415 million children grow up in conflict areas

The aid organization Save the Children raises the alarm: children are maimed, killed and kidnapped. In conflicts, they are sexually abused or compulsorily recruited. Every sixth child grows up in a conflict area.

Berlin (dpa) - According to the aid organization Save the Children, armed conflict is becoming increasingly dangerous for children and adolescents.

Around 415 million girls and boys worldwide now live in a conflict area, the children's rights organization said in response to the publication of its report "War on Children", which was presented at the upcoming Munich Security Conference.

Around 149 million children grew up under the most dangerous living conditions. The number of serious violations of children's rights has increased, the report said, based on figures from 2018. Every sixth child grows up in a conflict area.

"Since 2005, 95,000 children have been maimed or killed, tens of thousands have been kidnapped. Children in conflict are sexually abused or recruited, and humanitarian aid is systematically refused," said Susanna Krüger, CEO of Save the Children. "It's shocking that the world is watching while children are being targeted with impunity." Schools and hospitals are being attacked more and more. Millions of children have no access to education or health services.

In 2018 alone, at least 12,125 children were reportedly killed or injured in conflict-related violence, an increase of 13 percent. Boys were killed far more frequently than girls through direct warfare. According to the report, girls were raped, forced to marry children, or subjected to other forms of sexual abuse far more frequently: 87 percent of all cases of sexual violence documented concerned girls.

The number of reported attacks on schools and hospitals rose by 32 percent to 1892. The ten most dangerous countries for children in 2018 were: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Yemen, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and the Central African Republic.

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