Millions of children devastated by conflicts in 2014

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GNN ISLAMABAD: As 2014 winds down, it comes as no surprise that children were hit the hardest by violence and conflicts across the globe,  the UN children’s agency said.
“Children are the ones who lose everything in war zones,” Xenia Schlegen, an activist from the Save the Children charity, told The Anadolu Agency.

“The problem with being a child in a war zone is that not only are your young years taken away from you, but also your future.”

At least 230 million children lived in areas plagued by conflict in 2014, which has been a year of horror, fear and despair for the world’s youngest, according to UNICEF, with as many as 15 million children caught up in violent conflicts in the Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Palestine, Syria and Ukraine, Anadolu news agency reported.

Millions of children were exposed to extreme violence or deliberately targeted by warring groups. Hundreds of children were kidnapped from school and tens of thousands were recruited or used by armed groups.

“Children are the innocent victims of conflicts across the world,” said Mervyn Fletcher from Save the Children. “All too often, violence happens in places where children should be safe,
including in schools.”

APP