According UNICEF Press Center, some 14 million children across the Middle East are now suffering from the escalating conflict sweeping Syria and much of Iraq. With the conflict in Syria now entering its fifth year, the situation of more than 5.6 million children inside the country remains the most desperate. That includes up to 2 million children who are living in areas of the country largely cut off from humanitarian assistance. Some 2.6 million Syrian children are still out of school.
Almost 2 million Syrian children are living as refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and other countries. This is in addition to the 3.6 million children from vulnerable communities hosting refugees, who themselves are suffering due to the strain on services like education and health. Meanwhile, the increasingly interlinked crisis gripping Iraq has forced more than 2.8 million children from their homes, and left many trapped in areas controlled by armed groups.
"Despite the upheaval caused by the conflict, children and young people continue to demonstrate incredible courage and determination. Seeing their determination, how can we be any less determined to help them?", - UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said.
The New York Times reminds that UNICEF’s report is one of a slew of statements by international relief agencies detailing the plight of civilians in Syria in a conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people. Describing 2014 as the worst year yet in the conflict, a report by 21 humanitarian agencies said that parties to the conflict had ignored three United Nations Security Council resolutions demanding access for humanitarian assistance, that the number of children needing aid had increased by nearly one-third since the previous year, and that funding for aid agencies had fallen steeply in relation to needs.
"This worst humanitarian crisis of our era should be galvanizing a global outcry of support, but instead, help is dwindling," - Antonio Guterres, head of the United Nations refugee agency, said in his statement.