Once again it is children who suffer from war

From the minute the bombing started, we heard the impact on children. In those early hours of war, the impact was clear.  Among the first casualties were the l68 girls killed when a strike hit a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran while classes were just getting underway. And there were reports of children killed in other schools. 

Now in another week of war, we see escalating violence affecting children in countries throughout the region. Bombs fill the night air, sirens rain terror on young children trying to understand what is going on. As the scene repeats itself night after night, the trauma it inflicts goes deeper and deeper into the memories of the young. A statement  by UNICEF in the Middle East and North Africa noted that, “as military strikes continue across the region, children are increasingly exposed to violence and the impact on essential infrastructure poses a direct threat to their wellbeing.”

But it is not just noise that shakes the body, it is the burning oil that now poisons the lungs of young children so vulnerable to its consequences.  Imagine if you were pregnant as the air fills with smoke, or your newborn baby takes its first breath, or your toddler tries running outside to let off some of that two-year-old energy. The WHO Chief warned that the attacks on petroleum facilities “risks contaminating food, water and air.” These are the essential ingredients of good health, particularly for the developing child. 

As if these risks were not enough, the mounting cost of the war threatens to derail the global economy, delay investments to address climate, and drain billions of dollars that should be going for health care, nutrition, childcare, and support for families. 

Years ago, a friend gave me some pictures that children had drawn during a war. The faces they drew had tears coming down their cheeks. But sometimes they drew a sun among the clouds. The same friend wrote to me last week and said, “moments like this make you reflect on how wars are so often the result of decisions taken far from the lives they affect most.” 

The war must stop. People must stand up and say it. Diplomacy and development are the only sane ways forward for children and for the world they will inherit. 

—Joan Lombardi, PhD