UNICEF urges providing aid to children in Mideast, N. Africa

'Conflict continues to rob millions of girls and boys of their childhood. Decades of progress are at a risk of being reversed across the Middle East and North Africa,” said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director said on Sunday.

“With no end in sight to these conflicts and with families’ dwindling financial resources, many have no choice but to send their children to work or marry their daughters early. The number of children affiliated with the fighting has more than doubled” said Cappelaere.

“Children in the Middle East and North Africa region have undergone unprecedented levels of violence and witnessed horrors that no one should witness. If violence and wars continue, the consequences- not only for the region- but for the world as a whole will be dire. World leaders must do much more to put an end to violence for the sake of boys and girls and their future,” he said.

Meanwhile, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) had earlier reported that 70 percent of Yemenis are in need of humanitarian aids.

Fights against terrorists in Iraq, Syria and in North African countries like Libya and also the attack on Yemen by Saudi Arabia and its allies are examples of violence in the Middle East and North Africa.

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