Ukraine war: UNICEF highlights 40 per cent rise in children killed this year

Ukraine war: UNICEF highlights 40 per cent rise in children killed this year

Attacks that occurred between January and March left 25 children dead, including a two-month-old, said the agency. During the first three weeks of April, nine children lost their lives during attacks. UNICEF‘s Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, Regina De Dominicis, said during a visit to the war-torn country that children and families are…

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Thousands of children killed or maimed by explosive weapons in populated areas: UNICEF

Thousands of children killed or maimed by explosive weapons in populated areas: UNICEF

UNICEF warned that as urban warfare increases, the use of weapons designed for open battlefields are now a common reality in cities, towns and villages, with devastating effects on their young residents.  Between 2018 and 2022, explosive weapons were responsible for 49.8 per cent of the more than 47,500 instances of children killed and maimed…

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‘Shocking’ increase in children denied aid in conflicts

‘Shocking’ increase in children denied aid in conflicts

Painting a grim landscape of the world’s war zones, Virginia Gamba, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, briefed ambassadors, citing grave concerns, from war-torn Gaza to gang-ravaged Haiti, where famine looms amid rampant violence and displacement. Denying aid access has long-lasting effects on children’s wellbeing and development, she said. Virginia Gamba, Special…

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World News in Brief: Russia vetoes DPR Korea sanctions resolution, children under fire in Sudan, drought plagues Malawi

World News in Brief: Russia vetoes DPR Korea sanctions resolution, children under fire in Sudan, drought plagues Malawi

This in effect abolishes the monitoring of UN sanctions against the country, more commonly known as North Korea, blocking the extension of the panel for another year. Russia’s Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the sanctions regime adopted with the intention of preventing nuclear weapons proliferation, was losing its relevance and also “to a great extent, detached…

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Gaza: ‘Double-digit’ number of children reported killed overnight

Gaza: ‘Double-digit’ number of children reported killed overnight

The continuing violence came despite an immediate ceasefire call for the remainder of Ramadan from the Security Council on Monday, prompting urgent appeals from UN aid agencies for the resolution to be respected immediately, to prevent more people dying. Speaking from Rafah in southern Gaza, UN Children’s Fund spokesperson James Elder said that 13,750 children…

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Rights violations ripple across war-torn Sudan

World News in Brief: Sex trafficking and child recruitment in Sudan, new mass grave in Libya, children at risk in DR Congo

This is being compounded by an increase in child and forced marriage, and the recruitment of boys by combatants in the continuing war between rival generals that erupted nearly a year ago. All this is happening against the backdrop of the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the country that has caused an unprecedented mass displacement of over…

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24 million Sudanese children facing ‘generational catastrophe’

24 million Sudanese children facing ‘generational catastrophe’

Since the conflict erupted in April 2023, pitting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the CRC – an independent body ensuring children’s rights and protections worldwide – has documented a litany of atrocities. “There were worrying reports of rape of civilians, including children, denial of humanitarian access affecting children’s access…

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Gaza: ‘Simply not enough food’ to go around, warn UN humanitarians

Gaza: Number of children killed higher than from four years of world conflict

“This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, who described as “staggering” the latest Gaza health authority data indicating that at least 12,300 youngsters have died in the enclave in the last four months, compared with 12,193 globally between 2019 and…

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