Children in conflict zones in the Central Sahel region, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, are facing a higher risk of recruitment by local armed groups following the closure of thousands of schools in the past two years due to escalating violence and the COVID-19 pandemic, the international humanitarian organization for children, Save the Children, said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2021) Children in conflict zones in the Central Sahel region, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, are facing a higher risk of recruitment by local armed groups following the closure of thousands of schools in the past two years due to escalating violence and the COVID-19 pandemic, the international humanitarian organization for children, Save the Children, said on Wednesday.
"Children living in conflict zones in the Central Sahel region across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are facing a greater risk of illegal recruitment by non-state armed groups on a drive to attract young people after thousands of schools closed in the past two years due to increasing violence and COVID-19," the humanitarian organization said in a press release.
Save the Children noted that there is "a growing number of factors in the Central Sahel region driving children into conflict at an alarming rate, including a new deliberate and calculated recruitment strategy by non-state armed groups, including extremist groups, in the three countries."
The organization condemned the involvement of children in conflict as "a grave violation of children's rights and international humanitarian law."
Over the past three years, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have seen a surge in armed violence, as a result of which over 1.4 million people more than half of whom are under 15 have been displaced in the region.
