UN: International Day of
Innocent Children Victims of Aggression
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| Displaced children in underground shelter in Idlib province, Syria (AFP) |
The purpose of the June 4 observance is to acknowledge the
pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical,
mental and emotional abuse.
By Robin Gomes
It is indeed a sad reality that children are the most
vulnerable victims of armed conflicts and their consequences. The six
most common violations on the lives and dignity of children are their
recruitment and use in war, killing, sexual violence, abduction, attacks on
schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access.
UN’s commitment
To draw attention to this phenomenon, the United Nation
instituted the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of
Aggression.
The origin of the day goes back to August 19, 1982, when the
UN General Assembly held an emergency session on the question of Palestine.
Horrified at the great number of innocent Palestinian and Lebanese children
victims of Israel’s acts of aggression, it decided to commemorate the
International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression each year on June
4.
The purpose of the day is to acknowledge the pain suffered
by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and
emotional abuse.
With this commemoration, the UN affirms its commitment to
protecting the rights of children. Its work is guided by the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, the most rapidly and widely ratified
international human rights treaty in history.
420 million children in conflict zones
According to the London-based international charity, Save
the Children, some 420 million children, or nearly one-fifth of them
worldwide, are living in conflict situations.
The Stop the War on Children report of
February 2020, commissioned by Save the Children, notes that 142
million children are living in high-intensity conflict-zones; that is, in
conflict zones with more than 1,000 battle-related deaths.
In armed conflicts, it is the children who are most
affected. They are recruited in wars, their schools are attacked, and
they are often sexually exploited, abducted and killed.
Hundreds of thousands of children are dying every year as a
result of indirect effects of conflict – including malnutrition, disease and
the breakdown of healthcare, water and sanitation.
Children living in Africa are the worst affected, with 170
million living in war zones followed by the Middle East.
According to the Stop the War on Children report,
the 10 worst conflict-affected countries for children are Afghanistan, Central
African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Mali, Nigeria,
Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen
Syria’s children
Since 2011, the civil war in Syria has killed more than
29,000, according to a recent joint report by the Syrian Network for
Human Rights and Anadolu Agency. The UN says 6.7
million Syrians have left the country, including 2.5 million children.
UNICEF reports that while one out of three children cannot
receive education, many of them continue their lives without the necessary
health facilities.
A report by Human Rights Watch says that
2.6 million children have been forcibly displaced within the country and about
2 million children are out of school.
The Children of Syria report released in
March, says that four out of five people in Syria live below the poverty line,
making them more vulnerable to be recruited as child soldiers, child labourers,
and to be forced into child marriage.
Children and SDGs
The UN’s Sustainable Development Agenda targeted to be
achieved by 2030, provides a universal masterplan to secure a better future for
children. The 16th goal of the agenda’s 17 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), is dedicated to peace, justice and strong
institutions. Target 2 pledges to “end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all
forms of violence against and torture of children.” These issues have been
mainstreamed across several other violence-related targets.
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