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UNITED NATIONS: The UN agency for children said on Tuesday that approximately 46 million people, 19 million of them children, fled violence and conflict last year, but remained in their home country and millions more were displaced by disasters.
A report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said there was a sharp rise in the number of internally displaced people as a result of conflict and violence from 25 million a decade ago to more than 40 million in the past five years. .
And last year more than 40 percent of the displaced were under the age of 18, he said.
“Millions of displaced children worldwide are already without adequate care and protection,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement. “When new crises arise, such as the Covid-19 pandemic (coronavirus disease 2019), these children are especially vulnerable.”
Nearly 33 million new displacements were recorded in 2019, about 25 million due to natural disasters and 8.5 million due to conflict and violence, according to the report.
That included 12 million children: 3.8 million displaced by conflict and violence, and 8.2 million by disasters related mainly to weather-related events like floods and storms, he said.
Unicef said the pandemic is worsening the critical situation for displaced children and families this year.
The report, “Lost at Home” says that displaced children lack access to basic services and are at risk of exposure to violence, exploitation, abuse, trafficking, child labor, child marriage and family separation.
It requires strategic investments and a joint effort by governments, civil society, the private sector, humanitarian groups and children themselves to address these problems.
AP
