By Constance Ndeleko
“All wars, whether just or unjust, disastrous or victorious, are waged against the child.” EGLANTYNE JEBB
The scale of violence between Palestine and Israel Is massive and children are bearing the brunt of this escalation that has been happening.
Expressively, we are all cognizant that conflict has a profound and lifelong impact on children, irrespective of where they live. A child is a child. Their rights should be protected. The ongoing rocketed conflict between Palestine and Israel are grave violations of human rights.
One in six children across the world are living in areas impacted by conflict, and children are more at risk in conflict now than at any time in the last 20 years.
The war has exacerbated the already worst situation of the pandemic (COVID-19) which has horrifically impacted children and their families’ livelihoods in Palestine.
NEW YORK, 12 May 2021 – “At least 14 children in the State of Palestine and 1 child in Israel have been reported killed since Monday.
“Another 95 children in Gaza and the West Bank – including East Jerusalem – and 3 children in Israel have reportedly been injured in the past five days
According reports by UNICEF more than 10, 000 people have been displaced, most of them are children. In the event of the eruptive conflict, schools, home and infrastructure have been damaged, lives have been lost including those of children according to reports by UN agency.
This situation has seen children and their families being left homeless and displaced as they flee due to violence. The situation is at a dangerous tipping point. The level of violence and its effects on children is devastating. We are on the brink of a full-scale war. In any war, children – all children – suffer first and suffer most.
There are two main sources of violence: i) violence resulting from the occupation and ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and ii) violence within Palestinian families and communities, including domestic violence, harsh corporal punishment in homes and schools, sexual abuse, early marriage, and child labor. These two sources of violence are interconnected and are linked to family stress and dysfunction.
The repercussions of war are immensely torturous to the wellbeing of a child. Many of these children have been subjected to unimaginable suffering. They are not just caught in the crossfire or treated by combatants as expendable collateral damage, but often deliberately and systematically targeted. They are killed, maimed, and raped. They are bombed in their schools and in their homes. They are abducted, tortured, and recruited by armed groups to fight and to work as porters, cooks and sex slaves on a scale not seen for decades.
There are approximately 350 million children living in areas affected by conflict today, according to new research carried out by the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO) for this report.
The number of children living in a conflict zone has increased by more than 75 percent from the early 1990s when it was around 200 million, to more than 357 million children in 2016 – around 1 in 6 of the world’s children. 165 million of these children are affected by high intensity conflicts. Children living in such conflict-impacted areas often lack access to school and health facilities, and are more exposed to violence.
|UNICEF
Reports identify concerning trends for the safety and wellbeing of children living in areas impacted by conflict, through analysis of the United Nations Annual Reports of the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) and new research by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
Although all warring parties are obliged to protect children, in conflicts around the world heinous attacks are committed against children on a daily basis, for which the perpetrators are not being held to account. What is more, many of these violations are increasing, driven by brutal conflicts like the war in Syria and now the current war between Israel and Palestine. There is an urgent need for action to end what is too often a war on children.
Children also writhe the indirect consequences of conflict. Children living in conflict-affected settings are less likely to be in school or have access to basic sanitation and clean water, and more likely to die in childhood due to under-nutrition and a lack of medical care, including vaccinations.
Recent studies have shown high levels of toxic stress in children who have lived in or fled from war zones, which can have a lifelong impact on their mental health and development. Around the world, untold millions of childhoods have been torn apart by conflict-related violence.
Conflicts today are also often long-drawn-out, which leads to the erosion of governance structures, market economies and essential service provision. Protracted crises also have a knock-on effect on displacement — 65.6 million people around the world have been forced from their homes today12 and a refugee spends an average of 17 years of his or her life in exile.
“All sides need to step back and end the violence. All sides have an obligation to protect civilians – especially children – and facilitate humanitarian access. The underlying triggers for this violence will not be resolved through further violence.”
Amid increasing bloodshed and volatility in Gaza and Israel, UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet on Saturday last week appealed for a de-escalation in tensions and urged all sides to respect international law.
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