Keep me and my school away from your bombs

The permanent struggle for power and influence between different countries in the world threatens the lives of civilians in general and children in particular. The Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that children should be protected in the event of military conflicts and wars and that they should not be harmed.

In World War I and II nearly 100 million people lost their lives, most of them unarmed civilians, their families and children.

This frightening number was nothing but an incentive to take real, practical steps to prevent the recurrence of these events, especially to unarmed civilians.

But what does it mean to protect children during wars?

Children have the right to protection during war. No child under the age of 15 may join the army or participate in war. This is according to the Security Council Resolution No. 1612, which was adopted at the meeting of the Security Council on the 26th of July 2005. The violations that children are exposed to during military wars have been identified as follows:

1– Killing and maiming children

2– Child recruitment

3– Recruitment by armed forces and armed groups

4– Attacking educational and health institutions such as schools and hospitals

5– Sexual violence, which is represented by rape and other similar acts

6– abduction of children

7– Preventing any urgent humanitarian aid from reaching to the children and their families

According to UNICEF, more than 200,000 serious cases of child abuse were identified in various regions around the world between 2005-2020 and UNICEF believes that the real number is much higher.

There is no doubt that protecting children during wars and not involving them or making them and their families military targets and providing international cover that guarantees their rights and freedom is a top priority.

That is why all concerned parties must put an end to this matter once and for all.

Children have no stakes in what happened, is happening and may happen as a result of military conflicts, and for this we must guarantee their most fundamental right, which is the right to life.

Rights are indivisible and the most precious thing in this world is the human being. Children have the right to live and no party, state, or group has the right to take it away from anyone.