UN: 15m children affected by conflicts
Unicef executive director Anthony Lake said the high number of crises meant many of them were quickly forgotten or failed to capture global headlines, such as in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Globally, Unicef said some 230m children were living in countries and regions affected by armed conflict.
“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,” Lake said. “Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality.”
Significant threats also emerged to children’s health and well-being like the deadly outbreak of ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which has left thousands orphaned and some 5m out of school.
“Violence and trauma do more than harm individual children — they undermine the strength of societies.”
In Central African Republic, some 2.3m children are affected by a sectarian conflict with up to 10,000 believed to have been recruited by armed groups during the past year and more than 430 killed or maimed, Unicef said.
Some 538 children were killed and 3,370 injured in the Palestinian Gaza Strip during a 50-day war between Israeli troops and Hamas militants, it said.
In Syria, Unicef said over 7.3m children have been affected by the civil war, including 1.7m who fled the country. In Iraq an estimated 2.7m children have been affected by conflict, it added, with at least 700 believed to have been maimed or killed this year.
Some 750,000 children have been displaced in South Sudan with 320,000 living as refugees. The United Nations said more than 600 children have been killed and more than 200 maimed this year, while some 12,000 are being used by armed groups.
The United Nations says it will need €13.3bn in 2015 to help 57.5m of the most vulnerable people in the world.
Last year, the UN says it raised €7.6bn for humanitarian needs — leaving €6.9bn in unmet needs by the end of 2014.
Valerie Amos, the UN’s humanitarian chief and emergency co-ordinator, says more than 80% of those in need are in conflict-ridden countries where their lives are devastated by brutality and violence.
She told reporters in Geneva “we are facing needs at an unprecedented level.”
UN high commissioner for refugees Antonio Guterres said the “exponential” rise in needs reflects the growing complexity of crises.
