RMG - On International Children’s Day: a terrible crisis seen in the face of a child

RMG - On International Children’s Day: a terrible crisis seen in the face of a child
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01 June 2016

(ANS - Rome) - Opening the pages of the newspapers and seeing the plight of children around the world creates a sense of hopelessness. The news is depressing for those who care about the world of children. "The child population as a whole is the subject of serious violations: abduction, sexual violence, child marriages and forced recruitment." If we stop to think, a second thought comes immediately. What is happening? How can we tolerate such suffering? Indifference has globalized, said Pope Francis, becoming a "selfish attitude of indifference that has achieved a global dimension."

In Gaza, in the summer of 2014, the lives of thousands of Palestinian children and their families were cut short by 50 days of intense fighting - the consequence of a wave of violence and destruction. Nearly two years later we count over 500 Palestinian children killed, 3,000 injured, around 54,000 displaced and 1,500 orphans.

In the European Union the current situation of refugees and migrants is a crisis that is unprecedented since the Second World War; and it has the face of a child. More than 1,000 children were drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015 and about 10,000 unaccompanied children disappeared. It is recognized that there are about 550,000 children in the world in need of stability, protection and support.

In South Sudan, more than 2.5 million children are suffering. There is a real risk of starvation due to drought, and there are about 1.4 million who are not in school.

In Yemen, nearly 10 million children are suffering the consequences of the conflict and in need of urgent humanitarian assistance and protection. So far more than 900 children have died and over 1,300 were injured.

In the Central African Republic about 1.2 million children are suffering the consequences of a conflict that was rekindled three years ago. The children have to deal with the lack of water, sanitation, education and food. These children are victims of violence and recruitment: 10,000 of them are child soldiers.

In Syria the future of an entire generation of children is at risk. The war that has lasted for five years has produced appalling statistics: nearly 7 million children are living in poverty, 2.8 million have stopped going to school.

The Ebola crisis in Africa in 2014 created a health emergency without precedent, constituting one of the worst epidemics in history. About 23,000 children lost one or both parents.

In every corner of the earth, where there is a child suffering, the Salesians are present to bring a ray of hope. On this International Children’s Day we hear again the words of the Salesians in Syria, in Sierra Leone, in the European Union: "we will stay there, as long as someone needs us."

InfoANS

ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication, the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007.