What About Children?

When we mention the word child, we think about a cute, small and innocent human being that spends his o her time playing, growing and eating. At least that is what we all did were we were little. If this is how a child’s life should be, then why are they exploited, killed or force to fight as a soldier? Sadly, this is the situation of many innocent children around the world. In recent decades, there have been more civilian casualties than before in armed conflicts. And it seems that the percentage keeps on growing. About half of these victims are children.

It is estimated that about 20 million children have been forced to leave their home because of armed conflicts and violation of their human rights. These children are force to live as refugees in other countries and away from their family. They have no one to take care them and are left without protection. A child is a vulnerable human being. They are not independent and are not able of taking care of themselves. More than 2 million children have died as a result of armed conflicts around the world, only in the last decade. This number will keep on increasing if we do not emphasize on the protection of children and their rights. These unprotected children are used to be sold and to be physically or sexually exploited, reports UNICEF. This is just unacceptable; a child does not disserve to suffer like this.

I do not think these people who have decided to hurt children care about the consequences of their acts. We should. These people are destroying lives by stealing the happiest years of the person. All this violence will make these children traumatised adults and full of rage. We do not know what type of person they might be if no one was there to raise them. I think this is going to be a major problem in the future. These that are now children, are going to be the ones generating violence during the future generations. Violence is one of the biggest global issues and here is an option to reduce it in the future. Protecting and educating our children today can lead us to live is a safer world in the future.

Reading about this made me reflect on how lucky we all are. Living with our family, eating three times a day, going to school are things we just that for granted most of the time. These children have neither one of them and cannot do anything about it. I think all of us should feel thankful for the life we have the chance to live.