(UNICEF) – More than 180 million people do not have access to basic drinking water in countries affected by conflict, violence and instability* around the world, UNICEF warned today, as World Water Week gets under way. “Children’s access to safe water and sanitation, especially in conflicts and emergencies, is a right, not a privilege” said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF’s […]
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(UN News Centre) – Six and a half years of war in Syria has inflicted untold suffering on the country’s children, a senior United Nations official said today, urging parties to the conflict to stop the violence and live up to their legal obligations to children. “The impact of war on children across Syria is […]
(CBS) – Facing all-but guaranteed defeat in their last urban stronghold, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremists seem to be relying more heavily on the youngest of their recruits to carryout both attacks, and deliver their propaganda. For the first time, a child of purported U.S. origin has been put in front of ISIS […]
(Amnesty International) – Thousands of civilians trapped in Raqqa, northern Syria, are coming under fire from all sides as the battle for control of the city enters its final stage, Amnesty International said following an in-depth investigation on the ground. The warring parties must prioritize protecting them from hostilities and creating safe ways for them to […]
(Independent) – “It was like hell. In the hospital it was very quiet despite all the people. Everyone was crying, crying from the gas, crying from looking at the bodies. It was so full, people were laid out on the floor. I almost stepped on the body of my friend. I didn’t even realise it was […]
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Late last year, a bunker buster bomb shot through an underground shelter in Syria’s Hama province. A group of aid workers were taking shelter inside at the time. Nine of them, all Syrian, were killed instantly. In February, six Red Cross workers were shot dead in an ambush in northern Afghanistan while travelling through […]
(UNICEF) – UNICEF, the World Health Organisation and partners have completed the first round of a vaccination campaign in response to the recent outbreak of vaccine-derived polio in Syria. The campaign provided vital protection against the disease to more than 355,000 children under five years old in the Governorates of Deir Ez Zor and Raqqa, where […]
(BBC) – Mutassim is nervous. The 16-year-old has never flown in a plane before. He is looking around at the other passengers waiting at the departure gate in Athens airport. He is unsure of himself, so he mimics their actions, placing his boarding pass inside his passport, and queuing to board. Link
(OCHA) – Attacks against health workers in conflict areas are on the rise. According to the World Health Organisation, 979 health workers were injured or killed in attacks in 2016, an increase on the year before. Despite the growing dangers, doctors, nurses and other health care workers continue to brave tremendous risks to treat the wounded and heal […]
(UNICEF) – Around the world, conflict is exacting a devastating toll on millions of children. With increasing frequency, children are being deliberately and indiscriminately attacked and denied life-saving humanitarian assistance in breach of international humanitarian law. On World Humanitarian Day on 19 August, join the United Nations and its partners in standing together to demand that children […]
