10 million children displaced in 2023 - NGO

Somali refugee children cover as a dust storm moves across the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya, Thursday, July 13, 2023. ©Brian Inganga/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved

More than 10 million children were forced to flee their homes last year in the world’s 10 largest crises, according to a new analysis by Save the Children.

The number of displaced children is now more than 50 million globally - the highest ever figure, with numbers more than doubling since 2010.

The NGO found that an additional 29,000 children a day last year were displaced inside their own country or forced to flee to another.

Under 18s in Sudan and Somalia were the most affected by displacement.

"A child displaced has most likely witnessed the kind of violence or destruction no child should ever have to see, before having to leave behind everything that they know," a Save the Children spokesperson said.

"When children lose their homes, they lose almost everything: their access to healthcare, education, food, and safety."

Displaced children have usually experienced extreme violence, according to the NGO.

Once uprooted from their homes and communities, they are at an increased risk of sexual and physical violence, says the Better Care Network. Like refugees or other displaced people, they may experience severe poverty, abuse, exploitation and psychosocial distress.

At the end of 2023, the proportion of the population displaced within Gaza in just 10 weeks was one of the highest recorded globally.

Children in Gaza - where around half the population are under 18 - are particularly vulnerable due to the speed of displacement.

With these latest figures Save the Children underlined that children around the world should be supported.

They need vital supplies but also security, education, shelter, health, a place to play, laugh and learn, the NGO said.

It called on international communities to "think of the children".

© Euronews