What do children worry about amid armed conflict?
As children in Myanmar, face war and other dangers, the United Nations has said that in 2022, more than 18,880 children will be subjected to alarming violence. It can also be said that this is the year when children face the worst situation in armed conflicts.
An estimated 21 percent of children under the age of 18 in Myanmar, not even eight-year-olds, are working, sometimes in long and dangerous jobs, according to Save the Children.
They say that only 60 percent of them can go to secondary school because their parents can't afford to go to school. They also say that their health is poor, and they don't have enough nutrition.
One in 25 children die before they turn one, and 29 percent of children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition.
That's why Save the Children noted that Myanmar has the shortest life expectancy among all Southeast Asian countries. In a report released by Save the Children in November last year, it was stated that 470,000 children had to flee the war due to the violence that occurred after the 2021 military coup. Before that, if we add the number of children who fled the war, there are more than 520,000 children who are war refugees.
That's last year's tally, and UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, says it needs $217.9 million in humanitarian aid for children and their families by 2023.
A child is born from the arms of its parents, especially the mother, and as the old saying goes, pregnant women take special care during childbirth.
However, a mother in Khin Oo Township, Sagaing Division, had to flee her home in September last year when her house was set on fire by military council troops while she was giving birth.
"On the house north of the village. My sister is still at home giving birth. They shoot guns and hide the lights. I am begging one of the sisters to let us go because how did my sister escape? From there, I let go under the mango tree. Asking people to remove them will burn them."
According to a report released by the United Nations on July 5 this year, nearly nineteen thousand (18,890) children were subjected to alarming violence during the wars that occurred in 2022.
According to a report released by the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, 8,630 children are killed or mortally wounded. 7,622 were recruited as new soldiers to be used in combat, and 3,985 were forcibly taken.
UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Omar Abdi said on the day the report was released
“Today is a difficult day in the history of children and armed conflict. This year's Secretary-General's report includes the highest number of victims of violence that the United Nations can confirm."
One hundred and sixty-five children, most of whom were girls, were raped. gang-raped; Forced marriage or sexual slavery; Or being sexually assaulted, and in some cases so bad that people died, the report said.
In 2022, 1,163 schools and 650 hospitals were attacked, half of which were attacked by governments.
So death, On the side of recruiting new soldiers, Men who have been raped, and other terrible disasters, Virginia Gamba, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, calls for bold and decisive action to protect girls.
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