The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday that violence against children in the central Sahel region of Africa increased significantly in the fourth quarter of 2023, rising by seventy percent over the preceding three months. According to the agency, there was a more than 130% increase in killings and maimings as well as instances of children being recruited and used by armed groups in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger during the two periods.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/05/1150396