Double hardship: protecting conflict-affected children in the age of COVID-19
Almost a year into the global pandemic, COVID-19 continues to threaten the futures of an entire generation of children, especially those who live in the world’s protracted conflict hotspots, including Afghanistan, Mali, Syria, Somalia and Yemen. Already living in extremely difficult conditions, the pandemic’s repercussions add to their deprivation, compound pre-existing risks and create new ones. Millions of children and their families are now battling the double hardship of displacement and disease, including its devastating knock-on effects, without access to functioning food, health, social safety and protection systems. Meanwhile, the wars that displaced them continue, in many ways fragmenting and expanding, with no obvious pathways to peace in sight.
This paper sheds light on the double hardship that children and their families confront in conflict-affected countries, based on World Vision’s first-hand observations and programmatic responses. The evidence provided in this briefing is drawn from assessments in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Venezuela, and the Central Sahel, conducted between June and September 2020.