The denial of humanitarian access is one of six grave violations against children that is monitored by the United Nations. Such denial violates children’s right to life, education and the highest attainable standard of health. Any party preventing children from receiving life-saving assistance, which threatens their existence, must be held accountable, be it a government or a non-state actor.
“Let’s be clear: any threat to peace and security is a threat to children,” said United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield. “And yet, in every corner of the globe, millions of children in conflict zones are in desperate need of food and clean water, education and medical care – all the essentials of life.”
In Myanmar, Rohingya children have been killed, detained, and displaced. Russian attacks on Ukraine are killing children and destroying schools, hospitals and homes. In Afghanistan, girls face systemic discrimination and violence, while the Houthis are disrupting the delivery of lifesaving aid to 11 million Yemeni children, said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield. “The list of places where children live in fear unfortunately, goes on and on.”
“Across the Sahel, including in Burkina Faso, where ongoing violence has shuttered a quarter of all schools and left hundreds of thousands of young children with acute malnutrition,” she said.
“In Israel, where children were murdered or taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th and continue to face rocket-fire. And in Gaza, where over the last few months, thousands and thousands of children have been injured, orphaned, killed.”
“The United States is proud to be the leading donor to UNICEF and the World Food Programme,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield. “But we urge the world to do more – to give more – to address the needs of children in armed conflict.”
“We must safeguard medical, nutritional, and hygienic support for children and their families, which serve as a bedrock for their education and mental health,” she said.
“We must ensure the rights of children to play, to be just children; that this right be safeguarded. And we must meet the immediate needs of children in conflict, we must also consider the resources they need for their future.”
“When we ensure children are safe, they’re warm, and fed,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, “When we give them access to an education, to health care, to the psychological support they need to grow, we don’t only safeguard their futures – we build a safer, more peaceful world for us all.”
