The number of children Boko Haram terrorists have used as suicide bombers since 2014 now stands at 86; says a report published by the West and Central Africa Regional Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF.

Going by the report published on August 25, 38 of the 86 children carried out suicide attacks as recently as this year.

“Children on the Move, Children left Behind,” is released ahead of the United Nations Summit on Refugees and Migrants which comes up on September 19.

Exposing the “devastating impact” of violence by the Nigeria-based terrorist group in the Lake Chad basin, the report notes the crisis has displaced 1.4 million children and left at least one million of them trapped in hard-to-reach areas.

UNICEF also says 2.6 million people are currently displaced in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, while an additional 2.2million -half of which are children, are feared to be trapped in areas under the control of Boko Haram.

An estimated 475,000 children across Lake Chad will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year, up from 175,000 at the beginning of the year, says the report.

In North-east Nigeria alone an estimated 20,000 children are reported to have been separated from their families.

“The Lake Chad crisis is a children’s crisis that should rank high on the global migration and displacement agenda. Humanitarian needs are outpacing the response, especially now that new areas previously unreachable in North-east Nigeria become accessible.” Said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“Local communities are sharing the little they have to help those in need in an act of humanity that is replicated in thousands of homes across the conflict-affected areas,” said Fontaine.

UNICEF has received only 13 per cent of the US$ 308 million it needs to provide assistance to the families affected by Boko Haram violence across countries in the region.

Despite the inadequate funding, the organisation was able to provide psychosocial support to nearly 170,000 affected children; treated almost 100,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition and granted over 100, 000 others, access to learning programmes this year.

http://www.aproko9ja.com/2016/09/09/boko-haram-has-used-86-children-as-suicide-bombers-since-2014-un-report/

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