One in every six children are now living in a global conflict zone, a new report by Save the Children claims.
Children are at more risk from armed conflict now than at any other time in the last 20 years, the charity says.
Its new analysis found more than 357 million children were living in a conflict zone – an increase of 75% from the 200 million of 1995.
Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia were ranked as the most dangerous places for children.
In general, children in the Middle East were most likely to live in a conflict zone, where two in every five lived within 50km of the site of a battle or other fatal attack. Africa was ranked second, at one in five.
Just under half of at-risk children – some 165 million – were classified as living in “high-intensity” conflict zones.
Those children are at risk of all six of what the United Nations calls “grave violations”:
- killing and maiming
- recruitment and use of children
- sexual violence
- abduction
- attacks on schools and hospitals
- denial of humanitarian access
Save the Children used UN and other research data in its report, but criticised “huge gaps” in the scope of data recorded by forces at war with one another.
Despite its concerns, it said there was still a 300% increase in the number of children killed and maimed since 2010, according to a record of incidents verified by the UN.
Photo crédit: Reuters