ALBAWABA - The UN Agency for children UNICEF reported Thursday that nearly 40% of the more than 3.4 million people displaced by civil violence and harsh weather caused by climate change in Myanmar are children.
Since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in 2021 and began a crackdown that led to an armed rebellion against the junta's control, Myanmar has been in turmoil ever since.
Typhoon Yagi also pounded the Southeast Asian country in September, causing severe flooding that displaced hundreds of thousands of people and killed over 400 people.
According to Chaiban, the conflict and extreme weather conditions like Typhoon Yagi have had a "devastating impact" on children, leaving them homeless, at risk of violence, and deprived of access to healthcare and school.
He claimed that on November 15, a strike struck a Kachin church property where kids were playing football, killing seven children and two other people.
The Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of several ethnic minority armed organizations that control territory in the north and are fighting the junta, is based in Myanmar's northern Kachin state.
This year, violence in the nation has claimed the lives of at least 650 children. Chaiban further said that approximately one-third of the more than 1,000 civilians killed by landmines and explosive relics of war were minors.
"The increasing use of deadly weapons in civilian areas, including airstrikes and landmines hitting homes, hospitals, and schools, has severely restricted the already limited safe spaces for children, robbing them of their right to safety and security," he said.
