With the approach of Xmas we can be guaranteed with the
sweet-sickly representation of childhood and Santa Claus and Baby Jesus.
Yet according to Anthony
Lake, UNICEF Executive Director “Never in recent memory have so many children
been subjected to such unspeakable brutality.”
Globally, an estimated 230 million children now live in
countries and areas affected by armed conflicts, said the UNICEF. As many as 15
million children are caught up in violent conflicts in the Central African
Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, the State of Palestine, Syria and Ukraine – including
those internally displaced or living as refugees, informed UNICEF.
2014 has been one of horror, fear and despair for millions
of children, as worsening conflicts across the world saw them exposed to
extreme violence and its consequences, forcibly recruited and deliberately
targeted by warring groups. In 2014, hundreds of children have been kidnapped
from their schools or on their way to school. Tens of thousands have been
recruited or used by armed forces and groups. Attacks on education and health
facilities and use of schools for military purposes have increased in many
places. Yet many crises no longer capture the world’s attention. The sheer
number of crises in 2014 meant that many were quickly forgotten or captured
little attention. Protracted crises in countries like Afghanistan, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen,
continued to claim even more young lives and futures. This year has also posed significant new
threats to children’s health and well-being, most notably the Ebola outbreak in
Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, which has left thousands of children
orphaned and an estimated 5 million out of school.
“This has been a devastating year for millions of children,”
said Lake. “Children have been killed while studying in the classroom and while
sleeping in their beds; they have been orphaned, kidnapped, tortured,
recruited, raped and even sold as slaves.”
A few of the facts provided by the UNICEF include:
1. In the Central African Republic, 2.3 million children are
affected by the conflict, up to 10,000 children are believed to have been
recruited by armed groups over the last year, and more than 430 children have
been killed and maimed – three times as many as in 2013
2. In Gaza, 54,000 children were left homeless as a result
of the 50-day conflict during the summer that also saw 538 children killed, and
more than 3,370 injured.
3. In Syria, with more than 7.3 million children affected by
the conflict including 1.7 million child refugees, the UN verified at least 35
attacks on schools in the first nine months of the year, which killed 105
children and injured nearly 300 others.
4. In Iraq, where an estimated 2.7 million children are
affected by conflict, at least 700 children are believed to have been maimed,
killed or even executed this year. Women and girls have suffered physical and
sexual assault, sexual slavery, trafficking and forced marriage. Some have been
sold in open markets. Children have been tortured by ISIL and many have been
forced to watch and take part in executions and torture.
5. In South Sudan, an estimated 235,000 children under five
are suffering from severe acute malnutrition. An estimated 1.7 million children
are internally displaced mainly as a result of conflict and more than 320,000
are living as refugees. According to UN
verified data, more than 600 children have been killed and over 200 maimed this
year, and around 12,000 children are now being used by armed forces and groups.
According to UN verified data, nearly 100 were subjected to sexual violence and
311 were abducted.
6. In Ukraine, the number of internally displaced children
is estimated at 128,000. At least 36 children were killed and more than 100
were injured in Donetsk and Luhansk regions between mid-April and end of
October.
7. Adding further suffering of the children, in countries
stricken by Ebola, at least 5 million children aged 3-17 are unable to go back
to school because of the outbreak. Thousands of children have lost one or two
parents to the disease.
In this, the 25th anniversary year of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child the rights of so many millions of children have been so
brutally violated.
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