Children
The negative consequences of both natural and man-made disasters fall heaviest upon the most vulnerable in society, and children will often lead this group in terms of their sheer numbers and in terms of their inherent fragility. Children comprise almost half of the world’s displaced persons, and over half of all refugees. The lives and well-being of children are placed at particular risk by their elevated susceptibility to illness, malnutrition, family separation, loss of education/future, trafficking, exploitative labour, and recruitment into armed forces. And often because they are children, effective programming must be specialized in its targeting and implementation in order to protect their lives and rights.