Half of children have no access to health care, only a third attend school and almost 40% suffer from malnutrition. UNICEF warns that these figures make the African country the most prone to disasters.
The Central African Republic (CAR) is listed as the country most prone to humanitarian crises and catastrophes, lamented this Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, the representative of UNICEF in the African country, Meritxell Relaño Arana.
“The Central African Republic now holds the tragic distinction of being ranked first out of 191 countries as the nation most at risk of humanitarian crises and catastrophes. This terrible status highlights the serious and urgent challenges facing its youngest citizens,” said the representative of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in CAR.
According to Arana, they are Three million young people facing “the highest level of crisis and deprivation in the world”in the context of a ten-year conflict.
The person in charge also shared that One in two children does not have access to health services.; only about one third (37%) of children attend school regularly; Almost two out of three (61%) young women were married before the age of 18 and Nearly 40% of the country’s children suffer from chronic malnutrition..
“Weakened institutions and the constant threat of violence exacerbate the multiple risks to children’s rights,” he warned.
“The fact that the crisis in the Central African Republic has lasted for so many years – and that, unfortunately, So many other global crises continue to unfold in parallel, meaning the children of the Central African Republic have become painfully invisible.But their pain and loss are deeply evident,” he lamented.
However, the CAR government’s new National Development Plan, “along with other important commitments to improve children’s rights, means that UNICEF and its partners have a viable mechanism to promote a change of direction,” she said.
“In the midst of this rare moment of opportunity [o plano governamental]The biggest risk is that the advocates these children rely on – international donors, global media and an informed public – may turn their backs and look the other way in the face of simultaneous global crises,” she warned.
Source: Observadora
