From Afghanistan to Libya, it is always the most vulnerable people who fall victim to the ravages of conflict – children chief among them. Far from being spared the horrors of war, one in five children and teenagers now live in a conflict zone, and they are more at risk of harm today than they have been for the past 20 years. This was made abundantly clear in the UN’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, presented by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday. The document states that more than 12,000 children were killed in conflict zones last year.
Afghanistan tops the list, with children accounting for nearly a quarter of all civilian casualties. While the death toll has reduced, compared to the same period last year, attacks have intensified in the past few months. By way of proof, only yesterday, a roadside bomb claimed the lives of dozens of women and children Farah provice, western Afghanistan.
With war or insecurity engulfing one in four Arab states, children in this region are especially affected by violence. The conflict has intensified in Yemen and Libya, blighting the lives of thousands of young people. Meanwhile, in Syria, Bashar Al Assad's regime and its Russian ally have wilfully targeted civilians in Idlib and Hama since April. One-third of Idlib's population are children. In the past four weeks alone, the number of children killed in Idlib has surpassed the total for 2018. Those who survive the shelling are often left traumatised, injured or orphaned. In Hama, more than 65 per cent of schools have closed, leaving a generation of young Syrians ill-equipped for an uncertain future.
In neighbouring Iraq, violence has subsided since the defeat of ISIS in 2017. But attacks are still frequent, and children often detained because their parents are accused of being members of terrorist groups, as is also the case in Syria. In both countries, most detained children are under the age of five.
Elsewhere, children are at risk of recruitment by armed groups. This is especially true of Somalia, where thousands have been recruited as child soldiers by organisations such as Al Shabab.
Yet, the fate of these children is being ignored by the wider world. Anti-Syrian sentiment has led Lebanese and Turkish authorities to deport refugees to their war-torn homeland. Thousands more could face the same fate. At the same time, wealthier western countries such as Italy are apparently unconcerned about leaving ships full of migrants stranded at sea. Apathy and prejudice should not cost innocent people their lives. It will always be our collective duty to keep children out of harm's reach.