West Africa has highest numbers of child soldiers, says UN

OUAGADOUGOU – Trapped successful conflicts, the children of West and Central Africa are the astir recruited by equipped groups successful the satellite and besides person the highest fig of victims of intersexual violence, says a study released Tuesday by the United Nations Children’s Fund.

For 5 years the portion has seen accrued conflicts successful which much than 21,000 children person been recruited by authorities forces and equipped groups, says the report. In addition, much than 2,200 children successful the portion person been victims of intersexual unit since 2016, says the report.

More than 3,500 children person been abducted, making it the portion with the second-highest abductions successful the world, said the report.

“The numbers and trends are highly worrying for existent and aboriginal generations of children,” Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF’s determination manager for West and Central Africa told The Associated Press.

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“Not lone person sedate violations against children perpetrated by parties to the conflicts not stopped crossed West and Central Africa, but we person adjacent seen a spike implicit the past 5 years, with a 50% summation successful the full fig of verified sedate violations," she said.

Since 2005, erstwhile the U.N. established a strategy to show and study connected superior violations against children, specified arsenic recruitment, abduction, rape and attacks connected schools and hospitals, 1 retired of 4 violations globally was committed successful West and Central Africa, said the report.

In conflict-affected countries specified arsenic Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, unit has had devastating humanitarian consequences for children and communities, with the pandemic exacerbating the situation, said the U.N.

More than 57 cardinal children are successful request of humanitarian assistance, a fig that’s doubled since past twelvemonth arsenic a effect of struggle and the virus.

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While immoderate countries person been a interest for astir a decennary oregon more, determination are 3 caller areas of concern: Burkina Faso, Cameroon and the countries surrounding Lake Chad, according to the U.N.'s yearly study connected children and equipped conflict.

Conflict successful the 4 countries straddling the Lake Chad basin — Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria — has displaced immoderate 3 cardinal radical and successful Burkina Faso, wherever a jihadist insurgency has killed thousands, kid recruitment roseate astatine slightest five-fold this year, up from 4 documented cases successful each of past year, according to accusation seen by the AP successful an unpublished study by planetary assistance and struggle experts.

During a deadly onslaught successful June successful the country’s Sahel portion wherever astatine slightest 160 radical were killed, children were seen alongside jihadists, chanting “Allahu akbar” (God is large successful Arabic) arsenic they burned homes.

Children associated with equipped groups are often exposed to “unbearable levels of violence” and their recruitment tin beryllium preceded and followed by different violations specified arsenic abduction, intersexual unit and the sidesplitting and maiming of children, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba told The Associated Press.

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The U.N. is calling for parties to the struggle to forestall and extremity violations against children and for perpetrators to beryllium held accountable. It urges assistance groups to summation the documentation of violations and to enactment to forestall and respond to them. UNICEF says that it needs much than $92 cardinal to support children successful emergencies crossed West and Central Africa, much than fractional of which is not yet funded.

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