is, these people are not clamoring to come over to our homelands. all they want to do is go back to their own. which may explain why this family looks sad and afraid when we meet them just hours before they're due to take off for america. oh, look at all the suitcases. um mohammed shows me the last-minute chaos of packing for her first-ever flight and a whole new life -- all their worldly possessions carefully picked out and parceled into

eight suitcases, one for each family member. i ask her husband, abu muhammed, how he feels about traveling all the way from aleppo to america. it's taken themore than a year of vetting and paperwork. are you excited about going to america? >> [ speaking arabic ] >> translator: for sure. >> what are you hoping for? >> translator: life. >> [ speaking arabic ] >> translator: our house was burned, and my in-laws' house was also destroyed. >> this family got their ticket to the usa because they, too, are considered vulnerable. their oldest lost his hearing when they fled the bombing, and now his speaking is impaired, too. have you heard the news from america, that the president wanted to say no to syria refugees and that there's a lot of problems with immigration? >> [ speaking arabic ] >> translator: i feel that donald trump had a bad picture about muslims in general, but

the american people are much wiser and know that not all muslims are the same, and they also know that we can live together in peace and harmony. i don't know where he got this image about us from. >> do you know what you're going to? do you have any idea what will happen when you put your feet on american soil? >> [ chuckles, speaking arabic ] >> translator: i have no idea. [ conversing in arabic ] >> outside, dusk is falling, and they must now say their final farewells and board this bus to the airport. as hard as life has been as a refugee here, they've made friends, and they have a sense that they're all in this together. now they have no idea what awaits them at the end of their very long journey. this must be the biggest trek of abu ismail's long life, a grandfather taking his family clear across the world. 24 hours later, here they are in

chicago -- tired, rumpled, but together, trying out a new word for their new world. >> hello. >> while back at the camp, an amazing phenomenon -- the triumph of hope over reason. [ horns honking ] every day, syrians try to voluntarily head back across the border -- if only bashar assad and his barrel bombs would let them. i asked the former u.s. secretary of state madeleine albright, an immigrant herself, if she agreed with trump's view that the travel ban is about keeping america safe. where is this going to lead to? none of these countries that have bn banned have committed any terrorism ainst th united states, certainly not since 9/11. what do the people of the united states need to know about what's going on? they think this is to make them feel safer. >> well, i think that the important part here is that these are people that have suffered tremendously, that have suffered for their own freedom

and for having a better life. i think it's outrageous to decide that we would not take them. you were in jordan. i really do think jordan is a frontline state. they have hundreds of thousands of refugees, and we should be taking more because it's the right thing to do, the humanitarian thing to do. it would be good for our diversity. and the way that the ban was set up before, it was a gift to isil. >> so you think it actually could harm america's security? >> definitely. and a group of us that were involved in national-security issues made that point clear when the first ban came out, that it was actually bad. it also hurt our troops in iraq, for instance, where some of the people that have been helping us there, interpreters and others, would feel that they were being discriminated against -- and also a propaganda gift. and, also, christiane, we have been able to share intelligence with a lot of these countries. and i think so, in every way, this was a very bad idea. and i hope that if there is

another ban, that it is done in a way that is not so unfair and so totally un-american. >> you yourself have been a refugee. you tweeted not long ago when this ban was first imposed... should there, though, be more vetting? >> first of all, the vetting, frankly, is very deep at this point, with a number of different steps. i think there's more than 20 steps. i do think that it is the responsibility of any leader to make sure that his or her untry isure, but that is one thing. and another is to decide that there's a group of people, without ever having shown that they had any bad ideas about the united states or were terrorists, to all of a sudden decide that they couldn't come in because they were a particular religion. that is totally un-american. so, yes, vetting, it is the appropriate thing, but it has to be done in a fair way. it can't be discriminatory, and it can't be really in a way that

undermines the diversity of america, which is what has made america great. >> secretary tillerson has sort of been, people say, quiet, sort of out of the loop -- i don't know -- sort of absent on the job, and, apparently, a lot of pressure on state department officials, as well. any advice? >> well, first of all, it's one of the all-time great jobs, but what you really need is a department that is fully staffed and working with you. there is no such thing as being a solo act. >> girl refugees suffer horribly. every year, 15 million girls all over the world are married off before the age of 18. that's 28 per minute. the syrian war has led to an alarming rise in early marriage, with some girls as young as 15. but there's also a movement underway to try to keep them in school, as we found as we continued our visit to the zaatari camp in jordan. [ girls shouting indistinctly ] the scenes and shrieks of girls being, well, just girls.

age 8 to 15, they're enjoying their soccer. it is the brainchild of an unlikely coach, amal hoshon, mother of five, who's gotten them into playing soccer as a way to keep them out of marriage. some of the worst collateral damage from the syrian war is an increase in early marriage, poverty-stricken parents off-loading one too many mouths to feed or believing their girls really will be safer with a husband. in jordan, you can legally marry at 18, or, if shari'a judges approve, even at 15. amal uses her coaching sessions to mentor these girls. >> [ speaking arabic ] >> translator: marriage is such a big word. it affects them emotionally because, when a child at that age gets married, you no longer feel that she is still the same child. she got involved with something much bigger than her age. girls have developed psychological complexes. they experience depression.

some girls even tried to poison themselves. they don't like that life, but many get stigmatized if they get divorced. >> yes, with around one in four syrian refugee girls under 18 married off in this region, according to the unhcr, early divorce is a new trend in this refugee population. and it's a stigma that girls like this 16-year old are trying to shake off. she wouldn't give us her name nor show her face, but she's been married and divorced by the ripe old age of 15. >> [ speaking arabic ] >> "i didn't know what marriage meant. i had no idea what it means." >> the unhcr's nedi assene helps her tell me her story. >> [ speaking arabic ] >> "i tried it once. i got engaged. he wasn't so nice. i wasn't happy with him. i knew that i wasn't happy with him, and i shared it with my parents, and i told them that, 'no, i have to stop this.'

so we got separated. next time they came, another family, and they were really persistent." >> war has an especially harsh impact on women and girls. in early marriages, they can enter slave-like conditions, endure domestic abuse and even rape. she tells me she's relieved no longer to be trapped in that vicious cycle and, especially, that her parents welcomed her home with open arms. >> [ speaking arabic ] >> "i want to focus on my education, and i want to continue my education to then be able to decide what i want to be in the future." >> in zaatari camp, most of the 28,000 kids go to school, girls and boys in separate three-hour shifts. [ all speaking in arabic ] and these are the tiger girls, adolescents who are mentored after school by their own community in this unhcr program. adult refugee women teach them math, science, and talk to them

about issues like early marriage and violence. >> [ speaking arabic ] >> here the teacher asks them what they have learned. >> translator: you should advise the family they should not marry their daughter under the age of 14. it is not necessary for the girl to get married while she's still young. >> and amal says she's heard horror stories. >> [ speaking arabic ] >> translator: i know someone who got married for about six months, and she rejected her husband. she was frightened by what she saw. she rejected the very notion that a man can sleep by her side. the husband tried repeatedly with her, but he was unsuccessful, and she eventually returned to her parents' home in the same way she came from it. >> we also met raida, who was barely 17 when she got married three years ago to a jordanian who lived in the city. how did you think it would help you? >> translator: it was to escape the conditions in the camp. >> now, back with her family and new baby brother, she says she

fled her husband after just a few months. >> translator: he treated me very badly. his family treated me like a syrian refugee who came from a camp and not as one of them. i was inferior to them. >> what would you say to young girls, your age -- you were 17 when you got married -- or even younger? >> translator: the first thing to tell them is that it's not right for a young girl to get married. she should have an education and look after her future first. and the parents should be educated instead of relying on tradition and customs that say a girl should get married when she reaches 16 or 17. >> the mentors and the teachers here tell us that some young girls need years of therapy to help get them back to normal, which is why they say prevention is the best medicine for this trauma. so, what will it take to end child marriage and give girls a future? i asked lakshmi sundaram. she's the executive director of girls not brides.

welcome to the program. >> thank you very much. >> how shocking is that, what you've just seen? is that similar to what you see in other parts of the world? >> one of the things that's really awful within the context of syrian refugee camps is just keeping in mind that, in syria, before the war started, the rates of child marriage were about 13%, and, by 2014, in the camps, they'd increased to more than 30%. that's a huge increase, and that shows that families and girls themselves are using marriage as a way to cope with this horrendous humanitarian crisis. >> and we saw now not just marriage but now divorce, young early di-- kids who are divorced. we think we picked up sort of a movement to try to stop these marriage practices, and, certainly, the families we spoke to, you know, they regretted that their girls got married. they're glad that they're home. is there sort of a pushback on this, as far as you can gather, not just in these communities but others that you monitor? >> so, girls not brides members are working with girls and

communities all over the world. and what they're trying to do is talk to the girls, talk to families and communities about the actual impact that child marriage can have, the devastating impact on the health of a girl if she's forced into early childbirth, for instance -- on her and on her children, as well -- but also the impact on the community and the country if girls are forced into marriage and pulled out of school. >> you know, that is one thing that almost nobody talks about, the idea that it can really, really damage a girl's health physically, mentally, and then have the sort of ongoing impact. give me a sense of other places in the world that you have been to with the program and what the results of this early marriage are. >> you know, child marriage happens across countries, across cultures, across religions. we're seeing high rates of child marriage in places like brazil, mexico, thailand, indonesia, india.

it really is driven by the fact that girls and boys are not seen as equal, but it's often exacerbated in situations where there is insecurity, as we see in these camps. and, actually, we have girls not brides members in nepal, who were telling us that they saw increases in child marriage after the earthquake in nepal. again, families and girls themselves are seeing marriage as a way of keeping girls safe without realizing the violence that these girls face within marriage. >> and how did that change in nepal -- or did it? -- in the years subsequent to the earthquake? >> well, there's been a lot of work both from the government, from ngos, from u.n. agencies, and others to really try and highlight the negative impact of child marriage, but, also -- and i think this is fundamental -- is making sure that the camps or other places where girls and families are staying are safe for girls. if girls cannot even go to the toilet without being worried about being raped, it's going to

be very difficult to convince them that actually being unmarried is a safe option -- and continuing to make sure that schools are available, that they are accessible and safe for girls, as well. 'cause the other thing to keep in mind, whether it's in syrian refugee camps, whether it's in other parts of the world, is that, when girls are educated, when they can stay out of marriage and go to school, they're much more likely to be a productive part of the solution, once the conflict is over. >> we know that, in many countries -- we said the law in jordan. we know, in pakistan, child marriage is outlawed, but, nonetheless, it still happens. what do you make of these programs that we witnessed, the mentoring, the after-school programs? that helps, right? >> that has a huge impact. working with girls directly has an impact, working with families and communities has an impact, working with boys, with parents, with religious leaders. but we also have to make sure that there are schools

available, that health services are available so that girls, whether they're married or unmarried, can stay safe and know about their bodies and can avoid pregnancy if they want. and, also, we need laws and policies that are supportive, that outlaw marriage, and that provide recourse to girls who find themselves in these situations. >> it's really fascinating insight, and we were amazed to find what we did there. so, lakshmi sundaram, thank you very much -- from girls not brides. >> thank you. >> and finally tonight, i took my teenage son with me to these camps to imagine a life a world away from his own. at the azraq camp in jordan, darius got to meet and speak to a young man his own age, but who's living a very different reality. imagine bringing my 16-year-old son, darius, to work, only this isn't your normal day at the office. it's the azraq camp for syrian refugees in jordan. imagine this adolescent leaving

his comfortable and ordinary city life in the west... hi. >> how are you? >> salaam alaikum. ...coming to discover how these adolescents, young people his own age, survive in the most extraordinary situations. we meet mohammed, his four sisters, and his mother, shama, who've escaped war in syria and found refuge here in jordan. they welcome us into their new home with open arms. it's a far cry from what they've left behind -- one room with everything in it, from sewing machine to bedding, two shelves on the wall that serve as the children's library and wardrobe, heat from a stove fed by a pipe that snakes it's way in from a gas canister. for darius, the obvious question... >> what was your house like before this one? >> my house is very beautiful in my mind. >> and mohammed continues his story in arabic, how the family

fled when the war finally reached their syrian village more than three years ago, how the constant bombing disrupted school and made it too dangerous to stay. >> were you afraid at any time during the journey? >> [ speaking arabic ] >> translator: yes, i was afraid, but i had a goal, which was to reach somewhere safe, and i managed to put my fear aside. >> and i ask about their dad. you're the man of the family. you're here with your mom. you've got your four sisters. what happened to your dad? >> die. >> what happened? how? >> [ speaking arabic ] >> translator: we were at home at the time, and there was some bombing and shooting in the area. he went outside to have a look, and he was shot. >> fortunately, darius doesn't have to step up quite like mohammed does, fetching water for his family every day... filling these heavy canisters several times each day.

it is hard work. his mother, shama, has come to rely on him. >> [ speaking arabic ] >> translator: mohammed does really a good job, especially fetching water, which is difficult for me to do. sometimes, he carries 20 liters in each hand. there are six of us, and we need a lot of water, so sometimes he carries 10 or 12 containers a day. he also does the shopping because the market is so far away. >> into the big, blue barrel and out through a pipe in the kitchen, which is a tiny room that they have only just managed to add to their main room. shama says she's trying to re-create a proper family life for her kids. >> [ speaking arabic ] >> translator: it's so hard i cannot tell you. i try to make it comfortable by moving things around, and i try to find spaces for their belongings and make it look like home. we eat, watch tv, and sleep here. now, at last, we have a kitchen i can cook in like before. >> back in syria, she says she was the queen of her castle.

>> translator: it is hard to lose your husband. i used to be the lady of the house, and i was spoiled. i had everything i needed. all i had to do is ask my husband, and he would get anything for me. >> she keeps her memories on her phone. he's a handsome man, huh? "yes," she says, and like so many of the mothers we've met, shama insists that education is the most important thing for her children's future. and as we walk with mohammed from his small metal home to the community center in this refugee camp, he says he's learned english here since fleeing syria. his dream is to go on to university. once upon a time, he thought he would be an architect. now, after all that he's borne witness to, he thinks he wants to be a journalist. should we go in? >> yeah. >> and here, with a group of teenage boys and girls, mohammed founded the camp magazine, which they publish every month, thanks to funding by the u.n. and its

ngo partners. and as we sit in on their editorial meeting, darius, who also works on his school newspaper, wants to know what this project means to them. >> what kind of impact does this magazine have on your life here? >> [ speaking arabic ] >> translator: it raises awareness and helps get children back to school. >> and do you look forward to these meetings? >> translator: yes. very much. >> internet is only available at these centers, so these adolescents don't spend their time online, and there's not much of a social life for them. the camp only got electricity back in december, so television has become their main source of entertainment. >> [ speaking arabic ] >> but, everywhere, we hear the almost mystical reverence these children of war pay to the power of education and determination. what would you say to darius about life and about what it's like to be a 16-year-old boy today in this situation?

>> the price of success is hard work. determining whether we win or lose, the most important thing is that we have applied ourselves to this task -- any task. [ chuckles ] >> wise words indeed from a young man older than his years. and, together, we learned that hopes and dreams have no borders, no matter how starkly different our everyday experiences. and that's it for our program tonight. thank you for joining me for this special edition of "amanpour on pbs," and goodbye from london. ♪ >> "amanpour on pbs" was made possible by the generous support of rosalind p. walter. ♪ you're watching pbs.

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