UN slams impact of Gaza fighting on children

UNITED NATIONS - The UN body monitoring a key global treaty enshrining the rights of children voiced its deep concern today at the impact of the Israeli strikes in Gaza, which has killed or injured hundreds of young people, and warned that the effects of recent events on an entire generation of children will be severe.
"The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is deeply concerned at the devastating effects that the current military engagement in Gaza is having on children," the 18-member body said in a statement issued in Geneva, where it is currently in session.
"Hundreds of children have been killed or injured, many seriously. Many others have lost their loved ones. The continuous fighting and destruction of livelihoods and basic infrastructures, severely compromise enjoyment of human rights especially in relation to health, education and family life," the Committee added.
Over 40 per cent of the nearly 900 Palestinians killed in the Israeli offensive, launched on 27 December with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks into Israel, and almost half of the 3,860 wounded, are women and children, according to reports cited as credible by the UN.
The Committee stressed that the rights enshrined in the Convention, including the right of children to life, survival and development and to be protected from all forms of violence, have been "blatantly violated during this crisis." It recalled that human rights law, including the Convention, applies at all times, including in situations of armed conflict.
Under article 38 of the Convention, which has been ratified by 193 States, parties - in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population in armed conflicts - shall take all feasible measures to ensure protection and care of children who are affected by an armed conflict.
In addition, the preamble of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict - to which Israel is a party - States parties condemn "the targeting of children in situations of armed conflict and direct attacks on objects protected under international law, including places that generally have a significant presence of children, such as schools and hospitals."
The Committee said this affirmation is undermined by the fact that many children have lost their lives as a result of "manifest disrespect" for their protection and that of their schools, including some administered by the United Nations itself.
Some 30 people were killed and 55 others injured, five of them critically, when three artillery shells landed at the perimeter of a school, run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in the Jabaliya refugee camp, last week.
Some 35,000 Gazans fleeing the ongoing violence have taken shelter in 38 UNRWA locations, including in more than two dozen schools.
The Committee joins other senior UN officials in urging an immediate ceasefire, as called for in last week's Security Council resolution, and emphasized that all parties must ensure the protection of children during the conflict and abide by the relevant provisions of international law.
It also warned of the consequences of more war and destruction on Gaza's youth, stating that "the emotional and psychological effects of these events on an entire generation of children will be severe."
The UN Committee on Rights of the Child is one of eight human rights treaty bodies whose role is to monitor signatory States' implementation of key international human rights treaties.
Meanwhile, International Committee of the Red Cross chief Jakob Kellenberger on Tuesday called for medical workers in Gaza to be protected as he visited the battered territory in the midst of an Israeli war.
"I wanted to see this hospital," he said outside Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital that, short-staffed and low on supplies, has been straining to handle the wounded from Israel's deadliest offensive on Gaza.
On Tuesday the agency complained in a daily report that access to the wounded was still limited due to the fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian Hamas militants.
"We now have to assess on a case-by-case basis whether we can go on a rescue mission to evacuate people in need," said Antoine Grand, head of the ICRC office in Gaza.