Almost the same number of children as the entire population of Argentina are fleeing violence, war and persecution

Of the 110 million refugees and displaced people in the world, more than 43 million minors have fled of war, violence, and persecution. They esce from their home to save their lives.

The figure, reported by the ACNUR Argentina Foundation, is equivalent almost the entire population of Argentina and it is four times larger than that of Bolivia.

Within the framework of Children’s Month, UNHCR Argentina Foundation is promoting a campaign to raise awareness in society about the serious situation of these minors. The initiative called “War is NOT a game” aims to reflect on the naturalization of violence in children’s games.

By entering the Foundation’s website you can find more details about this initiative and on how to contribute.

“The sale of toy weons and video games with war themes can lead to the belief that armed conflicts and potentially war are valid methods for resolving differences,” says the UNHCR Argentina Foundation in a statement to which it had access. Clarion.

From the initiative “War is NOT a Game” an attempt is made to highlight the incongruity that exists in a world where It is normal for children to “play war” with fake weons. or in video games, while millions of boys and girls are victims of real armed conflicts, which force them to flee their homes and lose everything, including their own lives, they warn.

Is about a particularly vulnerable population, especially when wars are prolonged in time. Sometimes boys with their childhoods interrupted They must flee alone.

“The situation is alarming: in the world, millions of boys and girls are forced to cross borders alone, exposed to countless dangers and forced to leave their home, their friends, their neighborhood, their school and their dreams, facing risks such as death, in flight. human trafficking or sexual exploitation,” the statement says.

One of the cases is the conflict in Burkina Faso, where “boys and girls are also exposed to risks of serious human rights violations, such as forced recruitment by armed groups, child labor in its worst forms, as well as other types of violence, abuse, exploitation and gender violence”.

The figures speak for themselves. Hard data describes horrifying situations that affect millions of children. Here are some examples provided by the Foundation.

• More than 43 million refugees and displaced people in the world are children, that is, 41% of the total population forced to flee. In flight, they also face numerous dangers, and may be victims of trafficking, abuse and forced recruitment.
• Between 2018 and 2022 more than 1.9 million girls and boys were born refugeeswhich is equivalent to 385,000 girls and boys per year.

• In Ukraine, when it comes to education, around 80% of Ukrainian refugee children are currently enrolled in the Hungarian school system.

• Resettlement plications made by minors accounted for 52% of all resettlement plications facilitated by UNHCR in 2022.

• In the Sahel, violence, which is intense and indiscriminate, has forced millions of people to flee across the region, both within their countries and across borders. The crisis has disproportionately affected women, girls and boys. At the moment, More than 10 million children need humanitarian assistance.

• In Burkina Faso, the number of schools that have had to close their doors has increased from proximately 3,000 in November 2021 to 6,334 schools as of March 31, 2023.

• In Sudan, due to the war that has forced millions of people to move, children are wasting away due to lack of food and nutrients. The situation is alarming: more than 14 million girls and boys need humanitarian aid.

With information from UNHCR Argentina Foundation