Last year, 473 million children lived in conflict areas – twice as many as 30 years ago, according to the organization Save the Children. They are also exposed to more and more serious crimes there.
According to the children’s rights organization Save the Children, the number of children affected by conflicts and wars has risen sharply. Last year, around 473 million children lived in conflict zones, the organization said in publishing a report. This is almost twice as many adolescents as there were 30 years ago.
According to the information, 19 percent of all girls and boys worldwide lived in a conflict area last year. According to the report, 181 million children were affected on the African continent alone.
Relative to the total population, children in the Middle East were most at risk last year. According to information, more than one in three children lived in the immediate vicinity of a conflict.
More and more serious crimes
In addition, children are increasingly exposed to serious crimes in conflicts and wars. With 31,721 confirmed cases, there were around 15 percent more violations in 2023 than in the previous year. This includes, for example, the killing and mutilation of adolescents or attacks on schools. With 8,434 incidents, almost a third of such crimes were detected in the Palestinian Territories.
Lea Meyer, humanitarian aid expert at “Save the Children” Germany, called on states to fulfill their obligations to protect children in conflict – “legally, financially and through their foreign policy actions”.
The aid organization’s analysis is based, among other things, on data from the Prio peace research institute and reports from the United Nations. A conflict area is defined as an area within a radius of 50 kilometers of a location where there has been at least one “conflict event” within a year. These include fights between armed groups or attacks on the civilian population.
