Maps and narratives of hotspots of Persecution of Children.
During the last three decades, the number of children who are affected by violent conflicts has doubled. In the same period there was a 170% increase in grave violations against children in those areas.
The combination of increasing economic inequality and climate change with decreasing investment in prevention and solutions has inevitably contributed to the rise in violent conflicts and displacements. Save The Children director Inger Ashing, predicts an increase of 5-10% in such conflicts on every inhabited continent in 2025. No place will be spared. In 2024 the difficulty and danger of humanitarian aid has reached an all-time high.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DANGER SPOTS
For more information about individual danger spots click here.
Children on World Map 21st Century Conditions
Map by Humanium, an international child sponsorship NGO dedicated to stopping violations of children’s rights throughout the world.
On the Humanium home page you can interact with the Gradient Map
Children’s conditions are safest with civil rights respected in Canada, Australia Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the western strip of South America ,Chile and Argentina.
Satisfactory include North America, southern South America (Chile and Argentina), Eastern Europe and Mongolia.
There is a some what problematic category Algeria, Morocco, China and Russia, and the former Soviet republics to the east. Northern part of South America up to Mexico, and in Africa, Namibia. Most Middle Eastern countries Iran Iraq, (my addition: arguably United States).
My addition, click the arrow to read my footnote.
My addition of the US to the category of problematic for children is based on numerous policies and practices in the United States which selectively harmed people of color: Neighborhoods of people of color are systematically subjected to polluting industries, and underfunded schools, leaded paint, and police brutality. In regard to immigration, “…after World War II, Korean refugee “orphans” came to the United States under the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 and the Immigration and Nationality Act. European, Cuban, and Indochinese refugee children were admitted into the United States through a series of ad hoc programs and temporary legislation until the 1980 Refugee Act created a permanent mechanism for the admission of refugee and unaccompanied children. Exclusionary immigration laws, the hardening of US international boundaries, and the United States preference for refugees who fled Communist regimes made unlawful entry the only option for thousands of accompanied and unaccompanied Mexican, Central American, and Haitian children in the second half of the 20th century. Black and brown migrant and asylum-seeking children were forced to endure educational deprivation, labor trafficking, mandatory detention, deportation, and deadly abuse by US authorities and employers at US borders and inside the country.
Padilla-RodrĂguez, I. (2020, December 17). Child Migrants in 20th-Century America. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History.
More problematical: Bolivia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, much of Saudi Arabia, Mozambique South Africa and others in SE Africa. Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Republic of Congo.
T Raphael Lempkin first coined the term “genocide” in 1944, and in 1946, the United Nations General Assembly codified it as an independent crime. His work was motivated by the Holocaust, during which he lost 49 family members. He was instrumental in the drafting and adoption of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, which makes genocide an international legal offense.
Worst spots for children world wide during 21st century include: Much of inland Africa, especially the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur Pakistan and Afghanistan, Madagascar, Myanmar (landmines, explosives, 2 children killed per day, more than 250 children were killed or maimed by explosive in 9 months of civil war) and the top most dangerous place in the world for children since 10/2024 is Gaza.
Examples of 21st Century spots of significant persecution of children
1990s-2016 + ongoing Rohingya killings and displacements: Myanmar refused to accept the Rohingya group as legitimate citizens and in 2016 expelled over 1 million Rohingya into Bangladesh, burning their villages.
2003- Darfur The Sudanese government helped arm the Janjaweed herdsmen against the farmers of Darfur in a battle over land use rights that accelerated into massacres, rapes, starvation, disease, and displacements. Close to .4 million farmers were killed.
2020- Eritrean forces killing of civilians in Tigray region of Ethiopia: In apparent retaliation for an attack by the Tilray militia – who retreated from Axum, armed Eritrean forces came into the town and slaughtered hundreds of civilians and looted while Ethiopian forces stood by.
2022- Ukrainian war
- Almost a thousand children have been killed in the Ukraine with another estimated 1700 injured, of course many more traumatized. Russia has bombed hospitals schools and neighborhoods. Additionally, Yale School of Medicine says they found more than 19,000 children from Ukraine who were deported to Russia. Of whom only 1,236 childrenhave been returned to Ukraine.
- The Russians targeted children who were handicapped, from poor families, orphans and children with parents in the Ukrainian military. Children were taken to indoctrination camps and adoptions.
2023- Gaza A total of 2,985 children were killed in conflict zones across 24 countries in 2022. Data from Save the Children shows that the number of children reported killed in Gaza in just three weeks has surpassed the annual number of children killed across the world’s conflict zones since 2019. An estimated 15,000 children have been jilled and many others buried under rubble.
At least 20,000 children have now been killed in Gaza. Thousands more are missing, buried under the rubble that has replaced Gaza’s once lively streets.with many more at risk of starvation and diseases (savethechildren). Thus the occupied Palestinian territories now ranks as the deadliest place for children in the world. There is no child being publically schooled and 80% of schools have been destroyed.
2017- in the United States deportation have been done without due process, without regard to family unity, and in a discriminatory fashion. There are an estimated 440,000 undocumented people from Europe and Oceania but they are not being harassed or deported. Under the first Trump presidency, Mexican children were separated from their parents, even babies at detention centers. These were persecutory acts. We can cite more.
A Sample of 20th Century places of organized persecution of children and genocides
1904-05 Herero genocide: herdsmen found their lands being taken over by the Germans in SW Africa and attacked German settlers over a period of time. In “return” the Germans massacred 4/5 of the population.
1915-18 Armenian genocide: The Ottomans murdered Armenian men and forced survivors and women and children to march into the Syrian desert. About 1.1 million were killed or perished.
1917-19 Persian Famine: The British occupied Persian lands during WWI as they marched north to support Russia, confiscating food sources, pack animals, breaking up supply networks and spreading diseases. Between 2 and 8 million Persians died, in part due to a prolonged drought but in large part due to the occupying armed forces. In 1918 the US gov refused to give a 2$ million loan to Iran for famine relief.
1932 Holdomar Ukrainian Genocide: Russian exported so much of Ukrainian produce that an estimated 7 million people perished of starvation.
1937 Rape of Nanking when the Japanese attacked Nanking, killing, raping, and burning the Chinese city.
1939-45 Holocaust throughout European region. Nazis killed an estimated 6 million Jews as well as 3.3 million Soviet POWs, 1.8 million ethnic Poles, 310,000 Serbs, 250-500,000 Roma, 250,000 people with disabilities and many Catholic leaders because of their hope to de-Christianize Europe.
1945 UN founded After World War II, European nations, horrified at what they wrought, created the United Nations to promote international peace and in hope that more such massacres and genocides not occur.
1975-79 Khmer Rouge massacre: The Khmer Rouge slaughtered cosmopolitan Cambodians, those of the east who were required to wear blue- checked clothing, the highly educated, Buddhist monks, Muslims and Christians.
1978-86 Guatemalan Civil War When Mayan fighters rose up against government repression, the government decided to destroy the civil base of the fighters. They killed and disappeared over 200,000 pe0ple and flattened over 600 villages killed all plants and animals They drove over a million out of the country. The US mostly supported the anti-communist regime. In 1998 several individuals were convicted of disappearing and killing people.
1992-1995 fighting between Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims (bosniaks) reflected political conflicts. With the ascendency of the Serbs attacks on Bosniaks intensified. The UN refused to intervene but helped provide humanitarian aid and protect a few UN designated safe spaces. In one unprotected area, Srebrenica, Serbs massacred about 7000 Bosniak men and boys, with rape being used against girls and women. Twenty thousand were ethnically cleansed from their land. In 1995 the West successfully pressed for a ceasefire.
1994 Rwandan Hutu ethnic group committed genocide against the Tutsi between April and July. More than 800,000 mostly Tutsi were slashed and murdered. In an effort to promote reconciliation and finding It hard to cope with overcrowded prisons, most confessed killers were released. It was hard for families of victims to see them return to their neighborhoods.
See also: Gregory Stanton’s The Ten stages of Genocide
See also: Toni Crowe. When Will Republicans Start Deporting Undocumented European Immigrants? Medium.
See also: The Genocide Education Project. Cases of Genocide.