Agencies
New York
More children than ever before live in conflict zones or have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to fighting, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said.
About 473 million children are estimated to live in conflict areas - more than one in six children worldwide, the agency said in a report released on Saturday.
UNICEF’s statement came as conflicts continue to rage around the world, including in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, among other places.
The proportion of children living in areas of conflict has doubled - from around 10% in the 1990s to almost 19% today, UNICEF said. They are killed and injured, have to drop out of school, lack vital vaccinations or suffer from severe malnutrition.
In Israel’s devastating war on Gaza in particular, at least 17,492 children have reportedly been killed in nearly 15 months of conflict that has reduced much of the enclave to rubble.
“By almost every measure, 2024 has been one of the worst years on record for children in conflict in UNICEF’s history - both in terms of the number of children affected and the level of impact on their lives,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in a statement.
“A child growing up in a conflict zone is far more likely to be out of school, malnourished, or forced from their home ... This must not be the new normal. We cannot allow a generation of children to become collateral damage to the world’s unchecked wars.”
The proportion of children living in areas of conflict has doubled – from about 10 percent in the 1990s to almost 19 percent today, UNICEF said.
According to the report, 47.2 million children were displaced due to conflict
and violence by the end of 2023. According to UNICEF, 47.2 million children were displaced due to conflict
and violence by the end of 2023.
The trends for 2024 indicate a further increase in displacement because various conflicts have intensified, including in Haiti, Lebanon, Myanmar, the Palestinian territories and Sudan.
Additionally, in the latest available data, from 2023, the UN verified a record 32,990 grave violations against 22,557 children – the highest number since UN Security Council-mandated monitoring began, UNICEF said.
There is an overall upward trend in the number of grave violations, with this year likely to see another increase, as “thousands of children have been killed and injured in Gaza, and in Ukraine”, the agency said.
“The world is failing these children. As we look towards 2025, we must do more to turn the tide and save and improve the lives of children,” Russell said.
