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FILE PIC: UNICEF says, armed conflict, inter-communal violence and insecurity continued to take a devastating toll on thousands of children. /Getty Images
Armed conflict, inter-communal violence and insecurity continuedto take a devastating toll on thousands of childrenthroughout 2021, the UN Children's Fund(UNICEF),warnedon Friday.
From Afghanistan to Yemen, and Syria to northern Ethiopia,UNICEF denouncedgrave violationsagainstyoungstersin both protracted and new conflicts.
Last week, four children were reportedlyamong the victims of an attack that killed atleast 35 people–including two
Save the Children
staff–in Kayahstate ineastern Myanmar.
In a statement,UNICEF Executive DirectorHenrietta Foresaid that, year after year,"parties to conflict continue to demonstrate a dreadful disregard for the rights and wellbeing of children".
"Children are suffering, and children are dying because of this callousness. Every effort should be made to keep these children safe from harm", she added.
Data is not yet availablefor this year,butthe UN verified26,425 grave violations against childrenin2020.
The first three months of 2021 saw a slight decrease in the overall number ofthesegraveviolations butverified cases of abduction and sexual violence continued to rise at alarming rates-bymore than 50 and 10 percent, respectively.
Verified abductions were highest in Somalia, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC)and the countries of the Lake Chad Basin (Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger).
On the other hand, verified instances of sexual violence were highest in the DRC, Somalia and the Central African Republic(CAR).
Over the past 16 years, theUNhas verified 266,000 cases of grave violations against childrenin more than 30 conflict situations across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
While these caseswereverified through the2005UN-ledMonitoring and Reporting Mechanism, theactualfiguresare most likely much higher,according toUNICEF.
Afghanistan, for example, has the highest number of verified child casualties since 2005. Withmore than 28,500incidents,the countryaccountsfor 27 per cent of all verified child casualties globally.
Meanwhile,the Middle East and North Africa has the highest number of verified attacks on schools and hospitals, with22verified in the first six months oftheyear.
In October, UNICEFhighlighted that 10,000 children had been killed or maimed in Yemen since fighting escalated in March 2015–the equivalent of fouryoungstersevery day.
In 2020, explosive weapons andremnants of war were responsible for nearly 50 percent of all child casualties, resulting in more than 3,900 children killed and maimed.
Childrenoftenfall victim to multiple grave rights violations.
In the same year, for example,37 percent of abductions verified by the UN led to the recruitment and use of children in war-surpassing 50 percent in Somalia,DRCandCAR.
(With input from the UN-News)
