Children in conflict suffer shocking levels of violence: UNICEF

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 28 (APP):Children caught in war zones are increasingly being used as weapons of war recruited to fight, forced to act as suicide bombers, and used as human shields “ the United Nations childrens agency has warned.
In a statement summarizing 2017 as a brutal year for children caught in conflict, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said parties to conflicts were blatantly disregarding international humanitarian law and children were routinely coming under attack.
Rape, forced marriage, abduction and enslavement had become standard tactics in conflicts across Iraq, Syria and Yemen, as well as in Nigeria, South Sudan and Myanmar
Children are being targeted and exposed to attacks and brutal violence in their homes, schools and playgrounds, Manuel Fontaine, the Director of Emergency Programmes at UNICEF said on Thursday.
As these attacks continue year after year, we cannot become numb. Such brutality cannot be the new normal.
According to UNICEF, children have become frontline targets, used as human shields, killed, maimed and recruited to fight in conflicts around the world.
In addition to the physical trauma children have had to suffer, far too many children have been subjected to the psychosocial trauma in having to witnesses shocking and widespread violence.
Hundreds of thousands have been displaced and many children have died as a result of lack of health care, medicines or access to food and water, because these services and were damaged or destroyed in fighting.
In some contexts, children abducted by extremist groups experience abuse yet again upon release when they are detained by security forces, UNICEF added.
UNICEF underscored the need of all parties to conflict to abide by their obligations under international law to immediately end violations against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.
UNICEF also called on all States with influence over parties to conflict to use that influence to protect children.
Over the course of 2017
– In Afghanistan, almost 700 children were killed in the first 9 months of the year.
– In the Central African Republic, after months of renewed fighting, a dramatic increase in violence saw children being killed, raped, abducted and recruited by armed groups.
– In the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, violence has driven 850,000 children from their homes, while more than 200 health centres and 400 schools were attacked. An estimated 350,000 children have suffered from severe acute malnutrition.
– In northeast Nigeria and Cameroon, Boko Haram has forced at least 135 children to act as suicide bombers, almost five times the number in 2016.
– In Iraq and Syria, children have reportedly been used as human shields, trapped under siege, targeted by snipers and lived through intense bombardment and violence.
– In Myanmar, Rohingya children suffered and witnessed shocking and widespread violence as they were attacked and driven from their homes in Rakhine state; while children in remote border areas of Kachin, Shan, and Kayin states continued to suffer the consequences of ongoing tensions between the Myanmar Armed Forces and various ethnic armed groups.
– In South Sudan, where conflict and a collapsing economy led to a famine declaration in parts of the country, more than 19,000 children have been recruited into armed forces and armed groups, and over 2,300 children have been killed or injured since the conflict first erupted in December 2013.
– In Somalia, 1,740 cases of child recruitment were reported in the first 10 months of 2017.
– In Yemen, nearly 1,000 days of fighting left at least 5,000 children dead or injured, according to verified data, with actual numbers expected to be much higher. More than 11 million children need humanitarian assistance. Out of 1.8 million children suffering from malnutrition, 385,000 are severely malnourished and at risk of death if not urgently treated.
– In eastern Ukraine, 220,000 children lived under constant threat of mines and other explosive remnants of war due to the 500 kilometer ˜contact line“ the strip of land where fighting is most severe – becoming one of the most mine-contaminated places on earth.
UNICEF calls on all parties to conflict to abide by their obligations under international law to immediately end violations against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals. UNICEF also calls on States with influence over parties to conflict to use that influence to protect children.