Child displacement in Africa
Since beginning of corona virus pandemic last year, among the worst sufferers from all sides were children across the world. Even worst affected in these times of crisis were children from the most vulnerable regions and communities of the world. They have to leave school, have to survive without food and have been soft targets of domestic violence, and even have been trafficked for work in hazardous industries.
African children have experienced a lot so far in a year and half, and they continue to be vulnerable. Child displacement has been common incident during Covid pandemic. According to reports, alone Central African Republic saw highest child displacement since 2014. In the African country, as many as 370,000 children experienced displacement so far. This is alarming as the risks children are facing in these countries are rising in big way.
Child displacement in Africa: UNICEF Report
A UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report says about 168,000 children had to flee their homes due to widespread violence and insecurity during and after the general election of last December. At least 70,000 of these children were not able to return to their homes. This took the number of internally displaced children across the country to 370,000.
Displaced children are more at risk of exposure to sexual and physical violence, and hiring to armed forces and groups. Further increases risk of malnutrition and lack of access to essential services among these children. And this is not an issue in a single country but whole Africa and entire world is experiencing the awful numbers on displacement of children during pandemic times. Figures are alarming and as the Covid crisis continues, the issue is going to be bigger.
Pre-corona numbers on uprooted children
Even before pandemic, the situation was not good at all. Earlier in February 2019, UNICEF reported at least 13.5 million uprooted children in Africa. This figure included the children living as refugees, migrants or internally displaced. However, if you go more into the figures, you will find how terribly the world has been into the grip of child displacement threat even pre-corona times.
In another report of April 2020, UNICEF said, around 31 million children were forcibly displaced worldwide by end of 2018. Among them were about 13 million child refugees, some 1 million asylum-seeking children and around 17 million displaced within their own country due to violence and conflict. Apart from these numbers, millions of children faced displacement due to natural disasters and other crises.