Protecting Children In Mali Imagine a child pointing a gun at a British soldier, or a child approaching your military convoy with what looks look an explosive belt -- what would you do in that split second? How would you treat the child? These are precisely the difficult questions the British army is grappling with in Mali. Mali's population is one of the youngest in the world, with a median age of just 16. It is also one of the hardest places in the world to be a child according to the 2021 End of Childhood Index. Extreme poverty, food insecurity, malnutrition, gender-based violence and early marriage are hallmarks of many children's lives. Children here are also on the frontline of the climate crisis, with the Sahel region warming at a rate one and half times faster than the global average, causing devastating cycles of drought and flooding. An escalation in conflict in recent years means Mali is now grappling with an unprecedented emergency, which continues to worsen. More civilians were killed in conflict-related violence in Mali in 2020 than in any previous year. Today, 3.5 million children in the landlocked West African country are in need of humanitarian aid.