Thank you very much, Chair.
Thank you so much to the witnesses. You are highlighting something that has been going on for a very long time, and most countries in the world have not paid a lot of attention, especially, to displaced children. We know there are 33 million displaced children globally right now, and all of the things you say that are happening have been exposed by COVID.
The thing about it, though, as you actually said, is that they're not getting COVID—that's not the issue. The issue is nutrition, sanitation, access to food, access to health care, access to education and, more importantly, the sexual slavery and the labour slavery that we see going on with these kids being exploited and/or disappearing.
I know when we talk about this we talk a lot about Africa, the Middle East, those kinds of conflict zones, but actually this is a humongous issue in Europe. Displaced children in camps are not getting any help. They are not even seen, are not heard, and are disappearing.
I think COVID has exacerbated this, and I am hoping we're not just going to look at what the impact of that is, but at the opportunity COVID would have given us to actually begin to understand this issue and the lost generations that are going to come as a result of conflict and displacement for children around the world.
My question is simply this. I know Canada is interested. Canada is...with COVAX, and Canada is doing all of these things, but how do we get countries of the world to actually pay attention to displaced children?
UNICEF, you did a survey in 2020 that said that 159 countries were surveyed and it showed that displaced children are excluded from national pandemic responses, from strategies, from recovery plans, and they're not even documented. Nobody knows who they are, where they are in so many places.
What are the essential services that we need to do, and how do we get migrant children the help, the care and the documentation they need? I am really concerned about migrant children.
Secondly, what factors do you think have contributed to the plight of migrant children, and to the fact that most nations have ignored their plight? We just tend to look at kids who are actually in the conflict zones and not the ones who have been displaced and are trying to migrate.
What are the things you need to do? I would like some real recommendations to get this on the agenda and to make sure that countries continue to look at this, even after COVID has gone away.
I don't know who wants to start, but I think maybe UNICEF, because you did the survey.