The estimated number of children displaced by storms and flooding in the Caribbean islands saw a sixfold increase in the past five years, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a report released on Friday.
An estimated 761,000 children were internally displaced by storms in the Caribbean between 2014 and 2018, the hottest five-year period on record. The number is an increase of nearly 600,000, compared to the 175,000 children displaced in the preceding five-year period from 2009 to 2013, according to the report.
"This report is a stark reminder that the climate crisis is a child rights crisis," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
"Children in storm and flood-prone nations around the world are among the most vulnerable to having their lives and rights upended. They are already feeling the impacts of climate change, so governments and the international community should act now to mitigate its most devastating consequences," Fore added.
The primary cause of the dramatic increase in forced displacement was a series of catastrophic tropical cyclones or hurricanes that hit the region between 2016 and 2018. More than 400,000 children in the Caribbean islands were displaced by hurricanes during 2017 alone, said the report.
Without urgent action to mitigate the effects of climate change, the increasing proportion of severe storms would likely result in similarly high levels of forced displacement in the coming decades, it said.
Children are particularly vulnerable during population displacements, especially if their parents are killed or they are separated from their families. Displaced children are also at increased risk from opportunistic diseases such as measles and respiratory infections, which can thrive in overcrowded conditions in emergency shelters, it said.
The report called on governments to take steps to help communities prepare and recover from catastrophic storms and protect children displaced by disasters related to climate change.
Among the recommendations from the report were putting children at the heart of climate change strategies and response plans, providing displaced children with protection and access to essential services like education and healthcare, and helping displaced families stay together.
SOURCE: Xinhua
