ONE MILLIONTH CHILD REFUGEE FLEES SYRIA: UN
GENEVA, Genve, Aug 23, 2013 (AFP) - The number of children who have fled wartorn Syria hit one million Friday, while two million kids have been displaced within their homeland's borders by
Children make up half of all refugees from more than two years of conflict in Syria
the conflict, the UN said.
“This one millionth child refugee is not just another number. This is a real child ripped from home, maybe even from a family, facing horrors we can only begin to comprehend,” said the head of UN children's agency UNICEF, Anthony Lake, said in a statement.
Children make up half of all refugees from more than two years of conflict in Syria, according to United Nations figures.
Most Syrian refugees have found a haven in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, but they are increasingly fleeing to North Africa and Europe.
The UN's most recent figures show that some 740,000 Syrian refugees are under the age of 11.
Inside Syria, more than two million children have been driven from their homes in the face of the conflict, which has morphed into a vicious, sectarian civil war.
The UN says that more than 100,000 people have been killed, which started after a crackdown on protests against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011.