On the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNRWA Calls for Increased Attention to Children in Conflict – Press Release

This week, as the Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) turns 30, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reflects on the impact of its assistance to the children of Gaza, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The CRC’s promise to children is that they should live in safety, are protected from violence, discrimination and abuse, and that they enjoy economic, social and cultural rights. For the past 70 years, UNRWA has run programmes that have directly improved the wellbeing of many Palestine refugee children: today, over half a million students receive quality education in schools run by the Agency; Palestine refugee children within the UNRWA areas of operation have nearly a 100 per cent vaccination rate; the Agency is constantly improving its support for children with disabilities and is empowering children through its student parliaments program in UNRWA schools.

“There is a lot for UNRWA to be proud of in terms of its contribution to the rights set out in the Convention,” said Mr. Christian Saunders, Acting UNRWA Commissioner-General. “However, many Palestine refugee children face considerable threats to their safety and wellbeing and are unable to fully enjoy their childhood or reach their full potential. Sadly, for many Palestine refugee children, the global commitment to the upholding of their rights has a long way to go until it is realized.”

An estimated 25 million girls and boys live in conflict situations in the Arab region today (UNICEF, 2019), which includes the Near East, where UNRWA is active. Unfortunately, despite achievements in the fields of health and education for children across the region, violence and conflict still mark the childhoods of many; children in Gaza born in 2009 will have experienced three wars and frequent episodes of military escalation; children born in Syria since 2011 will not know what it means to live without conflict; and children in the West Bank will only know a life under occupation.

“In UNRWA, we work every day to ensure that children can live in dignity pending a just and lasting solution to their plight, whether it is through providing them with a good quality education, or access to health care, relief and social services or through our protection work. We have our part of the CRC promise to honor and we take this responsibility very seriously,” said Mr. Saunders.