This speech was delivered at the conference “Reality of Child Rights in Times of War and Crises”, held at An-Najah University in Nablus, Occupied West Bank, on 29-30 April 2025.

We had hoped that we would gather today not to discuss the reality of children’s rights amid war and crisis, but to celebrate the dawn of recovery, sketching a future in which children reclaim their stolen childhoods.

Instead, we stand once again amid destruction, compelled to confront the brutal reality of children’s rights trampled under the weight of war and multiple crises.

Every time a window of hope opens, the hands of repression and violence slam it shut with cruelty.

While the geographic scope of escalating conflicts has grown unprecedentedly around the world, history will record 2024 as the darkest and most merciless year for children in modern times. In the Arab world, injustice and brutality have reached unparalleled levels:

• In Gaza/Palestine, a second wave of genocide followed the horrors of the first.
• In the West Bank, a silent war tears apart families, causing the most significant displacement since 1967, as the world watches in silence and apathy.
• In Sudan, the gravest humanitarian disaster in recent history lies buried under silence, invisible, unacknowledged.
• In Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria, aggression continues unabated, turning homes into battlefields and reducing the future of children and their families to ashes.

Faces may change, cities may differ, but the grave, systemic violations of children’s and families’ rights remain the same: killing, injury, starvation, displacement, and the denial of education, healthcare, protection, and dignity.

Yet if there is one place that epitomizes this horror in its starkest form, it is Palestine. Palestinian children have endured unprecedented injustice and violations unparalleled in modern history.

We chose to launch our conference from the gate of Palestine because here, rights are violated all at once. In the face of this painful truth, we must move beyond mere recognition to decisive action.

Our challenge is clear:

We must not merely speak about child rights but contextualize them historically and geographically. We must revive treaties and agreements meant to protect these rights, reinforce them with new mechanisms, demand their enforcement, and hold violators accountable.

In Gaza, the West Bank, Sudan, Yemen, and Lebanon, international humanitarian law, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Fourth Geneva Convention for the protection of civilians during war are shredded daily without consequence.

Laws meant to shield the innocent have turned to dust:

• Civilians, including children, are supposed to enjoy special protection under the Fourth Geneva Convention and international protocols.
• Starvation as a weapon is a war crime.
• Targeting and destroying vital infrastructure, water, and energy sources must be prohibited.
• Attacks on schools, hospitals, and humanitarian aid must never be tolerated.
• The use of indiscriminate weapons, toxic gases, incendiary bombs, and landmines must be outlawed.

But what remains of these laws? Of these protections? Nothing.

They have been crushed under the machinery of limitless war and ground down by systematic genocide.

Today, we gather not only to mourn but to demand global accountability:

Revive the Convention on the Rights of the Child in times of crisis and treat violations as mandatory grounds for achieving global justice.

This is not symbolic, nor theoretical; it is the foundation upon which Global justice must be rebuilt.

Our mission is clear:

• Stop the genocide immediately.
• Expose the horrors of “Un-childing” so they cannot be ignored.
• Analyze the psychological, social, and developmental devastation left in genocide’s wake.
• Dismantle systems that allow perpetrators to “legalize” their crimes, as we have seen in the intentional evasion of international law.
• Challenge double standards and confront the hypocrisy of condemning some crimes while excusing others.
• Push for new accountability frameworks for war criminals instead of letting them rewrite laws to suit themselves.

These violations are not abstract; they happen now, in real-time, every day:

• Scorched-earth campaigns and starvation sieges violate the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Killing children is a war crime.
• Blocking humanitarian aid is a war crime.
• Systematic destruction of homes, schools, and hospitals is a war crime.
• Selective justice is a war crime.
• Using indiscriminate artificial intelligence technologies is a war crime.

The goals of this conference include:

• Highlighting and discussing child rights violations. While these violations are universally condemned and backed by years of advocacy, their normalization has become shockingly routine, especially with the advent of new technologies:

For example, do military uses of AI to select targets violate child rights, given the high error margins? We have witnessed this in Gaza.

• Analyzing the multidimensional impacts of war and crises on early childhood development.
• Recognizing that even child-centered peace and reconciliation efforts now seem irrelevant in the face of current atrocities.
• Drafting a roadmap to enhance advocacy, partnerships, and international support is a crucial step in moving from theory to action.
• Highlighting the urgent need to protect children’s rights in war zones and reviewing current enforcement mechanisms and state accountability through practical interventions.

Our approach is rooted in a belief:

Protecting children’s rights during war and crises is a cornerstone of international law and a global imperative for justice and equality.

This gathering aims to unify global voices to defend children’s rights, deliver justice, and create actionable frameworks.

We are undoubtedly experiencing one of the most challenging times in decades for those of us dedicated to young children’s development, care, protection, and education.

Yes, we have achieved much. But the obstacles in our field are proliferating:

• The international human rights system that protects individuals and children is now destabilized.
• Restrictions on international child-focused organizations, especially UNRWA in occupied Palestine, are at an all-time high.
• A persistent funding gap affects programs supporting young children and families, particularly during wars.

Still, local institutions and organizations, especially in Palestine and Lebanon, have managed to bridge some of these gaps.

Over the next two days, experts in early childhood development, academics, ministry representatives, civil society members, human rights advocates, and others will convene here to build upon ongoing programs and conferences addressing the growing global crisis of children’s rights.

We are aware of the magnitude of the challenges. But when efforts are united, obstacles become surmountable.

We hope to build upon past work, understand the current scale of challenges, learn firsthand from Palestinian early childhood resilience initiatives, and share their experiences.

Most importantly, we must rally and coordinate to address both the urgent and long-term needs of Palestinian children and other children globally whose rights have been stripped.

Let us understand, once and for all, that none of this can be achieved alone—not by individuals or by a single association, institution, or organization. And it cannot be achieved without global partners who share our values. The era of isolated interventions is over, as is the era of individualistic competition over funding and fame.

Despite all these horrors, the flame of hope has not been extinguished. It burns in the resilience of thousands who have survived, transcending trauma and grief. They are not living in “post-traumatic stress,” but in the aftermath of genocide.

Thus, through this meeting, we seek to unify global voices to defend children’s rights, deliver justice, and forge pathways for action.

We hope to understand the challenges we face and witness the resilience of early childhood sectors in Palestine, learning from and supporting their efforts.

Above all, we aim to mobilize and coordinate efforts to address the urgent and long-term needs of Palestinian children and all children whose rights are denied.

Our unwavering hope

It is to teach the world, from now on, the spirit of resilience in the face of genocide, for the sake of our children.

Our unwavering hope

Lies in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, and all places where children and their families suffer from injustice and inequity.

There can be no peace for our children without justice and equality, and no future for them without protection.

Let the children of Palestine, Sudan, Yemen, and Lebanon receive their full rights now.

Scorched earth and starvation sieges are violations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Hope lies in developing comprehensive new programs that acknowledge the unprecedented conditions these children have endured.

Hope lies in the steadfast commitment of institutions, universities, and organizations that refuse to turn their backs, and that, despite all obstacles, have brought us together at this conference today.

So we pledge:

• No priority is above the full rights of our children.
• No violation shall be justified, ignored, or accepted.
• No future shall be stolen without confrontation.

We are here for justice, protection, and the full rights of our children—now, not later.

For there is no peace without justice, and no future without peace.

As long as we are able, we will pursue this path.

You may access the conference details here.
Concept Note.