UNICEF: Syria among most dangerous places on earth to be a child

The number of children negatively affected by the conflict in Syria has been more than doubled within the last year, with hundreds of thousands trapped in besieged places, a report released on Monday by UNICEF said.

“After three years of conflict and turmoil, Syria is now one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a child,” the report said. “In their thousands, children have lost lives and limbs, along with virtually every aspect of their childhood.”

The report continued: “They have lost classrooms and teachers, brothers and sisters, friends, caregivers, homes and stability.

“Instead of learning and playing, many have been forced into the workplace, are being recruited to fight, or subjected to enforced idleness.”

UNICEF said the conflict has recorded the highest number of child victims of any recent conflict in the region. The report noted that the UN data showed that not less than 10,000 children were killed in the Syrian conflict. UNICEF expected that the real number to be higher.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that more than 136,000 children have been killed since the start of the revolution against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in March 2011.

“The dangers for children go beyond death and injury,” UNICEF said. “Boys as young as 12 have been recruited to support the fighting, some in actual combat, others to work as informers, guards, or arms smugglers.”

According to the report, two million children needed some form of psychological support or treatment while a total of 5.5 million children were affected by the conflict – some of them inside Syria and others living abroad as refugees.