“The UN Children’s Charter lies shredded to pieces”

DECEMBER 7, 2024

We reproduce an edited version of a speech made by Doctor Josie Shakur at a vigil held in November by Healthworkers for Palestine.

Thank you for joining us in solidarity despite the atrocious weather. Our vigil today is dedicated to the children of Palestine and Lebanon who are undergoing mass, planned extermination simply because of their identity. However much you want to deny it Keir Starmer and David Lammy, we’re here to tell you: this is genocide – intent not numbers.

On November 7th 2023, 20 children held a press conference outside Al Shifa Hospital.

They stood shoulder to shoulder in solidarity, speaking in Arabic and then in perfect English They appealed to the world for help, justice and freedom.

A year later Al Shifa hospital is a cemetery and the fate of those brave children is unknown.

Their plea was ignored by politicians and mass media alike. 

Sunday  November 17th was World Prematurity Day. It’s exceptionally worrying that in Gaza premature birth rates have risen again by a third and will climb higher as 15,000 pregnant women trapped in the North of Gaza are on the brink of starvation. 

Wednesday November 20th was World Children’s Day. The UN Children’s Charter states that every child under 18 has a right to education, housing, privacy, family life, freedom from violence and abuse, peace, dignity and equality. 

Does it sound like Palestinian and Lebanese children are included in that charter? 100% no.

This has been the case for decades because of occupation, racism and dehumanisation. 

So, how did America honour the Children’s Charter on Wednesday? A ceasefire block in the UN – the only veto – and a Senate vote to continue weaponizing Israel alongside the UK and many other countries with the blood of children on their hands.

 Not in our name!

Israel has killed thousands of children like six-month old baby Abood, whose Mum Dima Al Haj was a Glasgow University alumna, a World Health Organization Patient Administrator for the Limb Reconstruction Centre in Gaza and friend of our group.

Children like 10 year oldTala Abu Ajwa, killed while roller skating in her pink roller skates.

Children like 5 year oldHind Rajab and her 15 year old cousin Layan Hamada,massacred in their family care alongside heroic paramedics Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun who tried to save them.

While many countries, the USA included, have accepted evacuated children from Gaza for specialist treatment, the UK government has said no despite desperate pleas. 

Children like Mazyouna, the 12 year old girl whose lower face was blown off. She lives in constant pain. 

Please flood your MP with messages to demand this happens. 

Our kids should not have every sense in their little bodies assaulted day and night by drones, sniper fire, buildings tumbling down. They should not witness decaying bodies of their families, friends and neighbours in the streets as they are displaced multiple times – a war crime on its own.

They have the right to avoid paralysis from polio, long-term disability from easy to treat conditions like club foot , death from infection, starvation and dehydration. 

93% of their schools and all 12 universities have been demolished along with the slaughter of hundreds of their beloved teachers. 

It is no wonder that one in six children have developed communication issues like stammering and children as young as 4 have voiced suicidality. 

The UN Children’s Charter lies shredded to pieces , just like the bodies in Palestine and Lebanon.

But we have strength in our numbers. We will not be silenced.

 We welcome 

• the Pope joining us in calling for an enquiry into war crimes and openly using the word genocide. 
• the International Criminal Court progress in issuing arrest warrants.
• the Al Haq court case against the UK government for its complicity and the pro-Palestine coalition taking the Dutch government to court. 
• Those true souls at the UN trying to broker a ceasefire. 

Please share this information and amplify the truth. Finally, more than 40% of families in Gaza are looking after children they don’t know. We must follow their lead. 

Your child is my child! Justice and freedom for our kids!

Thank you for your solidarity.