More than 21,000 children have been recruited as child soldiers in West Africa in the last five years, according to new data from the United Nations.
The U.N. Children’s Fund released a report Tuesday showing more than 21,000 children have been recruited as child soldiers since 2016. The report also recorded more than 2,200 instances of sexual violence, 3,500 child abductions, and 1,500 attacks on hospitals in those five years.
“UNICEF has been working with governments, local authorities and partners to strengthen the monitoring and reporting mechanism, support the release and reintegration of children from armed forces and non-state armed groups, reunite separated children with their families, provide mental health and psychosocial care for conflict-affected children, and provide care for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence,” the report said.
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The number of sexual assaults and child abductions has increased exponentially since 2016. UNICEF estimates more than 8,000 children of the region have been victims of sexual violence since 2005, and 57% of the sexual violence committed against children worldwide occurred in West and Central Africa.
The report also estimates 4,800 children have been abducted since 2005, meaning approximately 73% of child abductions in West and Central Africa occurred after 2016.
For the past five years, West and Central Africa have consistently seen the highest number of U.N.-verified grave violations against children in armed conflict. Grave violations are defined by six categories: killing or maiming, recruitment in armed conflict, abduction, sexual violence, attacks on schools or hospitals, and denial of humanitarian aid.
“The numbers and trends are extremely worrying for current, and future generations of children,” Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF’s regional director for West and Central Africa, told the Associated Press.
“Not only have grave violations against children perpetrated by parties to the conflicts not stopped across West and Central Africa, but we have even seen a spike over the past five years, with a 50% increase in the total number of verified grave violations,” she said.
The growing threats to children in West Africa can be attributed to various conflicts in the Central African Republic, Nigeria, and the Congo. In early November, an African branch of the Islamic State posted clips of child soldiers executing Nigerian soldiers.
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In September, bandits kidnapped more than 75 children, later releasing them without ransom.
Representatives for UNICEF did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
