Almost 37 million children are displaced worldwide

(dpa)

At the end of 2021, more children than ever before since the Second World War were fleeing conflict, violence and other crises worldwide. The children’s charity Unicef ​​said on Friday that a record 36.5 million children had been evicted from their homes. Among them are 13.7 million refugee and asylum-seeking children and almost 22.8 million children who have been displaced because of domestic conflict and violence. This increased the number of children displaced worldwide by 2.2 million compared to 2020.

The record number is a direct result of protracted conflicts such as in Afghanistan or Yemen. Around 7.3 million children were made homeless in 2021 due to natural disasters. UNICEF called on governments around the world to step up protection for refugees, migrants and children.

The children who have become homeless in the Ukraine are not even included in the record number. Since February, the Russian war of aggression in the country has caused more than two million children to flee, and around three million children have been displaced within the country. In addition, extreme weather events such as the Horn of Africa drought and severe flooding such as in India, Bangladesh and South Africa have also displaced children and their families.

Over a third of displaced children live in sub-Saharan Africa (3.9 million or 36 percent), a quarter in Europe and Central Asia (2.6 million or 25 percent) and 13 percent (1.4 million) in the Middle East and Africa North Africa, it was said. About two-thirds of all refugee children are enrolled in primary school, while only about a third of refugee youth attend secondary school. Around 34 percent of identified victims of human trafficking worldwide are children.