Ten million children in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are in “extreme danger” and in need of humanitarian aid due to worsening violence, the United Nations said on Friday.
That number is twice as high as in 2020, while more than four million children are at risk in west African countries as fighting between armed groups and security forces spreads across borders, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said.
“Children are increasingly involved in armed conflict, as victims of intensified military combat, or as targets of non-state armed groups,” said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF’s regional director for west and central Africa, in a statement.
“The year 2022 will be particularly violent for children in the central Sahel. All parties to the conflict must urgently end attacks on children, and on schools, health centers, and homes.
UNICEF says the violence is spreading from the central Sahel to the northern regions of Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Togo, which are remote communities where children have limited access to protection and services.
In 2022, UNICEF received only a third of the $391 million it sought in the central Sahel appeal.
In 2023, it has requested $473.8 million for a humanitarian response plan in the central Sahel and coastal countries.
The crisis calls for long-term investment to foster “social cohesion, sustainable development, and a better future for children,” Poirier said.