The United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, has called on the international community to do all it can to protect children in conflict zones and to support those mentally scarred amid violence.
A UN report says 11,649 children were killed or maimed last year as a result of conflicts across the world, including fighting in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. That represents an increase of 35 percent from the previous year.
UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Partnerships Kitty van der Heijden spoke to NHK in Tokyo on Thursday.
She said children do not start war or have the ability to stop it, but that they are impacted by war more than anybody else.
The official said it is the collective responsibility of the international community ”to make sure that children survive and that they thrive.”
She said that even if the violence in Gaza were to end today, all children there are traumatized by the loss of their parents, siblings, relatives or classmates. She added that children in the enclave have also been repeatedly displaced.