Approximately one in six children in the world lives in conflict zones. A number of them were also forcibly displaced, the United Nations Children’s Fund states in its report.
More children than ever live in conflict zones or have been forcibly displaced from their homes by fighting, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a report released on Saturday. TASR informs according to the DPA agency.
An estimated 473 million children live in conflict zones, more than one in six children in the world. The proportion of children living in conflict zones has doubled from around ten percent in the 1990s to nearly 19 percent today, UNICEF said. They are killed and wounded, have to drop out of school, miss important vaccinations or suffer from severe malnutrition.
This year was one of the worst for children
“By almost all indicators, 2024 was one of the worst years for children in conflict in UNICEF’s history – both in terms of the number of children affected and the extent of the impact on their lives,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
According to her, children growing up in conflict zones are also more likely not to go to school, to be malnourished or to be forced to leave their homes. “This must not be the new normal. We cannot allow a generation of children to become collateral victims of uncontrolled wars in the world,” he warns.
According to UNICEF, 47.2 million children have been displaced by conflict and violence by the end of 2023. Trends for 2024 indicate a further increase in displacement as various conflicts have intensified, including in Haiti, Lebanon, Myanmar, the Palestinian territories and Sudan.
