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CHILDREN IN CONFLICT zones around the world have come under attack at a shocking scale throughout the year, Unicef has warned.
In a report summarising 2017 as a violent and brutal year for children, the agency has said parties to conflicts have been blatantly disregarding international humanitarian laws designed to protect the most vulnerable.
In conflicts around the world, children have become frontline, used as human shields, killed, maimed and recruited to fight.
Rape, forced marriage, abduction and enslavement have become standard tactics in conflicts from Iraq, Syria and Yemen, to Nigeria, South Sudan and Myanmar, Unicef said.
Some 27 million children in conflict zones have been forced to leave school.
“Children are being targeted and exposed to attacks and brutal violence in their homes, schools and playgrounds,” Unicef director of emergency programmes Manuel Fontaine said.
“As these attacks continue year after year, we cannot become numb. Such brutality cannot be the new normal.”
Over the course of 2017, children have suffered the following horrific brutality:
Children in the Middle East and south-east Asia have also been affected by severe conflict.
In Iraq and Syria, children have reportedly been used as human shields, trapped under siege, targeted by snipers and lived through intense bombardment and violence.
In Myanmar, Rohingya children suffered and witnessed shocking and widespread violence as they were attacked and driven from their homes in Rakhine state.
Unicef is calling on all parties in conflict to abide by their obligations under international laws to immediately end violations against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.
The agency has also called on states with influence over non-state parties in conflict to use that influence to protect children.
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