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Half of the World’s 50 Million Refugees Are Children: UN

  • Children play in a puddle following heavy rainfall at a makeshift camp for migrants in Greece.

    Children play in a puddle following heavy rainfall at a makeshift camp for migrants in Greece. | Photo: Reuters

Published 7 September 2016
Opinion

One in 200 children in the world is a refugee, says a new U.N. report.

A new U.N. report said that there are 50 million child refugees who have moved across borders or have been displaced due to world conflicts and that they now make up around half of all refugees, while only making up a third of the global population.

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Of the 50 million children that are estimated to be refugees, around 28 million have fled violence and can face significant trauma while being displaced. In the last five years the numbers of child refugees has increased by 77 percent, which is according to the report is “no coincidence that the same time period saw 15 conflicts either break out or reignite – from the Syrian Arab Republic to South Sudan, from Yemen to Afghanistan.”

The report entitled “Uprooted” from the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund said that one in 200 children in the world is a refugee and one in eight migrants was estimated to be a child. Refugee children were viewed as “among the most vulnerable people on earth.”

Around 17 million children were estimated to be displaced within their home countries and lack access to humanitarian aid.

Despite help by governments and organizations, “Refugee and migrant children disproportionately face poverty and exclusion at a time when they are in desperate need of essential services and protection,” the report stated, adding that protecting children in these situations is a globally shared responsibility.

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UNICEF also advocated putting an end to detaining children seeking asylum and where possible, keeping families together and providing them with access to education and health services. More than 100,000 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum in 2015 across 7 countries.

The report also stressed the important need to combat xenophobia and discrimination of refugees and pressuring for action.

While many people are of the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean and Europe as a result of conflicts in the Middle East, the report estimated that travelling across the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea was three times more deadly for refugees than the Mediterranean.

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