30 Million Children on the Run: Portraits from Libya

<p><i>This World Refugee Day, there are more refugee children, displaced children, children driven from their homes by conflict, than at any time since World War II.</i></p>
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<p>Today, 30 million children are on the run worldwide.&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">They flee unbearable lives, suffering in circumstances beyond their control. Their numbers are growing by the day.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Among them are refugees or the displaced, fleeing conflicts like those that have engulfed Syria, northern Nigeria, Ukraine, Iraq, Yemen and Libya. And then there are&nbsp; migrants, impelled by extreme poverty or extreme violence to seek any place that offers security and hope.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">These children endure so much in addition to the loss of the lives and homes they've known. Many of the <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/missing-nigeria-schoolgirls/boko-haram… Nigerian children who have fled Boko Haram terror</a> have been exposed to unspeakable abuse. The lifetimes of <a href="https://www.unicefusa.org/mission/emergencies/conflict/syria">Syrian children</a> born in the last four years have been defined entirely by war.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Their journeys are often treacherous, even deadly. As many as 900 migrants left Libya by boat in April <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/20/italy-pm-matteo-renzi-migr… to drown in the Mediterranean Sea</a>. Some succumb to traffickers who abandon them <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/06/world/africa/migrants-libya.html?">if their families can't pay exorbitant ransoms</a>.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">World-renowned photographer Alessio Romenzi has joined UNICEF on several occasions and&nbsp;<a href="https://uniceflebanon.exposure.co/refugees-caught-in-heavy-snow-as-wint… documented the plight of so many children in need</a>. We asked him to travel to Libya and capture the stories of the children there whose lives are defined by escape</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">In shining a light on the dark places where these children find themselves, we might gather momentum to give them cause for hope. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p class="caption"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Addis left Eritrea with his wife and baby Lato, 2. L</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">ato's mother died of an asthma attack during the journey across the desert.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Addis and Lato were captured and sent to the Zawya&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">detention center for illegal migrants. Addis says, "My dream is to offer a better life to my son."</span></p>
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<p><img alt="" class="media-element file-default" data-file_info="%7B%22fid%22:%2236001%22,%22view_mode%22:%22default%22,%22fields%22:%7B%22format%22:%22default%22,%22field_file_image_alt_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22Lucia%20and%20her%20daughters%20inside%20their%20cell%20at%20Alguaiha%20detention%20center%20for%20illegal%20migrants%20in%20Libya%22,%22field_file_image_title_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22%22%7D,%22type%22:%22media%22%7D" src="https://www.unicefusa.org/sites/default/files/US113292_Medium_res.jpg&q…; style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" typeof="foaf:Image"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Lucia and her daughters Dina, 5, and Yusan, 3, captured at sea by the Libyan Coast Guard, in their cell at a detention center in Alguaiha. “I took my babies and I tried to fulfill my dream,” Lucia says.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><img alt="" class="media-element file-default" data-file_info="%7B%22fid%22:%2236006%22,%22view_mode%22:%22default%22,%22fields%22:%7B%22format%22:%22default%22,%22field_file_image_alt_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22Children%20on%20the%20run:%20Nour,%206,%20washes%20clothes%20in%20front%20of%20her%20home%20at%20the%20former%20Naval%20Academy%20in%20Jansur,%20the%20site%20shelters%20more%20than%20400%20families%20fleeing%20the%20violence%20in%20conflict-torn%20Libya.%20%20%22,%22field_file_image_title_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22%22%7D,%22type%22:%22media%22%7D" src="https://www.unicefusa.org/sites/default/files/US113221_Medium_res%3A120…; style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" typeof="foaf:Image">Nour, 6, washes clothes in front of her home at a former Naval Academy in Jansur that shelters 400 families who have fled violence and persecution in Tawargha.&nbsp;</p>
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<p><img alt="" class="media-element file-default" data-file_info="%7B%22fid%22:%2236011%22,%22view_mode%22:%22default%22,%22fields%22:%7B%22format%22:%22default%22,%22field_file_image_alt_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22%20A%20boy%20takes%20a%20grammar%20text%20at%20a%20makeshift%20school%20at%20a%20shelter%20for%20families%20displaced%20by%20violence%20in%20conflict-torn%20Libya.%22,%22field_file_image_title_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22%22%7D,%22type%22:%22media%22%7D" src="https://www.unicefusa.org/sites/default/files/US113230_Medium_res-2%3A1…; style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" typeof="foaf:Image">Even&nbsp;at the Jansur shelter, the dream of an education persists for the children who call it home. Here,&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">a boy takes a grammar test at the former Naval Academy's makeshift school.</span></p>
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<p><img alt="" class="media-element file-default" data-file_info="%7B%22fid%22:%2236021%22,%22view_mode%22:%22default%22,%22fields%22:%7B%22format%22:%22default%22,%22field_file_image_alt_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22Adhano,%2016,%20traveled%20alone%20from%20Eritrea%20before%20boarding%20a%20boat%20in%20an%20attempt%20to%20reach%20Italy.%20After%20three%20hours%20sailing,%20the%20Libyan%20coast%20guard%20returned%20the%20boat%20to%20the%20coast.%20Today%20he%20shares%20a%20cell%20with%20other%20inmates%20at%20the%20Zawya%20detention%20center.%22,%22field_file_image_title_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22%22%7D,%22type%22:%22media%22%7D" src="https://www.unicefusa.org/sites/default/files/US113203_Medium_res.jpg&q…; style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" typeof="foaf:Image"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Adhano, 16, sits in a cell at the Zawya detention center. Before being captured by Libyan authorities, he traveled alone from Eritrea. His father was shot dead in 1999 during the Eritrean-Ethiopian war. &nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><img alt="" class="media-element file-default" data-file_info="%7B%22fid%22:%2236016%22,%22view_mode%22:%22default%22,%22fields%22:%7B%22format%22:%22default%22,%22field_file_image_alt_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22Sagga,%2012%20years%20old,%20and%20other%20inmates%20at%20a%20detention%20camp%20for%20migrants%20in%20Zawya,%20Libya.%22,%22field_file_image_title_text%5Bund%5D%5B0%5D%5Bvalue%5D%22:%22%22%7D,%22type%22:%22media%22%7D" src="https://www.unicefusa.org/sites/default/files/US113210_Medium_res%3A120…; style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" typeof="foaf:Image"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Sagga, 12, among other detainees at the Zawya center, the final destination on his 10-month journey meant to end in Italy. His dream is still to find his uncle in Italy, obtain asylum and then return to school.</span></p>
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<p>All Photos: © 2015 U.S. Fund for UNICEF/Alessio Romenzi</p>