Far from its usual pomp-filled celebrations, this year’s World Children’s Day, Nov. 20, was marked by
mourning and grief as governments and civil society commemorated children across the world who have died in conflict, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
Hoping to spare more children from needless deaths, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child
renewed its calls for peace and accountability for all grave violations of children's rights in conflict zones.
“In the face of wars affecting children around the globe, we call again for ceasefires, for a return to the basics of humanitarian law, and for thorough investigations by competent authorities of all grave violations against children in the context of armed conflict,” the committee said.
The statement comes as the world marked the 34th year since the adoption of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) – the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. The framework acknowledges that all children have inalienable rights, and mandates governments to protect and uphold these rights.
“However, children today are living in a world that is increasingly hostile to their rights,” said
U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) executive director Catherine Russell.
This calls to mind not only Palestine, where over 4,600 children have been killed by airstrikes by the Israeli Defense Forces within the last five weeks alone, but also other conflict-torn countries. From Ukraine to Afghanistan, from Syria to Myanmar, children are no longer “untouchable” under the rules of war, but are instead
killed or maimed, raped, recruited into armed groups, abducted, or denied basic humanitarian services.
From 2005 to 2022, the U.N. documented over
266,000 grave violations against children across the world. At least 468 million children – or a quarter of the world’s 2.4 billion child population – lived in areas affected by armed conflict. This exposes them to starvation and extreme poverty and stunts their physical, mental, and psychosocial development.
The situation in Asia is just as dire. In 2021,
approximately 152 million children in Asia were living in conflict zones, representing 29 percent of all children in the region.
The need “to create an environment where children can thrive, play and speak up for their rights while being protected from poverty, violence, conflict and crime,” in the words of
Child Rights Connect Asia, cannot be underscored enough.