More children than ever before are living in conflict areas and are at risk of death and violence, the charity Save the Children said on Thursday, with Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia the worst countries for young people.
In a report, the global charity said at least 357 million children – or one in six worldwide – were living in conflict zones, an increase of 75 percent since the early 1990s.
Increased urbanisation, longer-running conflicts and a rise in the number of schools and hospitals being targeted heightened the danger for children, according to Save the Children.
Other threats include abduction and sexual violence.
“We are seeing a shocking increase in the number of children growing up in areas affected by conflict, and being exposed to the most serious forms of violence imaginable,” Helle Thorning-Schmidt, chief executive of the charity, said in a statement.
“We are seeing a shocking increase in the number of children growing up in areas affected by conflict, and being exposed to the most serious forms of violence imaginable,” Helle Thorning-Schmidt, chief executive of the charity, said in a statement.
United Nations figures show more than 73,000 children have been killed or maimed in 25 conflicts since 2005, the year it started collating such statistics, according to the report.
