Brutality against children "cannot be the new normal" stresses UNICEF

Children in conflict zones around the world have come under attack at a "shocking scale" throughout 2017, the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, has said.

According to the UN agency, children have become frontline targets, 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, it added.

In addition to the direct impact, millions more children are paying an indirect price for the conflicts, suffering from malnutrition, disease and trauma as basic services — including access to food, water, health and sanitation — are denied, damaged or destroyed in the fighting.

UNICEF's Director of Emergency Programmes Manuel Fontaine stressed that the world cannot become numb as such attacks continue year after year.

"Such brutality cannot be the new normal," he underscored.

The UN agency also called on all parties to conflict to respect their obligations under international law and immediately end violations against children and civilians.

It also urged all States with influence over warring parties "to use that influence to protect children".

UN Radio/GBCONLINE
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