Afghanistan remains deadliest country for children

KABUL for children for the fifth year on the trot. 

Over 3,000 Afghan children were killed in 2019 and nearly as many maimed by ground fighting, improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks, the UN chief said on Monday.

In an annual report, the secretary-general said that over 1,200 casualties were attributed to the Taliban. The government and pro-government forces were blamed for about a thousand.

VOA quoted the secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict as saying: “Last year, it (Afghanistan) was very much impacted by elections and electoral violence.”

Virginia Gamba, however, noted a decline in casualties from 2018 due to steps initiated by the Afghan government and international military forces.

Syria and Yemen followed Afghanistan on the annual list.  In Yemen, over 1,400 children were killed or maimed and at least 20 attacks on schools took place.

PAN Monitor/mud