A happy one?

Fourteen years have passed since the international community embraced the Convention on the Rights of the Child, providing the world with an unequivocal obligation on all State Parties to recognise, protect and promote the fundamental rights to which all children are entitled. But for Palestinians, these worthy sentiments are empty words in the face of sustained Israeli occupation. Today, the 5th of April - Palestinian Child Day - DCI/PS would like to draw your attention to the plight of Palestinian children who continue to suffer from the systematic and institutionalised violation of their rights.

Since the start of the Intifada in September 2000, not one Palestinian child has been left untouched by Israel’s continued brutal occupation: children too young to walk or speak have been shot dead by Israeli forces, others have seen friends and family members killed or injured, watched as their homes have been destroyed and parents humiliated, been beaten and tortured and thrown into prison without charges or trial. Physically and psychologically, socially and educationally their young lives are systematically being destroyed. [Continue]

More:

Fact sheet: Children

Hundreds march to launch Palestine Child Weekd (5-9 April)