A clarion call from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is out for immediate assistance for refugees in the Central African Republic and Nigeria. These victims who have fled conflict and the host communities who are providing for their basic shelter are in urgent need of $500 Million dollars. (See “UN Agency & Partners Seek $500 Million for Nigeria and Central African Republic Refugee Crisis.”)
Boko Haram terror tactics have also infiltrated the region. The UNHCR’s Regional Refugee Coordinator for CAR and Nigeria, Liz Ahua, says: ““The suffering is great and the needs acute among both the displaced and host communities. Violence occurs on almost a daily basis in north-east Nigeria and CAR, generating fear and new displacement in the region, citing suicide attacks, kidnapping, indiscriminate killings and massive human rights abuses.”

The plight of the refugee child is the same the world over, and they are our collective responsibility. (See: “We’ve all been Refugees, as Old as War & Natural Disaster”), for it is the child who suffers the most.  Educations are disrupted. Heath and basic nutrition is sacrificed. Clean water is needed for the most basic hygiene needs to prevent disease. Their futures are on hold and our futures will be diminished without their prospective contributions to mankind.

For more stories, see: “Refugees – the Trail Continues of Lives Uprooted”
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Diplomat Artist’s Category Archives: “Global Citizen”