Syrian refugee children stand outside their tent, at a temporary refugee camp in the eastern Lebanese town of Marj near the border with Syria, Lebanon, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013 (Photo: AP)

Growing numbers of children were victims of increasingly complex and destructive conflicts, natural disasters and other emergencies including the Ebola epidemic, which exposed them to violence, hunger, disease and abuse. UNICEF stressed that some one in ten children worldwide currently live in countries affected by armed conflicts.

The UN agency also called for 32.45 million U.S. dollars to deal with the fallout from the Ukraine conflict which has affected some 1.7 million children.