Escalating violence in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger has forced around 1.8 million children to flee their homes, representing a five-fold surge over the past five years, Save the Children said on Thursday.
The NGO calculated the number of displaced children in the three Sahel countries by analysing figures from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), national governments and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The study found the number of children forced to flee their homes has risen from around 321,000 in 2019 to around 1.8 million today.
"The largely forgotten crisis in the central Sahel remains one of the worst humanitarian emergencies in the world, made even more devastating by the fact that this is a children's crisis hitting one of the youngest populations in the world," Vishna Shah, Regional Director of Advocacy and Campaigns for Save the Children, said.
Fleeing to Côte d'Ivoire
"Millions of children are living in displacement, fleeing from unimaginable deadly violence. These children were already living in one of the most challenging places to grow up in the world before losing their homes, their communities and everything that they knew," she added.
Côte d'Ivoire, which emerged from its own civil war in 2011, has also felt the spillover from violence in the Sahel, Save the Children said.
Conflict in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali has led to a twelve-fold increase in children seeking refuge in the country, from around 2,450 at the end of 2022 to around 29,700 at present.
Children represent 40% of the world's displaced people, according to the UN, but make up an even larger proportion in west and central Africa.
Years of conflict
They accounted for around 58% of those forced to flee in Save the Children's analysis.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have been ravaged by years of conflict, coups, poverty and growing food insecurity.
Serious violations against children in conflict, including killing and maiming, abduction and recruitment of children into armed groups or as soldiers have increased in recent years, particularly in Mali, Save the Children said.
The Sahel is also on the front line of the climate crisis.
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