Dennis (name changed) was only six when his home in Ukraine was struck by a shell that left him with shrapnel wounds to his skull and body. Doctors refrained from removing all the shrapnel fearing that if they did, it may cause nerve damage leaving his arm paralysed. This means Dennis still has shrapnel fragments lodged under his skin. This is just one story. According to Save the Children there are 357 million other children around the world living in conflict zones.
Number of children living in conflict zones has dramatically increased
The charity says the number has increased by an astonishing 71 per cent since 1991 and today, nearly one in six children live in parts of the world considered vulnerable to grave human rights violations. These violations include killing and maiming as well as sexual violence and the recruitment and use of children for war. Children are being abducted, their schools are being attached as are hospitals and access to deliver humanitarian assistance is being denied.
The world is in denial over Ukraine
Dennis’s mother abandoned both him and his brother and they now live with their grandmother just kilometres away from the fighting. The family continues to experience regular shelling and say when it happens the children shake with fear. Many people believe there is no conflict in Ukraine, but fighting is taking place and the shelling is so intense that the windows shake. The UN says the number of verified cases of children being killed or maimed has risen by 300 per cent since 2010. The denial of humanitarian access has risen by a whopping 1,500 per cent.
Rules of war no longer being respected
These increases can be attributed to the fact that there is a growing lack of respect for the rules of war and indiscriminate violence in conflict ridden countries such as South Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria. The UN “War on Children” report noted the disturbing trend of increasing use of children as suicide bombers, whilst schools and hospitals seem to be deliberately targeted. The widespread use of indiscriminate weapons such as barrel bombs, cluster munitions and IED’s is maiming and killing children.
The Middle East worst affected region
40 per cent of children living in the Middle East are located in a conflict zone which is the highest rate anywhere in the world. One in five children are affected by conflict in Africa whilst Asia has the largest number of children affected by conflict. The most dangerous conflict zones in the world for children are in Somalia, Syria and Afghanistan.
End the ‘War on Children’
Save the Children CEO Keven Waters says the increasing number of children residing in conflict zones together with worsening atrocities perpetrated against those children by conflict participants should be a source of concern for all of us. He adds that the world faces a stark choice. Do we stand by and do nothing whilst most children are killed when their schools and hospitals are attacked or are being denied life-saving aid? Or do we take collective action to deal with this culture of impunity and end this ‘war on children’
