ABOUT WAR CHILD
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War Child was founded in 1993 in response
to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. It has since expanded
its work to conflicts worldwide, with an emphasis on Africa
and Central Asia. War Child strives to alleviate the suffering of children
affected by war and focus public attention on the plight of
these children.
War Child believes that children should never be the victims
of armed conflict. For those children who become victims
of armed conflict, War Child believes that their security
and access to quality health, educational and recreational
facilities and services should still be a right. War Child
also believes that children in conflict areas have a right
to the love and care of their families and communities.
War Child exists to:
- prevent, wherever possible, children from being affected
by armed conflict
- protect children who live in areas of armed conflict
- provide emergency relief to children and those they
depend upon in areas of armed conflict
- work with local communities, their organisations and
local authorities in areas of long term conflict as well
as in post conflict areas in order to ensure sustainable
security and livelihood opportunities for their children
and to address the effects of armed conflict
Facts about War Children
These facts were supplied by War Child UK.
- One and a half million children have been killed in
armed conflicts throughout the world over the last ten
years.
- Four million children have been disabled in these conflicts.
- Twenty thousand people are killed or maimed by land
mines every year, of which six thousand are children.
- 16 of the world’s 20 poorest countries
have suffered major civil war in the past 15 years.
- 140 million children in developing
countries have never attended school.
- In the Democratic Republic of Congo, where War Child
works to demobilise and reintegrate child soldiers and
supports abandoned children’s centres, 3.8
million people have died since
1998 because of the conflict.
- In southern Iraq, where War Child is working on the
only community livelihoods programme of its kind, 76% of
all households depend on food rations.
- In Afghanistan, where War Child continues to negotiate
the release of children from adult detention centres and
supports kindergartens for children born in prison, 10%
of all mothers die in child birth, compared with 0.8% in
the USA.
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