UN appeals for $1billion to save Syrian children becoming "a lost generation"
Jan.08,2014: The United Nations and its humanitarian partners on Tuesday asked for
$1 billion to save millions of Syrian children from becoming a “lost generation,”
doomed by the civil war in their country to a life of despair, diminished opportunities
and broken futures. "The future for these children is slipping away, but there is
still a chance to save them," UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said
at the unveiling of the “No Lost Generation" initiative in Geneva, one week ahead
of a major donor conference in Kuwait for humanitarian aid for Syria. "The world must
answer this crisis with immediate, massive international support,” he added. Launched
by the UN Children’s Fund (), the UN refugee agency (), Save the Children, World Vision
and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the initiative calls for Governments,
aid agencies and the ordinary public to champion the children of Syria, where well
over 100,000 people have been killed and 8 million others driven from their homes,
2 million of them as refugees in neighbouring countries, since the conflict erupted
in March 2011. “For nearly three years, Syria's children have been the most vulnerable
of all victims of the conflict, seeing their families and loved ones killed, their
schools destroyed and their hopes eroded,” the agencies said in a joint news release.
“They have been wounded either physically, psychologically or both. Children have
also become vulnerable to the worst types of exploitation, including child labour,
recruitment into armed groups and forces, early marriage and other forms of gender
based violence.” Source: UN