UN: Child refugees fleeing Syria hit 1m

The number of children who have had to flee the more than three-year old conflict in Syria has reached one million, the UN says. UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres and UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said in a written statement that a further two million children are displaced within the country. UN officials say children now make up half of all refugees fleeing Syria. About three-quarters of those children are under 11 years of age. "The youth of Syria are losing their homes, their family members and their futures," said Guterres. "Even after they have crossed a border to safety, they are traumatized, depressed and in need of a reason for hope." "This one millionth child refugee is not just another number. This is a real child ripped from home, maybe even from a family, facing horrors we can only begin to comprehend," said Lake. "We must all share the shame. Because while we work to alleviate the suffering of those affected by this crisis, the global community has failed in its responsibility to this child." Most of the children have arrived in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, the UN said. More than 3,500 children in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq have crossed Syria's borders either unaccompanied or separated from their families. Some 7,000 of the dead out of 100 thousand have been children since the uprising in Syria in March 2011, it added.