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http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsId=49537#.VIiwKnluhMs
2014 A “DEVASTATING YEAR” FOR MILLIONS OF CHILDREN TRAPPED BY CONFLICT – UNICEF - GIRLS
Nearly 400,000 children in Gaza are suffering from
psychosocial distress as a result of the 50-day armed conflict in 2014. Photo:
UNICEF/Alessio Romenzi
8 December 2014 – Never in recent memory have so many
children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality, the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today, as
2014 has been “devastating” for some 15 million children caught up in violent
conflicts around the world.
“This has been a devastating year for millions of
children,” said Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, in a press release
issued by his organization.
“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,” Mr. Lake said. “Never in
recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable
brutality.”
As many as 15 million children are caught up in violent
conflicts in the Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine
and in the Occupied Palestinian territories – including those displaced in
their own countries or living as refugees outside their homeland, according to
UNICEF.
And an estimated 230 million children live in countries
and areas affected by armed conflicts, it said.
Yet, UNICEF said: “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,“ it said.
The children’s agency went on to say that 2014 has also
posed significant new threats to children’s health and well-being, most notably
the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has left thousands of children
orphaned and an estimated 5 million out of school.
“Violence and trauma do more than harm individual
children – they undermine the strength of societies,” said Mr. Lake. “The world
can and must do more to make 2015 a much better year for every child.”
In 2014, UNICEF said children have been kidnapped from
their schools or on their way to school, recruited or used by armed forces and
groups. It also noted a rise in attacks on education and health facilities and
use of schools for military purposes:
§ 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, and more than 430 children have been killed and
maimed – three times as many as in 2013;
§ 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;
§ In Syria, with more than 7.3 million children affected by
the conflict including 1.7 million child refugees, the United Nations verified
at least 35 attacks on schools in the first nine months of the year, which
killed 105 children and injured nearly 300 others.;
§ 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;
§ And in South Sudan, an estimated 235,000 children under
five are suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Almost 750,000 children have
been displaced and more than 320,000 are living as refugees.
UNICEF said it and its partners have worked together to
provide life-saving assistance and other critical services like education and
emotional support to help children growing up in some of the most dangerous
places in the world.
§ In Central African Republic, a campaign is under way to
get 662,000 children back to school as the security situation permits.
§ Nearly 68 million doses of the oral polio vaccine were
delivered to countries in the Middle East to stem a polio outbreak in Iraq and
Syria.
§ In South Sudan, more than 70,000 children were treated
for severe malnutrition.
§ In Ebola-hit countries, work continues to combat the
virus through support for community care centres and Ebola treatment Units.
§