2024-04-17 05:58:14
More than six months of almost daily bombings. Death, destruction. Devastation of hospitals. Bombs on civilian population looking for food. Deprivation of food to the point of starving minors while the food trucks are ten minutes away. The Dantesque list is endless and has put at the limit of their emotional capacities to experts from humanitarian organizations who do not remember, except for the genocide in Rwanda, anything like the hell of Gaza. Add to all this that the focus of media attention is now no longer on Palestine but on the escalation of the war against Iran or other Arab countries. The cocktail is lethal and that is why the executive director of Unicef in Spain, Cry Veralaunches an SOS with an engine of hope: we have time to prevent the consequences from being lifelong.
Is there now a danger that attention will be lost to the Gaza tragedy?
It is a danger not because of the extent of the conflict but because it has always been there. There has not been enough focus on the violation of children’s rights in Gaza in these six months. If there had been, the pressure on the ceasefire would have been more drastic and for humanitarian access. And we wouldn’t be where we are, with children literally dying of hunger. 23 children have already died in northern Gaza, ten minutes away from tons of food ready to enter.
Have you experienced something like this?
There has not been enough focus on the violation of children’s rights
No, but yes. It will mark a before and after in humanitarian action and conflict management. The equivalent, saving distances, has been Rwanda. Gaza is going to be the same as that one. Sudan has also generated thousands of displaced people; there are areas inaccessible for humanitarian action. There is an erosion of international humanitarian law that made the actors feel supported. In the last decade, humanitarian principles have been eroded and the Gaza conflict is a watershed.
How does what is happening in Gaza impact children?
It has a devastating impact. Every person who experiences a conflict has fear and uncertainty. Suffer a trauma. If it is a child, this trauma will be greater and will have an effect on his entire life if action is not taken soon. Gaza has a substantive difference compared to Ukraine or Sudan. Normally the population can move. It’s traumatic, you leave your home, your playground, your roots, but at least you can go to a safe place. Not in Gaza. These children have been hearing bombings every day for more than six months, they have had to leave their home once and relocate up to four times. They have a continuous feeling of insecurity. They feel that no one can protect them, that their fathers and mothers will no longer be able to do anything for them. This has a very hard impact. At Unicef we try, with the capabilities we have, to take psycho-social support actions to recreate a space in which the child becomes a child again.
Will these children have confidence in the human race when they become adults?
What they experience is a continuous attack, deaths around them, injuries. Their trust is in relation to any type of order, of the State, of protective forces… that are leading to extreme lack of protection.
Is the spirit of revenge going to be one of the consequences in these children?
It is obvious that it creates a breeding ground for extremism in the future, it is a high risk. But we must also think about the resistance and development capacity that a child has. It will depend on what is done, how you can work and how soon the conflict ends and you stop feeling violence. And the possibilities of reconstruction and stability, and whether they feel safe. Insecurity is a vector of extremism.
The conflict generates a high risk of extremism, but we must also think about the capacity for resistance
How does starvation affect children psychologically?
It is once again that physical effect of not having anyone feeding you, of maximum uncertainty. Everything focuses on what to eat in the next few hours. It is very difficult to introduce food through the only two open passages. The effect on children’s development is high. Months of hunger have a devastating effect on future physical and psychological development. It is a burden that will carry them throughout their lives.
Months of hunger have a devastating effect on future physical and psychological development
What psychological work remains to be done once a ceasefire is achieved?
The sense of security is crucial for life
Huge. One of the tasks in these conflicts is rehabilitation and reconstruction. But if the recovery and reconstruction of homes, schools and hospitals is not accompanied by conflict prevention, if future security is not provided, it does not generate the same effect. They can redo your house, but if a conflict like the one you are experiencing can be repeated, it is not the same. The sense of security is crucial for life. If it happens, there is a lot of work to be done to recover your mental health and everything that can be provided in psycho-social support with children. It is important to train the systems that are in contact with children: family, school, health. And then there are cases that will need psychological assistance, which sometimes exists and other times the health systems are fragile. If in our society a child suffers a trauma, due to a loss, bullying… his or her environment will react in a capable and coordinated way. In a situation like that of Gaza, it is the same, but with a gigantic magnitude.
Dina’s story
A twelve-year-old girl, Dina, was wounded in the leg. She lost her leg. The Unicef team interviewed her. She showed a desire to continue living, to recover. She showed a great desire to excel with great strength. Another bombing occurred in the hospital area where she was. She was killed. Double bombardment. And that death had an impact, obviously, on all of her neighbors, her cousins and the rest of her family. “Why us, what have we done for this to happen to us?” the minors asked themselves.
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