(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Silvano Tomasi has warned that unless efforts are made to protect millions of children caught up in the Syrian conflict they are at risk of becoming a lost generation.
In an statement delivered on March 17 to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Archbishop Tomasi, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva, made a series of recommendations following the release of the “Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic”.
Noting that since the start of the crisis in Syria, “more than 10 million Syrians have fled their homes” Tomasi said this amounts to almost half of the country’s population “now deprived of their basic rights to shelter and adequate housing, security and human dignity”.
He pointed out that many are victims of human rights violations and abuses and are in urgent need of protective measures and support.
Tomasi also observed that “to compound this tragedy, more than 3 million people, most of them women and children, have fled the Syrian Arab Republic and are refugees in neighboring countries”.
He says that a variety of sources have provided evidence on how children suffer the brutal consequences of a persistent status of war in their country: “Children are recruited, trained and used in active combat roles, at times even as human shields in military attacks. The so-called Islamic State (ISIL) group has worsened the situation by training and using children as suicide bombers; killing children who belong to different religious and ethnic communities; selling children as slaves in markets; executing large numbers of boys; and committing other atrocities.”
And noting that in camps throughout the Middle East, children constitute approximately half of the refugee population and they are the most vulnerable demographic group in times of conflict and displacement, Tomasi said their lives in exile are full of uncertainty and daily struggles.
In his intervention Tomasi continues to focus on the lack of rights of children affected by the Syrian conflict calling on the world to deal with the situation of stateless children; to take stock of the fact that more than one and a half million students in refugee camps no longer receive an education; that the separation of family members destabilizes society and breaks down its basic social unit.
Archbishop Tomasi concluded his intervention with a call to protect these children giving them the right to a legal identity, to an adequate education and to a family.
Such measures, he said, require the close collaboration of all stakeholders. But, if the violence does not stop, he said, and the normal pace of education and development is not resumed, these children are at risk of becoming a lost generation.
And quoting Pope Francis during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he said: “May the violence cease and may humanitarian law be respected, thus ensuring much needed assistance to those who are suffering! May all parties abandon the attempt to resolve issues by the use of arms and return to negotiations. A solution will only be found through dialogue and restraint, through compassion for those who suffer, through the search for a political solution and through a sense of fraternal responsibility.”
Please find below the full text of Archbishop Silvano Tomasi’s statement:
Mr. President,
Conflicts forced a staggering 5.5 million people to flee their homes in the first six months of 2014. This represents a major addition to the record of 51.2 million worldwide who already were forcibly displaced by the end of 2013. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic recently informed that, since the start of the crisis, “more than 10 million Syrians have fled their homes. This amounts to almost half of the country’s population, now deprived of their basic rights to shelter and adequate housing, security and human dignity. Many are victims of human rights violations and abuses and are in urgent need of protective measures and support.” To compound this tragedy, more than 3 million people, most of them women and children, have fled the Syrian Arab Republic and are refugees in neighboring countries. Violence continues to produce victims in the Middle East in particular, but elsewhere as well, where hatred and intolerance are the criteria for inter-group relations. The human rights of these forcibly displaced people are systematically violated with impunity. A variety of sources have provided evidence on how children suffer the brutal consequences of a persistent status of war in their country. Children are recruited, trained and used in active combat roles, at times even as human shields in military attacks. The so-called Islamic State (ISIL) group has worsened the situation by training and using children as suicide bombers; killing children who belong to different religious and ethnic communities; selling children as slaves in markets; executing large numbers of boys; and committing other atrocities. In camps throughout the Middle East, children constitute approximately half of the refugee population and they are the most vulnerable demographic group in times of conflict and displacement. Their life in exile is full of uncertainty and daily struggles. “Many are separated from their families, have difficulties accessing basic services, and live in increasing poverty. Only one in two Syrian refugee children in the neighboring countries is receiving education.” Beyond the specific conditions faced by internally displaced children and those in the refugee camps of the region and beyond the enormous tragedies affecting them, it seems important to envision their future, by focusing on three particular areas of concern.
First, the world must deal with the situation of millions of stateless children, who as such according to the law, were never born. The United Nations estimates that approximately 30.000 of these children can be found in Lebanon alone. Moreover, due to the Middle Eastern conflicts and massive uprooting of families, several thousand unregistered children are scattered in camps and other asylum countries. These are “phantom kids” whose parents have escaped from Syria but whose name and date of birth were never registered at any office. In fact, UNICEF reports that 3.500 children “officially” do not have a family or an identity. This occurs because all personal documents have been destroyed under the rubble of war or, at times, simply because their parents did not have the time or the money to certify their birth. Stateless children cross international borders alone and find themselves completely abandoned. The number of stateless persons in the world reaches 10 million. While all face grave difficulties, those fleeing Syria face challenges that are even more dramatic: a child below eleven years of age and without documents has no access even to the most basic services. These children obviously cannot go to school and they are likely to be adopted illegally, recruited in an armed group, abused, exploited, or forced into prostitution. Every child has the right to be registered at birth and thus to be recognized as a person before the law. The implementation of this right opens the way for access to the enjoyment of other rights and benefits that affect the future of these children. Simplifying mechanisms and requirements for registration, waving fees, advocating for refugee inclusive registration legislation, represent steps to solve the plight of stateless children.
Second, another key component that shapes the future of uprooted children is education. Both in Syria and in refugee camps in the region, provision of education has become extremely problematic. Some 5,000 schools have been destroyed in Syria where more than one million and half students no longer receive an education and where attacks against school buildings continue. The extremists from ISIL already have closed a great number of schools in the zones under their control. The dangerous condition of the country does not permit children to attend school nor to have access to a proper education. The international community as a whole seems to have misjudged the extent of the Syrian crisis. It was thought by many that the Syrian refugee flow was temporary and such refugees would leave their countries of asylum in a matter of months. Now, after four years of conflict, it appears likely that these refugees will remain and the locals have to learn to live side by side with them. As a result of the conflict, children are behind in their education and are missing the enjoyment of their childhood. In the camps, there are only 40 teachers for more than 1.000 students, aged 6 to 17. Most of the teachers are volunteers, and often refugees themselves. Classes focus on drawing and music to help ease the trauma; writing and mathematics are taught when books are available. In Turkey, children face additional problems because of the language barrier. These refugees speak Arabic or Kurdish so, they cannot attend public schools where only Turkish is spoken. For different reasons, whether in their home countries or in the refugee camps, children find an inadequate education system that jeopardizes their future. Everywhere there is an urgent need for an education system that could absorb these children and bring some normalcy to their lives.
Third, another disruptive consequence of the continuing violence that torments the Middle East is the separation of family members, which forces many minors to fend for themselves. The root of the destabilization of society is the generalized violence that leads to the breaking down of the family, society’s basic social unit. To prevent the further exploitation of children and to protect them properly, an additional effort should be made to facilitate the reunification of minors with their respective families.
Mr. President,
The right to a legal identity, to an adequate education and to a family are key elements and specific requirements in a comprehensive system of protection for children. Such measures require the close collaboration of all stakeholders. Access to quality education and psycho-social care, together with other basic services, is extremely important. However, children cannot benefit from such services unless they are registered at birth and their families and communities are supported to protect them better. If the violence does not stop and the normal pace of education and development is not resumed, these children are at risk of becoming a lost generation.
Peace in Syria and the Middle East is the priority for healthy growth of all children. With conviction, during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Francis stated: “May the violence cease and may humanitarian law be respected, thus ensuring much needed assistance to those who are suffering! May all parties abandon the attempt to resolve issues by the use of arms and return to negotiations. A solution will only be found through dialogue and restraint, through compassion for those who suffer, through the search for a political solution and through a sense of fraternal responsibility.”
Thank you, Mr. President.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Silvano Tomasi has warned that unless efforts are made to protect millions of children caught up in the Syrian conflict they are at risk of becoming a lost generation. In an statement delivered on March 17 to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Archbishop Tomasi, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See…
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(Vatican Radio) The Church “is the home of Jesus,” a house of mercy that welcomes all, and therefore not a place where Christians should close the doors to those seeking to enter. This was the message at the heart of Pope Francis’ homily Tuesday morning at Mass at the Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican. It is a message that Pope Francis has repeated many times in the past: that of Jesus who opens the doors to anyone who seeks Him and especially to those far from Him. But, the Pope laments, some Christians shut out those who knock at the door of the Church. While Christ offers complete mercy, those who profess to believe in Him sometimes fail Him by closing the door on others. Do not stop those seeking Christ The Pope’s reflection begins with water, the protagonist of Tuesday’s liturgical readings. Calling it “the water that heals,” Francis comments on the Prophet Ezekiel’s description of the trickle of water emerging from the doorway of the temple, and which becomes a raging torrent rich with fish, capable of healing anyone. And, in the Gospel: the water of the pool of Bethesda where a sad paralyzed man lies just on the edge. The Pope describes him as a little ‘”lazy” – never having found a way to immerse himself in the moving waters to seek healing. Instead, Jesus heals him and encourages him to “go on”, but this triggers the criticism of the doctors of the law because the healing took place on Saturday. It’s a tale notes the Pope, which occurs “many times” today: “A man – a woman – who feels sick in the soul, sad, who made many mistakes in life, at a certain time feels that the waters are moving – the Holy Spirit is moving something – or they hear a word or … ‘Ah, I want to go!’ … And they gather up their courage and go. And how many times in Christian communities today will they find closed doors! ‘But you cannot, no, you cannot [come in]. You have sinned and you cannot [come in]. If you want to come, come to Mass on Sunday, but that’s it – that’s all you can do.’ So, what the Holy Spirit creates in the hearts of people, those Christians with their ‘doctors of the law’ mentality, destroy “. The Church is the house of Jesus “This pains me,” the Pope says, reiterating that the Church always keeps its doors open: “It’s Jesus’ home and Jesus welcomes [all]. But not only does He welcome, He goes out to see people just as He went out to find this man. And if people are hurt, what does Jesus do? Scold them because they are hurt? No, He comes and He carries them on His shoulders. And this is called mercy. And when God rebukes his people – ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice!’ – He’s talking about this. ” Love is the law “Who are you,” the Pope continues, “ who shut the door of your heart to a man, a woman, who wants to improve, to return within the people of God – because the Holy Spirit has stirred his or her heart?” Lent, concludes Francis, helps us to avoid making the same mistake as those who regarded with contempt Jesus’ love towards the paralytic, solely because it was contrary to the law: “We call today on the Lord in the Mass for us, for each of us and for the whole Church, a conversion to Jesus, a conversion to Jesus, a conversion to the mercy of Jesus. And so the Law will be fully accomplished, because the Law is to love God and our neighbor as ourselves. ” (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Church “is the home of Jesus,” a house of mercy that welcomes all, and therefore not a place where Christians should close the doors to those seeking to enter. This was the message at the heart of Pope Francis’ homily Tuesday morning at Mass at the Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican. …
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a letter to the Bishops of Nigeria expressing his closeness to all those suffering in the country.
While acknowledging the progress the nation of 160 million has made in recent years, Pope Francis laments the “new and violent forms of extremism and fundamentalism” which are affecting the country on ethnic, social and religious grounds, which has led to murders, kidnappings, and forced many people to leave their homes.
“Every day I remember you in my prayers and I repeat here, for your encouragement and comfort, the consoling words of the Lord Jesus, which must always resound in our hearts: ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,’” Pope Francis writes.
“Peace – as you know so well – is not only the absence of conflict or the result of political compromise or fatalistic resignation,” the Pope continues. “Peace is for us a gift which comes from on high; it is Jesus Christ himself, the Prince of Peace.”
Pope Francis reminds the Bishops that, at the same time, peace is “a daily endeavour, a courageous and authentic effort to favour reconciliation, to promote experiences of sharing, to extend bridges of dialogue, to serve the weakest and the excluded.”
“In a word, peace consists in building up a ‘culture of encounter’,” he said.
The full text of the Pope’s letter to the Bishops of Nigeria is below:
To the Bishops of Nigeria
Dear Brother Bishops,
While we walk this Lenten journey towards the Resurrection of the Lord united with the whole Church, I wish to extend to you, dear Archbishops and Bishops of Nigeria, a fraternal greeting, which I extend to the beloved Christian communities entrusted to your pastoral care. I would also like to share some thoughts with you on the current situation in your country.
Nigeria, known as the “African giant”, with its more than 160 million inhabitants, is set to play a primary role, not only in Africa but in the world at large. In recent years, it has experienced robust growth in the economic sphere and has again reasserted itself on the world stage as an attractive market, on account of its natural resources as well as its commercial potential. It is now considered officially the single largest African economy. It has also distinguished itself as a political player widely committed to the resolution of crisis situations in the continent.
At the same time, your nation has had to confront considerable problems, among them new and violent forms of extremism and fundamentalism on ethnic, social and religious grounds. Many Nigerians have been killed, wounded or mutilated, kidnapped and deprived of everything: their loved ones, their land, their means of subsistence, their dignity and their rights. Many have not been able to return to their homes. Believers, both Christian and Muslim, have experienced a common tragic outcome, at the hands of people who claim to be religious, but who instead abuse religion, to make of it an ideology for their own distorted interests of exploitation and murder.
I would like to assure you and all who suffer of my closeness. Every day I remember you in my prayers and I repeat here, for your encouragement and comfort, the consoling words of the Lord Jesus, which must always resound in our hearts: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27).
Peace – as you know so well – is not only the absence of conflict or the result of political compromise or fatalistic resignation. Peace is for us a gift which comes from on high; it is Jesus Christ himself, the Prince of Peace, who has made of two peoples one (cf. Eph 2:14). And only the man or woman who treasures the peace of Christ as a guiding light and way of life can become a peacemaker (cf. Mt 5:9).
At the same time, peace is a daily endeavour, a courageous and authentic effort to favour reconciliation, to promote experiences of sharing, to extend bridges of dialogue, to serve the weakest and the excluded. In a word, peace consists in building up a “culture of encounter”.
And so I wish here to express my heartfelt thanks to you, because in the midst of so many trials and sufferings the Church in Nigeria does not cease to witness to hospitality, mercy and forgiveness. How can we fail to remember the priests, religious men and women, missionaries and catechists who, despite untold sacrifices, never abandoned their flock, but remained at their service as good and faithful heralds of the Gospel? To them, most particularly, I would like to express my solidarity, and to say: do not grow tired of doing what is right!
We give thanks to the Lord for them, as for so many men and women of every social, cultural and religious background, who with great willingness stand up in concrete ways to every form of violence, and whose efforts are directed at favouring a more secure and just future for all. They offer us moving testimonies, which, as Pope Benedict XVI recalled at the end of the Synod for Africa, show “the power of the Spirit to transform the hearts of victims and their persecutors and thus to re-establish fraternity” (Africae Munus, 20).
Dear Brother Bishops, in perseverance and without becoming discouraged, go forward on the way of peace (cf. Lk 1:79). Accompany the victims! Come to the aid of the poor! Teach the youth! Become promoters of a more just and fraternal society!
I gladly impart to you my Apostolic Blessing, which I ask you to extend to priests, religious, missionaries, catechists, lay faithful and above all to those suffering members of the Body of Christ.
May the Resurrection of the Lord bring conversion, reconciliation and peace to all the people of Nigeria! I commend you to Mary, Queen of Africa, and I ask you also to pray for me.
FRANCISCUS PP.
(from Vatican Radio)…