Enab Baladi – Amir Huquq
“My father is deceased, and I live with my mother and siblings in the house of my mother’s husband, who forces us to beg, as he is unable to work after suffering a car accident,” said the child Ghazal, who begs in the al-Baramkah neighborhood.
Ghazal is 11 years old and reportedly collects between 20,000 and 50,000 Syrian pounds daily, and sometimes more, as she told Enab Baladi. This amount is given to her mother’s husband to cover household expenses, or “else he will scold me and threaten to throw me out of the house.”
The streets of Damascus have seen an increase in the number of beggars in recent years due to the living conditions, as the phenomenon of street begging has become a means to secure a living for some and a profitable trade for others.
Demands to control begging
Abu Tawfiq, a seventy-something-year-old man who resorted to begging to afford his medication after charity organizations stopped providing it, said he also needs money for basic necessities after losing his job and his son, who was the family breadwinner.
Standing in front of the al-Akram Mosque in the Mezzeh district, he told Enab Baladi, “The difficult living conditions have exhausted the people and forced them to beg or engage in other professions. I do not like standing at the mosque waiting for benefactors, but I have no other choice.”
Several passersby that Enab Baladi met complained about the insistence of some beggars on asking them for money.
Many passersby believe that most children and elderly beggars are not in need or are affiliated with organized groups. However, there are also a notable number of beggars who are genuine and in severe need.
Those interviewed by Enab Baladi called for controlling begging cases and distinguishing between those who are part of networks or individuals who make begging their profession, and treating them legally, versus those who truly have livelihood issues and addressing their problems on the ground.
Ineffective centers
Mahmoud al-Khatib, the Director of Social Affairs and Labor in Damascus, told Enab Baladi that the phenomenon of begging has become bothersome since 2011 and has increased recently, especially on the streets of Damascus, making it a priority for the directorate’s work.
The directorate held a workshop focused on begging, where al-Khatib noted that it became clear that the begging control centers are not effective as required, such as the rehabilitation and training center for beggars in al-Kisweh, which he deemed unsuitable for beggars and closer to a prison.
He explained that to seriously address the phenomenon, designated and well-equipped centers for beggars must be established, emphasizing that preparing the infrastructure of these centers is one of the most important measures to receive beggars appropriately.
The renovation of the beggars’ center in al-Kisweh has begun, according to al-Khatib, aiming to restore it to its original purpose as a rehabilitation and training center for beggars, to ensure their exit from the center as healthy individuals.
Additionally, the directorate is coordinating with specialized associations like the Children’s Rights Association and the Dafa association to monitor their situation and expand their work to accommodate a larger number of beggars.
These associations focus on beggars under 18 years, for both genders, while the al-Kisweh center deals with those over 18 years.
Addressing each case individually
Most beggars in the city of Damascus are children, and their gatherings are prevalent in public areas, especially in al-Baramkah, under the Thawra Bridge, at Abbassiyeen bus station, Bab Touma, and in the industrial area.
Mahmoud al-Khatib explained that issues concerning all age groups would be addressed to ensure that the phenomenon is solved and not just alleviated, stressing that combating the phenomenon requires collaboration with the ministries of interior and justice.
Each case will be handled individually; for instance, addressing homelessness differs from dealing with cases of the elderly or those who beg.
The approach also varies if the cases are organized and sponsored by concerned parties or if their motives stem from poor living conditions or other special circumstances.
Those who employ more than 20 children to beg will be dealt with according to the begging law, in cooperation with the ministries of interior and justice, which is a massive issue that requires extensive time and continuous efforts to resolve.
The phenomenon legally
The phenomenon of begging has occupied Syrian law, yet its provisions have not sufficiently curbed it, coinciding with a lack of enforcement of legal procedures against beggars.
Lawyer Rami al-Khayyir told Enab Baladi that Syrian law punishes begging and all related crimes, with the penalty for begging ranging from a misdemeanor to a felony, typically being a misdemeanor.
As for individuals who engage in begging and employ children and others to do so, they face charges of human trafficking. The penalty transitions from a misdemeanor to a felony, and the punishment, of course, is more severe.
The social repercussions of the economic crisis faced by Syria, as noted by social science professor Talal Mustafa in a previous Enab Baladi report, extend to difficult choices like child labor and begging. These factors will inevitably lead to instability and despair, which fosters a sense of hopelessness and increases the likelihood of mental health issues in society, especially depression.
The World Food Programme (WFP) revealed that 12.9 million people experienced food insecurity in Syria in 2025, with two million individuals receiving support from the Programme in 2024.
On February 20, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) released a report estimating that Syria would need at least 50 years to restore the country’s economic levels to pre-war standards, assuming strong growth.
According to the report, the poverty rate increased from 33% before the war to 90% currently, while the rate of extreme poverty reached 66%.
Steps to combat street begging in Damascus Enab Baladi.
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