Beirut (Al-Ittihad)
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced yesterday that “the overlapping and severe crises in Lebanon continue to worsen and are increasingly depriving children of education and forcing many of them to go to work.”
UNICEF added, in a report, that “children in Lebanon are facing increasing deterioration in most aspects of their lives, in addition to increasing psychological burdens, especially in southern Lebanon, which is affected by the conflict.”
She explained that 26% of families confirmed that their school-age children do not go to school due to the closure of dozens of schools in southern Lebanon since last October, noting the decrease in spending on health treatment for 8 out of every 10 families and the increase in the number of families that send their children to hospital. The rate of 18-year-olds to work increased by 16%, compared to 11% last April.
UNICEF stated that, within the framework of its program to respond to the escalating crises, it sought to support more than 1,070 public schools in Lebanon and facilitate the enrollment of more than 400,000 children in them, and to support more than 190,000 Lebanese and Syrian refugee children in public schools and facilitate the access of more than 600,000 children. From all Lebanese territories to vaccination services and their access to vaccines.
She added that it “provided nutrition services, early childhood development, care and support practices to more than 270,000 children and caregivers, and other social, health, legal and professional services.”
UNICEF called on the Lebanese government to demonstrate a clear commitment to the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and take firm measures to support and protect all children in Lebanon, ensure their access to basic services and redouble efforts to ensure that every child goes to school and remains protected from physical and psychological harm.
Lebanon is suffering from multiple political and economic crises, the most recent of which was the vacancy of the presidential position, following the end of the actual presidency of former President General Michel Aoun on the 31st of last October, as Parliament failed over the course of 12 sessions to elect a new president of the country to succeed him.
The vacancy of the presidential position cast a shadow over many economic and other crises, as it caused controversy over the powers of the current government and its nature as a caretaker government.
Lebanon is looking for solutions to get out of its financial, economic and monetary crises, including knocking on the door of the International Monetary Fund to obtain a financial loan and the possibility of floating the local currency.
Lebanon has been witnessing the worst financial and economic crisis in its history for more than 4 years, which has resulted in a decline in the purchasing power of the Lebanese, a high rate of poverty and unemployment, and a sharp collapse in the national currency against the dollar.
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