Floods, storms, droughts: disasters fueled by climate change caused 43.1 million child displacements between 2016 and 2021, according to Unicef, which deplores the lack of attention paid to these victims ” invisible “. Among the countries particularly concerned by this phenomenon, six are from the African continent.
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More than 43 million child displacements have been linked to climate disasters, in 44 countries around the world, from 2016 to 2021. That is 20,000 child displacements per day. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has for the first time produced statistics according to the age of climate-displaced people. Of the ten most affected countries, in proportion to their child population, there are six African countries.
Uprooted children are the victims “ invisible » climatic disasters, underlines Unicef. The United Nations organization has therefore equipped itself to isolate the figures concerning them in the statistics, so that more attention can be paid to them, as minors are likely to be separated from their families and exposed to violence and trafficking. .
The report provides very partial projections of child displacement for a few specific events, such as floods and storms. Displacements linked to slower events such as droughts are more difficult to assess. The figures are therefore largely underestimated. But already, they are impressive.
If, in absolute value, the Philippines, India and China are the most affected countries, accounting for 23 of the 43 million child displacements linked to floods between 2016 and 2021 in the world, they are South Sudan and Somalia, which recorded the highest number of child displacements in relation to their child population: 12 children out of 100. Closely followed by Niger, Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic, where flood-related displacements affected the period almost three children out of 100.