UNICEF: 7.3m children affected by Syria conflict

More than 7.3 million children have been affected by the ongoing conflict in Syria, including 1.7 million children who have become refugees, UNICEF revealed.

In a report released yesterday, the UN organisation also revealed that the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip during the months of July and August has led to the displacement of 54,000 children, killed 538 others and injured 3,370.

Meanwhile, the conflict in Iraq has affected approximately 2.7 million children, where it is also believed that nearly 700 have been maimed, killed, or were executed this year.

The UN report described the current year as “the year of horror, fear and despair for millions of children, as worsening conflicts across the world saw them exposed to extreme violence and its consequences, forcibly recruited.”

In the report, UNICEF’s Executive Director Anthony Lake said: “This has been a devastating year for millions of children. 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. Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality.”

According to the report, nearly 15 million children were caught up in brutal conflicts in countries including the Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan and the State of Palestine, including those internally displaced or living as refugees.

The report noted that the current year has seen a significant increase in kidnapping rates where hundreds of children were abducted from their schools or on their way to school and used by armed forces and groups. There has also been a rise in the number of attacks on education and health facilities and the use of schools for military purposes.

According to the report, nearly 230 million children are currently living in countries and areas affected by armed conflict. Some 2.3 million children are affected by the conflict in the Central African Republic. There, 10,000 children were recruited by armed groups.

The year has also posed significant new dangers to the health of children, most notably by the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which left thousands of children orphaned.