Massacre of the innocents.

• Author: Fulci, Francesco
• Position: Child victims of war

Everyone has the right to education. ... Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

- Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26

The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been signed by 191 States: six more than the total membership of the United Nations. No other Convention or treaty has ever received such universal endorsement: an unparalleled testimony to the impact of children and their problems on the international conscience. Children are by far the greatest wealth of men and women from all over the world. I say men and women, but I should really say of women and men, in tribute to the maternal instinct, the deepest, most noble instinct, which has allowed the perpetuation of the human race. Children, we should never forget, represent the future of humanity.

While the brutality of wars and armed conflicts has gone on for millennia, certain ethical boundaries have almost always been respected. Children have been exposed to every form of violence - rape, killings, beatings, prostitution - but until today they were rarely its protagonists. War has taken on new, more horrifying characteristics: to an increasing extent, children are becoming directly involved in wars as combatants. They are recruited by armed groups, warlords and even Governments. Some are impressed into the army. Others are kidnapped from their homes, schools, orphanages or right off the streets. Others are forced to enlist in exchange for sparing the lives of their families. A combination of fear and poverty drives some parents to hand their children over to warring groups: the "paycheck" goes straight to the family. There are also children who just become soldiers to survive; from their uncentered lives, they come to see armed factions as a surrogate family.

The most vulnerable members of any mass exodus of refugees are children. Walking for days without food or water, they ar the first to succumb. Once at the refugee camps, they become victims of further abuse. More often than not, the efforts by United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) personnel to trace parents and relatives of unaccompanied children are fruitless.

One of the most...