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	A generation of violations against children in conflict by Save the Children International   Killed and Maimed: A generation of violations against children, report from Save the Children International   Today millions of children are on the frontlines of conflict. Despite progress in some areas, the trends over recent years are of increasing violations, increasing numbers of children affected by conflict and increasingly protracted crises.   Over the past decade we have witnessed the outbreak of conflict in Syria and Yemen, two waves of horrifying violence in Myanmar, and protracted conflicts in Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Iraq. The conflict in Ukraine has escalated, and the situation for children in the occupied Palestinian territory has continued to deteriorate. Despite a peace accord in 2016, violence in Colombia persists.   As we write, children are at the forefront of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Sahel. As this litany of conflict suggests, the overall trajectory of violations against children is cause for great alarm. The world must take notice – and act.   While 2020 has been dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, that should not be allowed to mask the red flags signalling the devastation conflict is having on children’s lives.   This report highlights some of the impacts of the war on children:   • Since 2005, more than 250,000 violations against children have been verified in the UN’s annual reports on the situation of children in armed conflict. Of these, 106,000 (42%) related to the killing and maiming of children.   • Since 2010, the equivalent of 25 children a day have been killed or maimed in conflict.   • The number of children living in high-intensity conflicts in 2019 rose by 2% from 2018 to stand at 160 million. A total of 426 million children were found to be living in conflict zones overall in 2019 – the second highest total ever recorded.   • The number of children living in close proximity to the most intense conflict zones rose significantly – up from 4 million to 9 million in 2018–19.   • Explosive weapons accounted for 37% of the 10,294 incidents of killing and maiming of children in 2019 – with the proportion much higher in Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.   The world must act to stop the war on children. And there’s no excuse not to. In 2021 there will be critical opportunities for states and parties to conflict to take concrete actions to better protect and support children in conflict.   Governments will be able to lend their support to a declaration avoiding the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Donors can ensure that child protection work in conflict is funded in line with other life-saving interventions. UN Security Council members can use their power to hold perpetrators of grave violations to account.   Save the Children calls on states to:   • uphold standards and norms in the conduct of conflict – including protecting education from attack, avoiding the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and enabling unimpeded humanitarian access   • hold perpetrators of violations against children to account – including through resourcing international investigative mechanisms, supporting the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism for grave violations against children, and consistently applying political, legal and financial sanctions on perpetrators   • take practical action to protect children and support their recovery – including adequate funding for child protection work, ensuring children have access to quality mental health and psychosocial support and education, and embedding child rights expertise within peacekeeping and political missions: http://bit.ly/3fgz2Ay   http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/killed-and-maimed-generation-violations-against-children http://reliefweb.int/report/world/stop-war-children-killed-and-maimed-generation-violations-against-children-conflict http://www.unicef.org/children-under-attack#HACappeal http://alliancecpha.org/en/series-of-child-protection-materials/prevention-initiative   * Note: As the World Food Programme and many other agencies underline, conflict directly impacts hunger, nutrition and the health and life chances of millions of children and people worldwide. Visit the related web page
	Displacement crisis driving up hunger rates in northern Mozambique as families flee violence by NRC, WFP, MSF, UN News, agencies   June 2025   Mozambique: Spiralling hunger crisis and violence amid collapsing aid budgets   Mozambique is being battered by the triple blow of conflict, climate disasters, and extreme hunger, as global funding cuts leave up to a million stranded without aid, warns Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Secretary General Jan Egeland.   In a visit to the neglected crisis raging in the north of Mozambique, Egeland described it as at a “critical tipping point,” sounding the alarm over skyrocketing violence, the devastation from multiple cyclones, and the near collapse of aid lifelines due to global funding cuts.   “In a region suffering from daily atrocities and monthly disasters, I have seen the human toll caused by the global retreat of solidarity and funding. Climate shocks, increasing violence, and spiralling hunger are having a terrible impact on the population. They now stand at the edge of an abyss, with immense suffering ahead unless the world ends its neglect,” said Egeland.   Armed attacks in Cabo Delgado surged by 155 per cent in March alone, with 52 atrocities resulting in 153 abductions and 39 killings. The violence has displaced over 1.4 million people to date, while more than 600,000 others who have returned home now face renewed insecurity and little to no assistance.    Simultaneously, three consecutive cyclones—Chido, Dikeledi, and Jude—have battered Mozambique in just three months, affecting more than 1.4 million people, and destroying homes, schools, health centres and farmland across several provinces.   The compounded crises have pushed nearly five million Mozambicans into critical levels of hunger, with over 900,000 facing emergency conditions—just one step below famine.   “Hunger took hold in Mozambique the moment conflict did,” Egeland said. “Where bullets fly, crops wither, supply chains collapse, and families are left hungry.”   In conflict-hit Cabo Delgado, farming and markets have collapsed; in Nampula and Zambezia, cyclone-damaged crops have left families struggling to survive.   Fuel shortages, infrastructure damage, and insecurity are now paralysing aid operations across the country. Humanitarian agencies, including NRC, have been forced to reduce life-saving activities due to lack of funds and growing access challenges, including administrative and bureaucratic restrictions, attacks and ambushes on aid convoys.   “In 2024, we reached over 125,000 people, but the scale of this crisis far outstrips our current capacity,” Egeland said. “We have been forced to drastically reduce our first line response—such as survival kits and shelters to people left homeless by the latest cyclone—because of the US funding cuts.”   The World Food Programme has already halved its assistance, reaching only 520,000 people of the one million targeted in 2024. This year, the number of people receiving food aid is expected to plummet even further to just 250,000, despite the growing number of people in need.   “Mothers I met told me they don’t know who they would turn to if we had to stop helping them,” Egeland said. “They’ve already had to cut down on their food, and their children are sleeping hungry. I want to be clear that, whatever happens, we are here to stay and deliver, and we must find a way to keep delivering in a world of chaos.   “I call on governments and the private sector to urgently mobilise funding, guarantee safe access for aid workers, and commit to long-term support for the rights and dignity of displaced Mozambicans. Several governments and multinational corporations are in Mozambique for its natural resources, with little returns to the impoverished population.”   NRC stresses the need for immediate and sustained international action to avert a full-scale famine, restore food security, and support the country’s fragile recovery. This includes urgent investment in agricultural recovery and fisheries support for coastal areas, nutrition for children, and protection for people forced to flee violence.   “Turning our backs now is not an option—for the sake of millions facing starvation, and for our shared humanity,” Egeland said.   http://www.nrc.no/news/2025/june/mozambique-spiralling-hunger-crisis-and-violence-amid-collapsing-aid-budgets   Feb. 2025   Senior UN aid officials sound alarm on Mozambique’s triple crisis. (WFP)   Concluding a joint visit to Mozambique today, senior United Nations humanitarian officials are appealing for urgent global action to address a trio of crises – conflict, climate shocks, and a deteriorating socio-economic situation – confronting the country.   The complex challenges have left millions of people in need of emergency food assistance. Continued fighting, the devastating impacts of recent tropical cyclones, and an El Niño-induced drought have also exacerbated the humanitarian situation, with women and girls being disproportionately affected.   During their visit, Joyce Msuya, Assistant-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, and Carl Skau, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), held talks with national and local Mozambican authorities, as well as with humanitarian partners, UN staff, donors and international financial institutions, to discuss the country’s urgent needs.   They also traveled to the northern province of Cabo Delgado, meeting with people in the Macomia, Pemba and Mecufi districts, where conflict and climate shocks have devastated essential services, basic infrastructure and livelihoods.   Escalating violence in northern Mozambique has displaced 715,000 people, while Cyclones Chido and Dikeledi having impacted 680,000 people.   “Communities made it clear: Their main priorities are a lasting peace, durable housing solutions and education for their children,” said Ms. Msuya. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Government of Mozambique to help people in need who have been affected by conflict and climate disasters.”   In Mecufi, Ms. Msuya and Mr. Skau visited a WFP-supported food distribution site which is run by local partners and is helping around 5,300 people struggling to recover from the destruction wrought by Tropical Cyclone Chido in December 2024.   “The crisis in Mozambique requires more attention. We met families who had been devastated by conflict, only for Cyclone Chido to destroy what little they had left,” said Mr. Skau. “Humanitarian efforts to provide life-saving food and other assistance need more support. We also need to help people rebuild their lives to withstand these recurring crises.”   Despite the surging humanitarian needs, just 3 per cent of the total amount of funding – US$619 million – needed to reach 2.4 million people in critical need of humanitarian aid this year has been received. Of this amount, WFP urgently requires $170 million to deliver life-saving assistance over the next six months to avert a full-scale hunger crisis.   “Global humanitarian funding is under immense strain,” Ms. Msuya noted. “We cannot abandon Mozambicans at this critical juncture.”   http://www.wfp.org/news/senior-un-aid-officials-sound-alarm-mozambiques-triple-crisis http://reliefweb.int/country/moz   Mar. 2024   Humanitarian crisis worsens in northern Mozambique as thousands flee violence. (UNHCR)   UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is deeply concerned about the escalating humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, as the recent surge in violence by non-state armed groups continues to force thousands of people to flee towards southern districts in search of safety.   Since the latest outbreak of violence and attacks on civilians at the beginning of February, more than 70,000 people have been forcibly displaced across the districts of Macomia, Chiure, Mecufi, Mocimboa da Praia, and Muidumbe. In Chiure district alone, over 56,000 people have been affected. More than 33,000 have crossed into Nampula Province.   Nearly 90 per cent of those displaced are women, many of them pregnant, people with disabilities, and the elderly. More than half of the newly displaced are children. This underscores the urgent need for targeted assistance and protection measures to address the needs of vulnerable populations.   The violence has also been marked by extensive destruction of residential areas and religious and community facilities such as schools and health centres. This rampant destruction has further exacerbated the already dire humanitarian situation in Mozambique, where over 709,000 people remain internally displaced due to violence perpetrated by non-state armed groups and the impact of the climate crisis.   UNHCR, which has had a presence in Mozambique since the 1980s, reiterates its commitment to continue to work closely with local authorities, humanitarian partners, and host communities to address the urgent needs of displaced people, providing protection, shelter and essential assistance to those affected by the conflict in Cabo Delgado. UNHCR’s total requirement in Mozambique is $49 million which is currently only 17 per cent funded.   http://www.internal-displacement.org/expert-analysis/7-years-into-the-conflict-solutions-to-displacement-in-cabo-delgado-remain-elusive http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/humanitarian-crisis-worsens-northern-mozambique-thousands-flee-violence http://www.unhcr.org/africa/news/stories/displaced-people-mozambique-s-cabo-delgado-plead-peace http://www.msf.org/mozambique-violence-continues-displace-and-traumatise-thousands-cabo-delgado http://www.iom.int/news/over-110000-displaced-mozambique-amidst-surging-violence-needs-soar http://www.icrc.org/en/document/mozambique-icrc-calls-respect-civilians http://www.acaps.org/en/countries/mozambique http://www.wfp.org/stories/conflict-hit-mozambique-tropical-storm-warns-hunger-and-next-cyclone   May 2023 (ACAPS)   In 2023, northern Mozambique is facing a critical humanitarian situation, with at least two million people in Cabo Delgado, Nampula, and Niassa requiring life-saving and life-sustaining assistance and protection. These needs arise from the impact of armed conflict, violence, and insecurity in the area. The number of people in need has increased by 25% compared to 2022.   More than half of those in need are children, and over 60% of affected adults are women. Nearly 1.7 million people are facing acute food insecurity because of violence and displacement. Those in need require protection, food, health services, education, WASH, shelter, and Non Food Items.   Apr. 2023   Mozambique is facing an alarming rise in food insecurity, with an estimated 3.15 million people experiencing severe acute food insecurity – i.e. Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or worse levels – from November 2022 to March 2023. This includes 2.8 million people facing IPC 3 and 400,000 experiencing Emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels.   The situation has worsened by about 70% compared to the same period in 2022 mainly as a result of cyclones, crop loss increasing food prices, and escalating insecurity in northern Mozambique displacing people and leading to higher unemployment rates.   8 out of the 17 districts in Cabo Delgado province, considered to be among the most food-insecure, were not assessed because of the absence of data resulting from access constraints, which could reflect an even higher number of food-insecure people. There is an urgent need for food, health services, and protection for the people affected.   http://www.acaps.org/country/mozambique/crisis/multiple-crises http://reliefweb.int/country/moz   July 2022   At least 1.5 million people in northern Mozambique need life-saving and life-sustaining humanitarian assistance and protection due to the continued impact of armed conflict, violence and insecurity in Cabo Delgado province. More than half of them are children and more than 60 percent of adults are women, who fled horrific brutality in search of safety.   ince the beginning of the year, the number of people displaced has continued to rise steadily in northern Mozambique, deepening the needs of displaced people and host communities. There were an estimated 946,508 people who have left their homes (June), up from 784,564 in the last IOM/DTM round of February. Since early June, a string of attacks in Ancuabe and Chiure districts led to the displacement of 92,000 people within Cabo Delgado and to Nampula provinces. Attacks have taken place in areas where no security incidents had been reported in the last two years.   Conflict has heightened food insecurity and malnutrition as families have been forced to abandon their homes and fields with erratic rainfall compounding crop losses. In northern Mozambique, more than 1.1 million people are acutely food insecure, thus only marginally able to meet their food needs and at risk of acute malnutrition (IPC Phase 3 or above). Food insecurity and malnutrition have devastating consequences for women and children.   Many conflict-affected communities are struggling to cope with the cumulative consequences of other shocks such as climate change and rising inflation, food and energy crises. Mozambique is one of three countries in Africa most exposed to extreme climate shocks.   http://reliefweb.int/report/mozambique/mozambique-key-messages-humanitarian-situation-july-2022   July 2021   Displacement crisis driving up hunger rates in northern Mozambique as families flee violence. (WFP)   The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warns that without urgent funding, one of the world’s fastest-growing displacement crises in northern Mozambique risks becoming a hunger emergency as families continue to flee insurgent violence.   “The conflict has destroyed people’s jobs, lives and hopes for the future. Insurgents have ripped families apart, burning their homes, traumatizing children and killing people," said WFP’s Executive Director David Beasley who recently visited Cabo Delgado and met affected families.   “These innocent communities are now completely reliant on WFP and our partners to provide them with lifesaving food and help them get back on their feet. We must not fail them,” he said.   The displacement has left at least 730,000 people in Cabo Delgado with no access to their lands and no means of earning a living. According to the latest food security data captured before the attacks in Palma town in late March 2021, nearly 228,000 people are highly food insecure. This number is projected to increase to 363,000 during the lean season beginning in October.   Many of those who fled the insurgency in Palma to neighbouring districts are being hosted by locals who themselves are living hand to mouth. The added pressure on already scarce resources is impacting host communities struggling with rising food prices and loss of income due to COVID 19. According to the latest IPC data, in some districts the host communities are as food insecure as those displaced.   Children are worst affected. Recent IPC data shows 75,000 children under the age of five are suffering from acute malnutrition. The situation is projected to continue deteriorating, with more districts likely to move into the 'Critical' levels of malnutrition.   The oil and gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has been experiencing an increasing number of attacks by non-state armed groups since 2017. Conflict has intensified over the past year with seven times more people displaced in 2021, compared to the previous year.   WFP is urgently appealing for US$121 million until the end of 2021 to support 750,000 people in the northern districts of Cabo Delgado. WFP warns of the risk of having to reduce rations or even halt its food assistance to displaced people next month if no additional funds are received. With families completely reliant on humanitarian support, a break in food assistance has the potential to set the crisis spiraling out of control.   http://www.wfp.org/news/displacement-crisis-driving-hunger-rates-northern-mozambique-families-flee-violence http://reliefweb.int/report/mozambique/young-children-dont-have-will-eat-mental-health-crisis-grips-cabo-delgado http://www.icrcnewsroom.org/story/en/1957/mozambique-cabo-delgado-increased-violence-and-attacks-push-a-third-of-the-population-from-their-homes http://www.icrc.org/en/document/mozambique-icrc-launches-delegation-respond-humanitarian-needs http://reliefweb.int/report/mozambique/wfp-provides-food-assistance-four-hundred-thousand-affected-conflict-cabo-delgado   11 Nov. 2020 (UN News)   The United Nations Secretary-General has called on the authorities in Mozambique to investigate brutal killings this past weekend, in the country’s northern Cabo Delgado province, and bring the perpetrators to justice.   Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed shock over the reports of massacres by non-State armed groups in several villages, including reported mass-beheadings, and kidnapping of women and children. “He strongly condemns this wanton brutality,” the statement said.   “The Secretary-General urges the country’s authorities to conduct an investigation into these incidents, and to hold those responsible to account. He calls on all parties to the conflict to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.”   According to media reports, an armed militant group attacked several villages in northern parts of the province between 6 and 8 November, brutally killing more than 50 people, abducting women and children and burning down homes.   According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado province deteriorated in 2020, on the back of an escalating conflict, compounded by a fragile situation of chronic underdevelopment, consecutive climatic shocks and recurrent disease outbreaks.   Increasing number of attacks by non-State armed groups, particularly impacting the northern and eastern districts of the province, have driven massive and multiple displacements, disrupting people’s livelihoods and access to basic services.   The violence, displacements and consequent loss of livelihoods are also increasing food insecurity in Cabo Delgado: over 710,000 people are facing severe hunger, including displaced persons and host communities.   http://bit.ly/36sX2MH http://news.un.org/en/story/2020/11/1077612 http://reliefweb.int/report/mozambique/civilians-bear-brunt-violence-mozambique-s-cabo-delgado   10 Nov. 2020 (BBC News)   In three days of violence in northern Mozambique, Islamist insurgents attacked villages in Miudumbe and Macomia districts, in Cabo Delgado province, killing people, abducting women and burning homes.   Hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced since the Islamist insurgency began more than three years ago.   The BBC reports the militants are linked to the Islamic State (IS) group. The BBC's Jose Tembe reported from the capital, Maputo, that the latest attack was probably the worst carried out by the militants.   The gunmen opened fired and set homes alight when they raided Nanjaba village on Friday night, the state-owned Mozambique News Agency quoted survivors as saying. Two people were beheaded in the village and several women abducted, the news agency added.   A separate group of militants carried out another brutal attack on Muatide village, where they beheaded more than 50 people, the news agency reported. Villagers who tried to flee were caught, and taken to the local football pitch where they were beheaded and chopped to pieces in an atrocity carried out from Friday night to Sunday, Pinnancle News reported.   Mozambique's government has appealed for international help to curb the insurgency. In April, more than 50 people were beheaded or shot dead in an attack on a village in Cabo Delgado and earlier this month, nine people were beheaded in the same province.   3 Nov. 2020   Urgent assistance needed for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by violence in Mozambique. (MSF)   Over 400,000 people from Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado have been displaced according to government estimates announced last week. After fleeing violence from ongoing attacks by armed groups and military actions from Mozambican forces, these displaced people now face serious health risks and inadequate living conditions, says Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).   “Approximately 10,000 displaced people arrived by boat to the provincial capital of Pemba last week alone,” said Joaquim Guinart, MSF project coordinator in Cabo Delgado. “They were dehydrated. Women gave birth at sea.”   “There have been cases of severe, potentially fatal, diarrhoea,” said Guinart. “There’s a lot of pressure on local medical staff, as 20,000 people have arrived throughout the last month and more will continue to come.”   Approximately 100,000 internally displaced people have sought refuge in and around Pemba in temporary shelter sites, such as school buildings, or with host families, increasing the city’s population by a third. Many displaced lack clean drinking water and are exposed to malaria with barely any protection, while they remain in unsanitary, crowded conditions, increasing the risk of an outbreak of measles, diarrhoea or COVID-19.   With no end in sight, the fighting that started in October 2017 has continued to increase in intensity. It has forced almost a fifth of the province’s people to leave their homes and reduced access to care and other services in the area to almost nothing.   MSF had to suspend our medical humanitarian activities in Mocimboa da Praia in March, followed by Macomia in May, after an insurgent attack during which the health centre in Macomia where MSF staff worked was ransacked and burned. It is estimated that more than 20 local health facilities have been destroyed during the conflict.   “MSF is deeply concerned about the continued violence and deteriorating conditions in Cabo Delgado and the quickly growing number of displaced people,” said MSF Head of Mission for Mozambique Alain Kassa. “The basic needs of the displaced people remain largely unmet despite existing efforts to provide humanitarian assistance.”   “If no immediate action is taken, this situation will rapidly deteriorate,” said Kassa.   http://www.msf.org/mozambique http://reliefweb.int/report/mozambique/mozambique-situation-report-30-october-2020 http://bit.ly/32so2e2 http://news.un.org/en/story/2020/09/1072962 Visit the related web page
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