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Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
Children who are most in need of emergency international assistance come from five of the seven countries covered by President Trump’s order barring entry to the United States, according to a United Nations report.
The report was released on Tuesday, but it was compiled weeks before Mr. Trump issued his order.
Unicef, the United Nations’ children’s agency, appealed to wealthy nations for $3.3 billion to help millions of the world’s children who face starvation, displacement, conflict, disease and other humanitarian emergencies this year.
The largest share of that money — nearly 40 percent — is needed to help Syrian children, both those who have fled as refugees and those who are still in their country. All Syrians have been barred indefinitely from entering the United States under Mr. Trump’s executive order.
Other countries where the Unicef report says children are most at risk include Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, which are named in Mr. Trump’s order, and Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Sudan, which are not — though the order bars all refugees, regardless of national origin, for 120 days.
“This shows who the ban really impacts: the world’s most vulnerable, women and children who are fleeing terror,” said Jennifer Sime, a senior vice president at the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization focused on refugees. “America is turning away from its leadership role on refugee resettlement, and it is refugees who are paying the price.”
Noting that about half the Syrian refugees who have been resettled in America so far are under 14 years old, Ms. Sime said: “These are children from devastated cities like Aleppo. They are fleeing ISIS and barrel bombs of Assad, and America is turning its back on them.” She was referring to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.
The United States, Unicef’s largest donor, contributed more than $400 million to the agency in 2016. Even so, the agency’s director, Anthony Lake, an American former diplomat, has been conspicuously silent since the travel ban went into effect last week.
Here is what the Unicef report says the agency needs for the five countries covered by the executive order that are also on its list for the highest risk to children.
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Syria and Syrian Refugees
The United Nations says it needs around $1 billion to aid children displaced by six years of conflict in Syria.
Calling the Syrian refugee crisis “the largest humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II,” Unicef says there are more than 2.2 million children living as refugees in countries neighboring Syria.
The organization is also asking for more than $300 million to help more than 5.8 million children still living in the war-torn country. It says most of that money is needed for water, sanitation, hygiene and medical aid.
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Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Yemen
Unicef is seeking about $200 million in aid for Yemen, which is in a civil war and straining from a devastating famine. The organization says the bulk of that money would go to feed 6.9 million children this year.
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Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
Iraq
More than 5.1 million children are in need in Iraq, about one-quarter of them displaced from their homes by conflict. The United Nations is seeking about $160 million to vaccinate more than five million children under 5 against polio.
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Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
Sudan
The United Nations plans to help more than two million Sudanese children under 5 who are acutely malnourished. Unicef is seeking more than $100 million, most of it for nutrition programs.
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Mohamed Abdiwahab/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Somalia
“Somalia remains in a state of chronic humanitarian crisis,” Unicef said in its appeal for more than $60 million, estimating that as many as 850,000 children there who are under 5 will be acutely malnourished in 2017.
