描述
I selected Immigration & Refugees as the cause to create my artwork around. However as I begin to write I realise that equally it belongs with: Children & Youth; Disaster Response; Environment; Health & Medicine; Homelessness; Human Rights; Hunger; International Development; and Water & Hygiene. UNICEF state that conflict, violence and other crises left a record 36.5 million children displaced from their homes at the end of 2021. This is the highest number recorded since the Second World War. This figure includes 13.7 million refugee and asylum-seeking children and nearly 22.8 million children who are internally displaced due to conflict and violence. These figures do not include children displaced by climate and environmental shocks or disasters, as well as those newly displaced in 2022, including by the war in Ukraine. The record number of children displaced is due to crises such as in Afghanistan, the disruption in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Yemen, and is exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. Just like global fragility, child displacement is spreading fast. When children are displaced, they lose access to education, protection, and other critical services that support their wellbeing and development now and in the future. Crises like the war in Ukraine come on top of this record high. As do the millions of children displaced due to extreme weather events, such as by drought in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, and severe flooding in Bangladesh, India and South Africa. The global refugee population has more than doubled in the last decade, with children making up almost half of the total. As the number of displaced and refugee children reaches a record high, access to essential support and services like healthcare, education and protection is falling short. Only half of all refugee children are enrolled in primary school, while less than a quarter of refugee adolescents are in secondary school. These children often face grave risks to their well-being and safety, particularly those unaccompanied or separated children, who are at heightened risk of trafficking, exploitation, violence and abuse. My piece shows the strength, and the fragility of a displaced child. She carries her community, her home, and her life on her head, in her head.