Speak for the Children

I have three grandchildren. Let’s call them Peanut (13), Pumpkin (10) and Pepper (9). Beautiful human beings. They are smart and funny. They periodically exercise poor judgement as their fathers did before them. When they do so, I am there to remind their fathers, to exact leniency on behalf of these grandchildren. Because of them, I think of myself as grandmother to every child. I want children to be children. I want them to thrive. To be able to live and have access to what they need to be contributing human beings in the societies in which they live.

As bombs continue to drop around the world, the children cannot run fast enough to escape the carnage visited upon them. The children are a part of the collateral damage of war, civil unrest, and the misguided notion that peace can be achieved with war or that a people should not exist because of who they are. Children are watching their parents and family members die. Children are being killed at an alarming rate in armed conflicts around the world.

The Children and Armed Conflict Annual Report of the Secretary-General 2024 documented the trends of war in 2024. The report documents the experiences of children in places where armed conflict exists.

• 22,495 children affected by recruitment and use, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, abduction (14,383 boys, 7,320 girls, 792 sex unknown)
• 41,370 grave violations including collective violations such as attacks on schools and hospitals and denial of humanitarian access
• 1 in 3 victims were girls
• 11,967 children killed or maimed. Situations with the highest numbers of children killed and maimed: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Sudan, Myanmar, Burkina Faso and the Syrian Arab Republic.

The summary states: “The violence against children in armed conflict reached unprecedented levels in 2024, with children bearing the brunt of relentless hostilities, indiscriminate attacks, disregard for ceasefires and peace agreements, and deepening humanitarian crises. Warfare and armed conflict strategies included targeted attacks on children, the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and the systematic exploitation of children in hostilities and for military and sexual purposes, with a blatant disregard for international law and the rights and special protections of children by parties to conflict.”

UNICEF reported in 2025: Two years of hellish war have devastated Gaza’s children. The truth of Gaza is unheard by many. “In the last two years, a staggering 64,000 children have reportedly been killed or maimed across the Gaza Strip, including at least 1,000 babies. We don’t know how many more have died due to preventable illnesses or are buried under the rubble.” The children are dying, innocent victims of crimes of war. The children are being killed as governments drop bombs in places that are populated, on schools during hours or education, on buildings and homes known to be occupied. Destruction of lives is easily ignored when those lives are deemed to be less than the value we place on our own.

The bombing of a girls school in Iran by US and Israeli military demands our attention, outrage, and cry for justice. War itself demands our attention, the killing of civilians and the bombing of schools is a violation of humanitarian law. The excuses have started while ignoring the 160 teachers and children killed. There aren’t enough explanations to warrant supporting lack of accountability for these war crimes.

Noting the documented war crimes committed by the Israeli government in Gaza which included 90 per cent of Gaza’s schools and universities have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks – including airstrikes, shelling, burning and controlled demolitions. Children are direct targets of war. Justice requires our voices on behalf of the children who can no longer speak for themselves and for parents who are mourning the losses of their children.

The losses are staggering, so is the silence around the world. As people of faith, we must continue to advocate for the end of the war. We must be willing to demand the truth from the United States government and ask for the accountabilities for the killing of children who will be buried in a mass funeral.

This grandmother is heartbroken.

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