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 areas, more than every sixth child in the world. The share 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.
“By almost all indicators, he was 2024 as one of the worst years for children in conflicts in the history of UNICEF’s activities – both in terms of the number of children affected and the degree of impact on their lives.” said the Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Catherine Russell.
According to her, children growing up in conflict zones are also more likely to they will not go to school, they will be malnourished or they will 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 suggest further increases in displacement because various conflicts intensified, including in Haiti, Lebanon, Myanmar, the Palestinian territories and Sudan.
