Girls 14 times more likely to die than boys in conflict

PARIS: Girls are the main victims of humanitarian crises, suffering abuse from forced marriage to denial of schooling, and are “14 times more likely to die than boys in conflict”, the Plan International non-governmental organisation (NGO) said on Sunday.

Yesterday, the NGO unveiled at the United Nations its conclusions of three investigations into the fate of youngsters — Rohingyas from Myanmar in Bangladesh, a second group in the Chad Basin and a third in South Sudan.

Its research details “forced marriage, kidnappings, violence, sexual abuse, slavery” and a huge lack in education opportunities.

In refugee camps in Uganda, the group interviewed 249 girls aged 10 to 19 from South Sudan, who described “a continuum of violence becoming the norm in the home and in the community”.

The NGO said “one adolescent in four considered suicide at least once” in the year before the study.

In Chad Basin, which Plan International described as being caught in one of the world’s most serious humanitarian crises, one in three teenagers questioned said they did not feel safe at home, one in five had been beaten in the month preceding the investigation, and one in 10 had suffered sexual abuse.

Rohingya girls in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, are also deprived of education. Almost two-thirds said they lack schooling due to hunger, beatings, rape, kidnapping and forced prostitution.

One in five girls aged between 13 and 15 endured forced marriages, Plan International added.

One girl facing marriage to a stranger said “they couldn’t do it in Myanmar but they can here”.