Nigeria has been listed among 12 most dangerous African nations for children in a new report by Non-Governmental Organization, Save the Children International.
The report, released over the weekend, said total of 93,236 children had been killed or maimed in conflicts in the 12 countries in the last 10 years.
Other countries listed are Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan and Sudan.
Titled ‘Killed and Maimed: A Generation of Violations against Children in Conflict’, the report revealed that an average of 25 children, the equivalent of a classroom full of pupils, were killed or injured in conflicts every day for the past decade.
It further disclosed that over 4,400 times humanitarian organisations were denied access to children – six times as often as in 2018.
Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International in the report revealed that in 2019, about 426 million children lived in conflict-affected areas – a slight increase on the year before.
She stated;
A total of 93,236 children have been killed or maimed in conflicts in the last 10 years, with more than three million children living in an area where violence had been raging for 18 years or more.
The number of children recruited by armed forces rose by 639 from 2018 to 7,845 in 2019. Over 3,100 children were found to have been recruited in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone.
Ashing stressed;
Many were victims of airstrikes, shelling, landmines and other explosive weapons used in populated areas where families have been ripped apart and tens of thousands of children left dead or scarred for life.
Last year alone, more than a third of the verified child casualties were caused by explosive weapons – with the number dramatically higher in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.
The report further revealed that around 160 million children lived in a high-intensity conflict zone, also an increase compared to 2018.
Ashing said the impact of explosive weapons on children is complex, robbing families of their hopes and their ability to access vital services, and often profoundly altering the direction of a child’s life.
The report launched on World Children’s Day is the fourth in a series entitled “Stop the War on Children”.
Ashing noted that it shines a spotlight on six grave violations committed against children in conflict zones.
She added;
Over the past decade, more than 200,000 such violations were verified. The record was sadly broken in 2019, which saw 26,233 grave violations committed. The actual number is likely to be even higher as some violations, notably sexual abuse, are grossly underreported.
