In the last thirty years, the number of children living in war zones has almost doubled. In conflict, girls are at a significantly higher risk of sexual and gender-based violence – including forced marriage – while boys are exposed to harms such as killing, maiming, and abduction.
Women and girls are also more likely to go hungry because they will skip meals and eat less nutritious food to ensure others in the household are prioritized.
Girls also face additional risks such as limited access to essential services, including health care and education.
Yet their experiences are much more likely to go unreported and overlooked.
Girls’ voices matter and we need to hear them. Importantly, we must uphold and protect all children’s rights.
To help the wellbeing of children living in conflict, Save the Children provides support across several key areas, including:
Stories from Children in Crisis
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Maha*, 10, lives with her family – including her 16-year-old sister Maya* and her 38-year-old father Jamal* – in Taiz, Yemen. In recent years, they were displaced from their village due to conflict.
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Seven-year-old Mariia* lives in Ukraine with her mother and older brothers. Life drastically changed for Mariia and her family once the war escalated.
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Rossi*, 15, and her mum Mariana*, 41 began living in a tiny apartment in Lima, Peru, two months ago after fleeing the economic and social turmoil engulfing Venezuela.
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Entha* is 10 years old and lives with her two brothers and her mother Edlène in the mountains of southwest Haiti. During a major earthquake in August 2021, the village where Entha and her family lived was completely destroyed.
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Samia*, 17, lives in one of Bangladesh’s poorest towns, in the Rajbari District in central Bangladesh, with her grandmother and brother.
Gender Equality is every child’s right
Gender Equality is every child’s right
Gender equality is a fundamental human right. In fact, it is so fundamental that it appears in the second Article of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which establishes gender as a protected characteristic, no different than race, religion and disability.
Gender equality not only provides children with equal opportunities to education, health, protection —but also the freedom of choice.