UNICEF: The Situation of Millions of Children in Dozens of Countries is Worse than 20 Years Ago

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in its latest report states that 180 million children from 37 countries around the world are more exposed to absolute poverty, lack of access to school, and death due to violence than they were 20 years ago. Yemen, Syria, and Iraq are among these countries. In the report published on "World Children's Day" - November 20, corresponding to Aban 29 this year - UNICEF states that one in every 12 children lives in a country where the future outlook is significantly worse than it was 20 years ago. Tension and war, as well as poor economic and political conditions in 37 countries, are the main factors contributing to the current situation for 180 million of the 2.2 billion children living in various countries. The worst regression currently belongs to South Sudan; where, according to UNICEF, in the midst of a deadly civil war, the future outlook for children in all three categories of poverty, lack of education, and death due to violence is bleak. "Death due to violence" among citizens under 19 years old has increased in seven countries: Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Ukraine, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic. The situation of children in four countries—Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic—has declined in two categories. UNICEF states that in 21 countries, including Syria, enrollment in primary schools has decreased. Issues such as violence and war, economic crisis, and population growth have been cited as factors affecting this decline. The United Nations and its related agencies have previously separately warned about child mortality due to violence from war, their absence from school, as well as hunger, poverty, and pandemics like cholera in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. The senior UN refugee agency stated in Khordad that the Syrian civil war left more than 12 million displaced persons by the end of 2016, nearly two-thirds of the country's population. Many of the displaced are children, and many of them have been deprived of access to basic rights, such as education. UNICEF stated in Tir that since the escalation of violence in Iraq in 2014, more than a thousand children have been killed due to the fighting. This agency has warned that Iraqi children are trapped in an endless cycle of violence and increasing poverty, with five million of them needing immediate assistance. The International Red Cross reports that one million citizens of Yemen are at risk of cholera, and the United Nations stated in Mordad that eighty percent of children in Yemen need humanitarian aid.