State of the World's Children 2013 - Unicef

Since monitoring began in 1999, there have been at least 1,000
child casualties every year. Many casualties go unrecorded, so the
real number is likely much higher.
Nevertheless, the percentage
of total casualties represented
by child casualties
has increased. Annually, since
2005, children have accounted
for approximately 20–30 per
cent of all casualties from
landmines, remnants of cluster
munitions and other ERW.
Since monitoring began in
1999, there have been at least
1,000 child casualties every
year. The number of child
casualties of landmines and
ERW in 2010 surpassed 1,200,
and children accounted for 55
per cent of all civilian deaths
– children are now the civilian
group for whom landmines
and ERW are most deadly.
Given that numerous casualties
go unrecorded in many
countries, the total number
of child casualties annually
is likely much higher, and
in some of the world’s most
mine-affected countries, the
percentage of casualties represented
by children is higher
still: In 2011, children constituted
61 per cent of all civilian
casualties in Afghanistan. In
the same year, they were 58
per cent of civilian casualties
in the Lao People’s Democratic
Republic, 50 per cent in Iraq
and 48 per cent in the Sudan.
by landmines, remnants of
cluster munitions and other
ERW, since 2008, boys have
made up the single largest
casualty group, approximately
50 per cent of all civilian casualties.
In 2006, the first year in
which the Landmine Monitor
began disaggregating casualty
data by both age and gender,
boys represented 83 per cent
of child casualties and made
up the largest single casualty
group among civilians in 17
countries. In 2008, boys represented
73 per cent of child
casualties, and were the largest
casualty group in 10 countries.
In many contaminated countries,
boys are more likely than
girls to come across mines or
ERW, because they are more
involved in outdoor activities
such as herding livestock, gathering
wood and food, or collecting
scrap metal. Children in
general are more likely to deliberately
handle explosive devices
than adults, often unknowingly,
out of curiosity or by mistaking
them for toys. Boys are
more likely than girls to tamper
with the explosive devices they
come across. These factors,
If children now constitute the
majority of casualties caused
Monica and Luis, both 14 in this 2004 photograph from Colombia, sit at poolside.
Monica lost a foot when a younger cousin brought home a grenade. It exploded,
killing the cousin. © UNICEF/HQ2004-0793/DeCesare
HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE
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