Child abuse is worldwide phenomenon. While a number of international organizations dedicated to the defense of children are trying to save and protect them, their conditions remain pathetic.
The most common kind of abuse is neglecting children’s basic needs, which is then followed by moral, verbal and physical abuse. In its annual report a few days ago, UNICEF addressed "the condition of children around the world." The report included some very disconcerting facts and statistics concerned with children’s living conditions. According to its information, more than 150 million children in Third World countries suffer from malnutrition; 120 million do not go to school and have no hope of education; 180 million are working in conditions that are no different from slavery. From 1990 until now, more than two million children have been killed, and more than six million wounded, in wars.
In all societies the weakest group is children. Because of their inherent weakness, they are subject to all kinds of assaults and mistreatment. They are victims of ignorance, racism, and injustice. They always pay the highest price in the wars and savage conflicts that are waged by adults. The worst example of assault against children is that received from occupying armed forces.
Children in Palestine live under conditions of unimaginable horror. Many international organizations have cited, backed by documented evidence and eyewitness accounts, Israel’s occupying forces for their savagery, inhumanity and mercilessness. The president of the Palestinian Relief Organization recently stated that Israeli crimes against Palestinian children are not simply crimes against Palestinians or Arabs, but crimes against humanity. His statement was made at a conference in the UAE.
The statement went on to say that 90 percent of Palestinian children suffer from psychological disorders similar to those suffered by American soldiers during the Vietnam War. More than 300 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli solders in the past few months. More than 500 have been injured and suffer from disorientation; and more than half-a-million suffer from malnutrition. Their tragedy is not the result of any natural calamity or the actions of any criminal gang. They are the direct results of the actions of Israel, hailed by the most powerful voice in the international community as the "only democracy" in the Middle East."
At the conclusion of the conference, the president expressed his deep sadness and regret for what the Palestinians are enduring and for what their children are suffering. These horrors are taking place in full view of the international community which is doing very little to stop them. And the irony is that the most powerful members of the international community, even while willfully ignoring these abuses, would say, without shame, that they are unequivocal supporters of "human rights."
This sad, unfortunate and barbarous phenomenon of crimes committed against helpless children is a severe moral indictment of the modern world. The fact they continue indicates that civilization’s high moral values have not taken root in our modern world. While our world claims adherence to those values, the facts illustrate that it is moving further and further away from them.
Arab News Opinion 26 December 2002
