15 mn children’s lives devastated in 2014: UNICEF

New York: UNICEF said 2014 has been “devastating” for some 15 million children caught up in violent conflicts around the world.

Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, said in a press release on Monday that children have been killed while studying in classrooms, while sleeping in their beds; “they have been orphaned, kidnapped, tortured, recruited, raped and even sold as slaves” adding, “Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality.”

As many as 15 million children are caught up in violent conflicts in the Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and in the Occupied Palestinian territories – including those displaced in their own countries or living as refugees outside their homeland, according to UNICEF.

An estimated 230 million children live in countries and areas affected by armed conflicts, it said. Yet, UNICEF said: “The sheer number of crises in 2014 meant that many were quickly forgotten or captured little attention.”

The organisation highlighted that protracted crises in countries like Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, continued to claim even more young lives and futures.

The year also poses new threats to children’s health and well-being, most notably through Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has left thousands of children orphaned and an estimated 5 million out of school.

“Violence and trauma do more than harm individual children – they undermine the strength of societies,” said Lake. “The world can and must do more to make 2015 a much better year for every child.”

UNICEF published detailed figures of children affected by conflicts:

– In the Central African Republic, 2.3 million children are affected by the conflict, up to 10,000 children are believed to have been recruited by armed groups, and more than 430 children have been killed and maimed – three times as many as in 2013;

– In Gaza, 54,000 children were left homeless as a result of the 50-day conflict during the summer that also saw 538 children killed, and more than 3,370 injured;

– In Syria, with more than 7.3 million children affected by the conflict including 1.7 million child refugees, the United Nations verified at least 35 attacks on schools in the first nine months of the year, which killed 105 children and injured nearly 300 others.;

– In Iraq, where an estimated 2.7 million children are affected by conflict, at least 700 children are believed to have been maimed, killed or even executed this year;

– And in South Sudan, an estimated 235,000 children under five are suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Almost 750,000 children have been displaced and more than 320,000 are living as refugees.