As the world marked World Children’s Rights Day on November 20th, a day that commemorates the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the glaring silence of Western nations on the massacre of Palestinian children remains a tragedy that cannot be ignored.

The Convention, ratified by 196 countries, is intended to protect the fundamental rights of every child—rights to life, education, health, shelter, protection from violence, and the right to be heard. Yet, in the face of systematic killings and gross human rights violations against Palestinian children, particularly in Gaza, the actions of Western powers such as the United States, the European Union, and their allies are nothing short of shameful.

The Unwavering Commitment of the West to Israel's Aggression

While Western countries are quick to celebrate their own strides in upholding children's rights, their blatant disregard for the suffering of children in Palestine, Lebanon, and Gaza is deeply troubling. These nations, which publish annual human rights reports and preach about freedoms and protections for children, have remained silent in the face of Israel’s continued violence against innocent Palestinian children. Since the escalation of violence on October 7, 2023, over 17,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone, with tens of thousands more injured, orphaned, or traumatized. This is not an isolated tragedy—it is an ongoing genocide, one that the international community, especially the West, has largely turned a blind eye to.

The Crimes of the Israeli Occupation Regime

Despite being a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Israeli occupation regime continues to commit grave violations against Palestinian children. According to the United Nations, six grave violations against children must be prevented in times of war, including the killing and maiming of children, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denying children access to humanitarian aid. Israel’s actions in Gaza have violated all of these provisions. Over 400 days of relentless bombardment, systematic destruction of schools, hospitals, and homes, and deliberate blockades of food, water, and medical supplies have left children in Gaza in an impossible situation. They are being killed, maimed, starved, and denied access to basic health care, as their homes are reduced to rubble and their futures destroyed.

The Devastating Toll on Gaza’s Children

Since the onset of Israel’s latest military aggression in Gaza, more than 43,000 Palestinians have been martyred, with a staggering 70% of them being women and children. The scale of the massacre is unprecedented: 211 newborns, 825 children under the age of one, and over 35,600 children have been orphaned. The Ministry of Education in Gaza reports that more than 11,800 students have been killed, and over 18,500 others have been injured. These statistics only paint a partial picture of the horrors unfolding daily in Gaza, as children are torn apart by airstrikes, bullets, and the devastation of their communities.

A World That Looks the Other Way

While the bloodshed in Gaza escalates, the international community remains eerily quiet. Nations that loudly proclaim their commitment to human rights and children’s protections continue to provide political, military, and financial support to Israel. This complicity is particularly egregious given that many of these same nations are quick to intervene in humanitarian crises elsewhere, but when it comes to Palestine, their response is either one of indifference or active support for the occupying forces.

This hypocrisy is most evident on World Children’s Rights Day, a day meant to reflect on the rights and dignity of every child. While the West boasts of its own advancements in child welfare, it has failed to acknowledge, let alone act on, the plight of Palestinian children. In Gaza, children are not only denied food and water—they are denied their most basic right to life. The UN’s warnings of grave violations against children are ignored as Israel continues its siege of Gaza, using starvation and deprivation as tools of war. The children of Gaza are dying from malnutrition, disease, and violence, yet the world turns away, focusing on other matters while the massacre continues unabated.

Gazan Children: Surviving Against All Odds

For the children who have survived the onslaught, the trauma is unimaginable. They live under constant bombardment, in fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Many suffer from sleep disorders, anxiety, and severe trauma. Injured children, burned, mutilated, or left with permanent disabilities, struggle not only with physical pain but with the psychological scars of war. These children dream not of toys or games but of a world where they are safe, where they can go to school, play with friends, and have a future.

Despite the horrors they face, the children of Gaza continue to hope for peace. They dream of a day when the violence will end, when they will be able to live without fear of airstrikes, when they can finally have a life beyond the ruins of their homes. But these dreams remain out of reach as long as the occupation continues and as long as the international community remains silent in the face of such gross violations of human rights.

The Complicity of the Western World

The true tragedy is that the Western world, which claims to uphold human rights, is complicit in the crimes being committed in Gaza. Western governments, from the United States to the European Union, have turned a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinian children, prioritizing political and economic alliances with Israel over the rights of innocent children. Cultural and media institutions in these countries also play a role in legitimizing the violence, spreading narratives that justify Israel’s actions while silencing Palestinian voices.

The massacre in Gaza is not only a humanitarian crisis—it is a stark reminder of the moral bankruptcy of the West, which preaches human rights yet fails to act when those rights are systematically violated by a powerful ally. The ongoing genocide in Gaza stands as the most vivid example of how the so-called "values" of the West crumble when confronted with the suffering of the oppressed.

A Call for Action and Justice

On World Children’s Rights Day, it is essential that we not only reflect on the rights of children but take concrete action to protect them. The children of Gaza are not just victims—they are a symbol of the failure of the international community to uphold the most basic human rights. It is time for the West to stop enabling the genocide in Gaza and to take real, meaningful steps to hold Israel accountable for its actions. This is not just a Palestinian issue—it is a global issue, one that calls for a unified, courageous response to protect the rights of all children, everywhere.

The children of Gaza have a right to live in peace, to dream of a future, and to grow up without the constant fear of violence. It is our duty to ensure that their voices are heard, their rights are protected, and their suffering ends. (ILKHA)