Afghanistan tops list for number of child casualties since 2005

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Friday that Afghanistan has witnessed the highest number of child casualties since 2005.

In a statement issued on Friday, UNICEF stated that more than 28,500 children have been killed in conflicts since 2005 in Afghanistan.

UNICEF said that Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and northern Ethiopia, are the places where “thousands of children paid a devastating price as armed conflict, inter-communal violence, and insecurity continued.”

According to the statement, Afghanistan has recorded 27 percent of all verified child casualties globally.

“Year after year, parties to conflict continue to demonstrate a dreadful disregard for the rights and wellbeing of children,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

“Children are suffering, and children are dying because of this callousness. Every effort should be made to keep these children safe from harm,” Fore added.

UNICEF stated that the Middle East and North Africa region has the highest number of verified attacks on schools and hospitals since 2005.

“Twenty-two such attacks were verified in the first six months of 2021,” read the statement.

According to UNICEF, 10,000 children have been killed or maimed in Yemen since fighting escalated in March 2015, the equivalent of four children every day.

“The use of explosive weapons, particularly in populated areas, is a persistent and growing threat to children and their families; in 2020, explosive weapons and explosive remnants of war were responsible for nearly 50 percent of all child casualties, resulting in more than 3,900 children killed and maimed,” the statement read.

UNICEF noted that 37 percent of abductions verified by the UN in 2020 have led to the recruitment and use of children in war.

“Verified abductions were highest in Somalia, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the countries of the Lake Chad Basin: Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger.”

“Verified instances of sexual violence were highest in the DRC, Somalia and the Central African Republic,” the statement said.