Children living below the poverty line are now twice as likely to come from working families struggling on low incomes and falling wages than those whose parents are unemployed, official figures have revealed.

A Unicef worker reports from Northern Iraq on the challenges of rehabilitation

Access to sport and recreation is not only every child’s right, but it has an incredible ripple effect which can impact other vital sectors like health and education

It’s one of those secrets that’s whispered between parents behind hands; something you never, ever, tell a health professional

A report by the UN children’s fund has found that Britain's children are worse off overall than in many other industrialised countries

'Where is there a minister responsible for children's issues?'

A child soldier rescued from a rebel militia group in the Central African Republic by Unicef before being forcibly re-recruited has been stoned to death by a mob, it has emerged.

A new campaign for children's charity UNICEF highlights dissatisfaction within the charity sector for support that stops at engagement on social media.

The Independent's campaign has raised over £225,000. But as the latest news makes clear, the problems facing children in the CAR have not gone away

There are few children who need help so much as those who have been both physically and psychologically abused. The boys and girls rescued from child soldiery and sex slavery in the Central African Republic have been profoundly affected by their ordeals. Yet our Christmas Appeal to raise funds for Unicef has shown how their lives can be, painstakingly, restored.

While these children’s stories were so difficult to hear, they were at least taking a turn for the better

The total raised to date by The Independent’s Christmas Appeal for Unicef’s work rescuing child soldiers is an amazing £173,894

Ordinarily this newspaper's Christmas Appeal would have ended by now. We are extending it for two reasons. The first is that, despite gloomy predictions from some, Independent readers have responded with generosity to our appeal for donations to the work of Unicef in rescuing children from their fate as cannon fodder or sex slaves of armed militias in the Central African Republic. The fact that this is a difficult and complex issue – as illustrated by today's report on how child soldiers are brainwashed – has only prompted you to really engage with their plight.

I have witnessed young lives torn apart after being recruited into brutal militias. The Independent’s Charity Appeal will help give former child soldiers their childhood back