Muslim World News On-line
Date of Publication: May 2000
INDONESIAN MUSLIMS FOR GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE
Bismillaahirrahmaanirrahiim.
Assalamu'alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarokaatuh
CHILDREN OF WAR
Wednsday, May 10, 2000
(Islam Online)-According to the Save the Children agency, thirteen million
children throughout the world are currently uprooted from their homes by
war. In a new report "War Brought Us Here", the organization charts the
trouble spots where children suffer worst.
It calls on governments, opposition factions and the United Nations to
respect the rights of what it calls the "most innocent victims of
conflict." The children made refugees by wars in their own countries are
the most vulnerable to violence, ill health and hunger, said Save the
Children organization.
They are often beyond international help and at the mercy of those who
drove them into exile. "Providing protection for internally displaced
children is a global responsibility," said Save the Children*s Director
General Mike Aaronson.
The report highlights the countries where, it says, a child is most at
risk. In Sierra Leone thousands of children have been massacred, raped and
had limbs severed. Many others are forced to serve as soldiers.
The unrest in Sri Lanka has forced a quarter of a million children from
their homes - some five or six times. Aid agencies in Sri Lanka are
becoming increasingly concerned about the effect that the prolonged
fighting in the north, is having on children caught up in the conflict.
The report highlights the case of thousands of Serb and Roma, or Gypsy,
children living among three-quarters of a million refugees in Serbia
following the Kosovo conflict last year.
Save the Children calls on governments and opposition groups in such
countries to stop recruiting child soldiers, to ratify and respect
international treaties protecting children, and to help the displaced
return home. It appealed to the U.N. to provide for their long-term
development needs.
Wassalamu'alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarokaatuh
(DI-10/05/00)
Source : Islam On-line
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