(Newswire.net — September 9, 2016) —In a report titled “Uprooted: The growing crisis for refugee and migrant children”, the United Nations Children’s Fund states that children in 2015 accounted for about a third of the world’s population. UNICEF also warns that the number of refugee children has doubled in the last decade.
The latest analysis indicated that 28 million children were displaced by violence and conflict, which includes 10 million refugee children.
About 17 million children who do not have access to humanitarian aid have been displaced within their own countries, and another million were asylum seekers whose refugee status not yet been resolved.
UNICEF points out that the other 20 million children fled their homes for other reasons, including gang violence or extreme poverty.
Of the total number of refugee children, 45 per cent come from Syria and Afghanistan. Those children most often travel alone. Last year, 100,000 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum in 78 countries, which is three times more than in 2014.
UNICEF indicates that migrant children are in danger of hazards such as drowning when they cross the sea, dehydration, malnutrition, kidnapping, rape or murder.
When they arrive in another country, they are often faced with discrimination and xenophobia, adds the UNICEF report, which appeals to the international community to provide protection to the children, as well as education and medical care.
According to the report, the largest total number of recent refugees are in Turkey.
In relation to the population, Lebanon has the largest number of refugees. In Lebanon, approximately every one in five people is a refugee, while, for example in the UK about one in 530 people is a refugee, and in the United States it is one refugee in 1,200 people.
It is alleged that it is five times more likely that a refugee child will not go to school, compared with domestic children.
Legal obstacles prevent refugee children and migrants from accessing services under the same conditions as children born in that country. In the worst cases, xenophobia can be the cause of direct attacks. In Germany, the authorities have registered 850 attacks on refugee centers in 2015, the report said.
Anthony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF, explained how much we will all pay if we do not provide these young people the opportunity to be educated and have a more normal childhood.