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World standing by as children harmed by conflict: charity
LONDON, Feb 13, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Governments were on Thursday urged to do
more to protect children from the effects of war and serious violence, after
a new report suggested record numbers were living in a conflict zone.
Save the Children said wars were becoming more dangerous for children,
with youngsters facing an increased risk of death and injury, being recruited
by armed groups or sexual abuse.
“It’s staggering that the world stands by while children are targeted with
impunity,” the charity’s chief executive Inger Ashing said in a statement to
accompany the report.
“Since 2005, at least 95,000 children were recorded to have been killed or
maimed, tens of thousands of children abducted, and millions of children
denied access to education or health services after their hospitals were
attacked.”
Ashing warned that “the destruction of children’s lives” will continue if
nothing is done and those responsible for crimes are not brought to account.
– Record numbers –
The report said nearly one in six children around the world — some 415
million children — were living in a conflict zone in 2018, more than double
the figure recorded in 1995.
Incidents of “grave violations” against them had risen by 170 percent
since 2010, the “Stop the War on Children” study found.
African children were the worst affected, with 170 million living in war
zones, although a higher proportion were hit in the Middle East, where almost
one in three were surrounded by conflict.
The report also found record numbers of children being subjected to grave
violations: killing and maiming; recruitment by armed forces; abduction;
attacks on schools or hospitals; denial of humanitarian access; and rape and
other forms of sexual violence.
For individual countries, the situation was worst in Afghanistan followed
by Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq and Mali.
Different threats faced by boys and girls was analysed for the first time.
“Girls are at far higher risk of sexual and other forms of gender-based
violence, including child, early and forced marriage,” the study found.
“Boys are much more likely to be exposed to killing and maiming,
abductions and recruitment,” it added.
– Kidnapping, child soldiers –
Victims from both genders recounted their experiences in the report,
including Samira, a 15-year-old Yazidi girl from Iraq who is mother to a two-
year-old child.
She was kidnapped with her mother and sisters in 2016, kept in captivity
and sold to at least three people who beat and sexually assaulted her.
She was then forced into marriage with an Islamic State fighter and gave
birth, returning home while her child remained under the care of authorities
in Syria.
“I would prefer to stay in slavery and live in camps my whole life rather
than leave my child,” she was quoted as saying.
“I did not want to leave her to live without (her) mother or to live the
life that I lived. I wanted to give her the rights that I have been denied as
a child.”
Another recounted how a young boy called Peter was recruited by an armed
group in South Sudan before escaping to Uganda.
“They gave us weapons for shooting,” he said. “They trained you how to
load a gun, how to put in the bullet and release the trigger for the gun to
shoot.
“My heart was happy when I arrived in Uganda,” he added.
“I saw schools and hospitals. I was excited and said, ‘this is the place
where you can at least study and get medication whenever you are sick’.”
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0818 hrs