West in denial over suffering of children
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Citing UN figures, of the 35 million people who have had to flee their homes in the face of violent persecution and armed conflict, more than 17 million are children.
One in seven children in Afghanistan won’t live to see their fifth birthday. More than 1,000 Syrian youngsters have been brutally murdered. There are 250,000 child soldiers in the world today, approximately 40 per cent of them girls often forced to become “sex slaves”.
Western governments have been complicit in targeting the only secular governments in the region – Iraq, Syria and Libya – thereby instigating hatred and sectarian divisiveness. Imperialistic vested interests have devastated the lives of children across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The shameful reality, however, is that the in-denial US and UK governments, which were largely responsible for the humanitarian crisis, refuse to accept accountability or responsibility for their immoral misdeeds. Displaced children are particularly susceptible to exploitation, kidnapping, abduction and forced recruitment by both sides into the armed conflict, but pleas for assistance remain unheard or ignored.
Charles Frederickson
Bangkok
