U.N. declares 2014 a devastating year for millions of children

Children rest on tyres at the Bab Al-Salam refugee camp in Azaz, near the Syrian-Turkish border November 19, 2014. Picture taken November 19, 2014. REUTERS/Hosam Katan

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations children's agency UNICEF declared 2014 a devastating year for children on Monday with as many as 15 million caught in conflicts in Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and the Palestinian territories.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said the high number of crises meant many of them were quickly forgotten or failed to capture global headlines, such as in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.