Children on the move, children left behind
Uprooted or trapped by Boko Haram
Highlights
A major humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Africa’s Lake Chad Basin, where violence and destruction have caused huge population displacements, left hundreds of thousands of children trapped behind conflict lines and led to a dramatic increase in malnutrition.
Local communities are doing what they can to help those in need, offering shelter to many of the 2.6 million people forced to flee their homes – 1.4 million of them children – but they themselves rank among the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.
As world leaders discuss the plight of refugees and migrants, they need to pay attention to this major displacement crisis and its profound impact on children. The international community needs to act urgently to scale up humanitarian assistance in the Lake Chad Basin, an area that comprises parts of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.
