What we pray for in the year ahead...
BLOG SESSION
December 20th, 2017
Welcome back Blog Readers, Followers & Visitors ~ We are here for a Blog Session that is focused on what we are all praying for in the year ahead.
This has been a year to remember, like many other years past. As we reflect and pray about 2017, we need to widen our prayer zone. We need to understand that while we have the opportunity, and are able to get onto the internet and interact with people around the world, and gain a clearer understanding of the world around us ~ Do we truly understand?
What we would like to turn our attention to is the children around the world...
A little girl places her prayer
on the Prayer Wall
Have you ever asked a child what they are praying for? Are you curious? Do you care? Just maybe our children worldwide are praying for more than toys and games. Maybe they are praying for food to eat or a place to sleep where they are not in the middle of a war zone or a famine.
UNICEF-Children on Frontline - Targets in War
Children Increasingly Used as FrontlineTargets in War Zones: UNICEFThe UNICEF statement comes days after a report by Defenceof Children International - Palestine (DCI-P) pointed out theincreasing brutality against Palestinian children by Israeliforces.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that the year 2017 was a ‘nightmare year’ for children caught in conflict areas. The agency noted that there has been increasing number of incidents of children being deliberately targeted in war zones.
“Children are being targeted and exposed to attacks and brutal violence in their homes, schools and playgrounds,” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes. “As these attacks continue year after year, we cannot become numb. Such brutality cannot be the new normal.”
Increasingly numbers of children are being used as human shields, killed, maimed, abducted and recruited to fight. And millions suffer from ‘diseases brought on by crushing wars’.
The UNICEF statement notes about cases around the world where children are being deliberately targeted in violation of international laws designed to protect the most vulnerable. Terming these violations as the ‘new normal’, the report underlines several cases:
.
Afghanistan witnessed almost 700 children being killed in the first 9 months of the year.
In the Central African Republic, the increasing violence saw children being killed, raped, abducted and recruited by armed groups.
In Democratic Republic of the Congo, an estimated 350,000 children have suffered from severe acute malnutrition.
In Nigeria and Cameroon, Islamist group Boko Haram has forced at least 135 children to act as suicide bombers, a five time increase from 2016.
In Syria and Iraq, number of cases of children being used as human shields, trapped under siege, targeted by snipers have been reported.
In eastern Ukraine, 220,000 children lived under constant threat of mines and explosives near the 500-kilometer ‘contact line’- one of the most mine-contaminated places on earth.
The conflict in Myanmar and Yemen hugely contributed to the increasing of incidents of deliberate attack against children. In Yemen, the war has left at least 5,000 children dead or injured, with actual numbers expected to be much higher, the statement notes.
The US backed Saudi led military blockade and bombing has caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Yemen, with 11 million children in need of humanitarian assistance. Around 385,000 children are severely malnourished and at risk of death if not urgently treated.
In Myanmar, Rohingya children ‘suffered and witnessed shocking and widespread violence perpetrated by the Myanmar army. In a recent report, international NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) noted that around 730 children were killed during the ‘clearance operation’ by the army in August this year.
In Myanmar, Rohingya children ‘suffered and witnessed shocking and widespread violence perpetrated by the Myanmar army. In a recent report, international NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) noted that around 730 children were killed during the ‘clearance operation’ by the army in August this year.
ABOVE INFORMATION COURTESY OF NEWSCLICK
FOLLOWING NEWS INFORMATION COURTESY OF YourNewsWire.com
Unicef has issued a horrific report claiming that an unofficial ‘holocaust’ killing huge numbers of children in Syria has been completely ignored by the West. (See photo below)...
Unicef: Syria War ‘Holocaust’ Against Children Silenced By The West
At the beginning quarter of this year, Save the Children warned millions of Syrian children could be living in a state of “toxic stress”, which the charity feared may become irreversible without immediate help. It also found two-thirds of children had either lost a loved one, had their house bombed or shelled, or been injured as a result of the war.
While many of the Readers here of our Blog are not in war zones, may have never seen a war up-close and personal in their lifetime, so many around the globe have.
2017 has been considered a ‘nightmare’ for children trapped in conflict zones around the world. UNICEF has summarised 2017 as a brutal year for children who have come under attack in spaces where they should be kept safe. Children have been deliberately targeted in conflicts in 2017 – being used as human shields, killed, abducted and recruited to fight.
Pictured Above: Karim, an infant
who was injured twice from bombings on Eastern al-Ghouta,
rebel-held Douma, Syria.
In our last Blog Session we mentioned...
The new normal should be P E A C E.
We pray that all children around the world
may be born into a world that lives and breathes
"P E A C E".
Peace, Love & Light
By René Allen
©Copyright - René Allen - 2014-2017 - All Rights Reserved
