Children are paying the ultimate price in Iraqi violence - UNICEF

Voicing alarm at the growing impact of the ongoing fighting on Iraqi children, including a mounting death toll in recent days, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called on all parties to ensure the protection of children and all civilians as required by international humanitarian law.

"The fighting in Iraq is exacting a heavy toll and children are paying with their lives," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said in a statement on yesterday’s suicide bombings in Basra in which more than 20 children on a school bus were reported to have been killed.

The agency noted that the killings in Basra follow the reported deaths of more than 100 children in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, in recent days.

In many cities across Iraq, children are unable to lead a normal life. "They are not just unable to attend school and get decent health care and clean water, but far too often they are paying the ultimate price," Ms. Bellamy said. "The ongoing instability and fighting is hitting children the hardest."

Many schools are closed due to the recent upsurge in violence. Even where schools are open, many parents are keeping their children at home out of fear. "Children have the right to continue their education, and to do so safely, even when they live in the midst of conflict," Ms. Bellamy added.

"They must feel free to exercise that right, and they must feel safe going to and from school. In fact, everywhere children spend time, whether on a bus, in a health centre, at a school, or on a playground, must be treated as a zone of peace. We must not allow children to become the victims of adults battles," she declared.

Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan also added his voice to the chorus of condemnations of the Basra attacks and of another suicide bombing yesterday in Saudi Arabia.

“Terrorism constitutes an assault on values the international community holds dear,” Mr. Ramcharan said in a statement. “An essential element in fighting this scourge is to uphold the rule of law and fundamental standards of human rights, the very things terrorists seek to destroy.”