Today, on International Children’s Rights Day, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) continues to be deeply concerned by the issue of children in war zones being maimed and killed. The NHRC calls for greater emphasis on safeguarding the rights of children living in armed conflict zones, including the fundamental rights to life and to family reunification.
Whether in the recent Israel-Palestine conflict or the long-running Russia–Ukraine war, the circumstances faced by children living in these war zones are extremely worrying. The United Nations Secretary-General ’s annual report on children and armed conflict, published this year, noted that there were 27,180 grave violations against children in 2022 and that the number of documented attacks on schools and hospitals had increased by 112%.
Such massacres and maiming of children, attacks on hospitals and schools, and the denial of access to humanitarian aid constitute grave violations of children’s rights and directly disregard the prohibition against attacking civilians, especially women and children, set forth in the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict.
On November 18th, 2022, the United Nations issued a new declaration titled “Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas.” Since its publication, 80 countries have signed this declaration, meaning that these 80 countries were sending a strong message to the the world that harming civilians and destroying cities is not an acceptable reality. Hence, the signatories committed to limit or avoid the use of explosive weaponry in densely populated areas.
The NHRC calls for the safeguarding of the rights of all children living in war zones. In addition to the fundamental right to life, the right to family reunification should also be emphasized. Today, on International Children’s Rights Day, we call on society as a whole to pay greater attention to the rights of children living in war zones.