Nearly fifty million children are refugees or migrants - UNICEF

Nearly 50 million children worldwide have been
uprooted from their homes due to violence,
poverty and other factors out of their control,
according to a new report released by the U.N.
children's agency.
Of that total, 28 million are child refugees who
fled conflict, states the UNICEF report,
"Uprooted: The growing crisis for refugee and
migrant children." An additional 20 million are
child migrants who left their homes in search of
better lives.
The report defines a child as any person below
the age of 18. Although a migrant can be a
refugee, the term refugee is specifically used to
note people fleeing persecution.
"Some move with their families and others are
alone; some have planned their journeys for
years while others must flee without warning,"
states the report, which was published on
Wednesday.
The UNICEF report aims to highlight the rising
number of young victims of conflict and the
dangers faced by those displaced.
It cites recent examples of child victims,
including Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian
boy who was found drowned and face down on a
Turkish beach; and Omran Daqneesh, the five-
year-old Syrian boy who sat shell-shocked in an
Aleppo ambulance after his family's home was
bombed in an airstrike.
"Every child that has suffered, died, is a reminder
of this huge challenge that we face," Justin
Forsyth, deputy executive director of UNICEF,
told CNN. "Every one of them deserves our
help."
More than 50% of refugees are children
Children account for more than half of all
refugees fleeing conflict, the report states.
Nearly half of those children come from just two
countries -- Syria and Afghanistan.
What's more, the number of children fleeing
alone is on the rise. In 2015, an estimated
100,000 unaccompanied children filed for asylum
in 78 countries, the reports says. That's a
threefold increase over 2014.
UNICEF is calling on governments to do more to
protect and help displaced children, including
protecting them from exploitation and violence;
ending the detention of those who seek asylum;
keeping families together; and giving them
access to education, health care and other
services.
Parents facing 'terrible decisions'
The number of child refugees has jumped by
75% in the past five years, the report states,
spurred by new and ongoing conflicts. Today, 1
of every 200 children is a refugee.
"In some places, like Eritrea and northern Nigeria
the children are fleeing violence and conflict --
their parents are almost sending them ahead of
them because its safer to flee than it is where
they are," Forsyth said.
"Often parents are judging that their children
would be safer to move than to stay put and
that's a terrible decision," he added.
Although boys and girls make up an equal share
of displaced children, the threats facing them are
different. Boys are more at risk of recruitment
by armed groups, while girls are more vulnerable
to sexual violence, the report states.
Forsyth recounted to CNN the example of a
young Nigerian girl who had been abducted by
traffickers after fleeing the terrorist group Boko
Haram. She was locked in a basement prison in
Libya and raped repeatedly, before being sold
into sexual slavery in Italy, he said.
"All of these children, whether they're fleeing
Central America and gang violence or war in
Africa or from Syria are threatened by traffickers
and smugglers and they desperately need our
protection and our help in getting an education
and a future," Forsyth said.
Children face disadvantages and discrimination
Displaced children, particularly refugees, are also
at a huge disadvantage when it comes to
education, the report states. Refugee children
are five times more likely to be out of school
than non-refugee children -- and those who do
manage to attend classes are far more likely to
experience discrimination.
Outside of school, the risk of xenophobic attacks
is disproportionately high. The report states that
"in Germany alone, authorities tracked 850
attacks against refugee shelters in 2015."
The number of refugee and migrant children is
rising. There were twice as many child refugees
under the U.N.'s mandate in 2015 than there
were in 2005, UNICEF reports. As for migrant
children, their proportion within the global
population has remained at a steady 1%, but the
absolute number continues to increase along
with the global population.
"In the last few years we have seen huge
numbers of children being forced to flee their
homes, and take dangerous, desperate journeys,
often on their own," said Lily Caprani, UK deputy
executive director of UNICEF. "Children on the
move are at risk of the worst forms of abuse
and harm and can easily fall victim to traffickers
and other criminals."


Source :cnn
Edited by DANIEL IKECHUKWU EKWUNIFE