One in four kids living with conflict, disaster

About a quarter of the world’s children – about 535 million – are living in a country affected by conflict or disaster, the head of the UN children’s agency said yesterday. Henrietta Fore told a Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict that it is ‘‘almost beyond comprehension’’ that one of every four young people are caught in that situation. She pointed to children and young people whose lives are being shattered by conflicts, including in Yemen, Mali and South Sudan. She also cited youngsters recruited to fight, killed by a land mine or an attack on their school, and ‘‘losing hope not only in their futures, but in the futures of their countries.’’