Bacik launches Sadaka’s ‘No Way to Treat a Child’ campaign to highlight plight of children in Palestine
As children in Ireland gear up to return to school after a disruptive and unpredictable year, Labour TD Ivana Bacik has highlighted the ongoing crisis faced by vulnerable children in Palestine as she launched Sadaka’s ‘No Way to Treat a Child’ campaign outside Liberty Hall today.
Deputy Bacik said:
“This August, as happens every August, we parents are preparing for the return to school after the summer holidays. It is true to say that children in Ireland have made a significant sacrifice over the past 18 months to support the public health effort to manage the Covid-19 pandemic. Notwithstanding the ongoing challenges presented by Covid-19, the return to classrooms this autumn will be of immense relief to them and their families. However, for their peers in Palestine, there is no guarantee of an undisrupted year at school.
“We understand that 54 schools in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have demolition orders issued against them by Israeli Authorities. Indeed, many schools suffer regular attacks – approximately ten per month. This is a violation of international law and an affront to several articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“The international community must use every available diplomatic tool to bring about an end to this aggression towards children in Palestine, and indeed all civilians. My Labour Party colleagues and I are proud to stand in support of this important campaign from Sadaka.
“The rights of the Palestinian people must be protected and there must be a comprehensive multilateral peace agreement between Israel and Palestine which respects international law and delivers for the Palestinian people an internationally recognised, secure and viable state of their own.
“Unfortunately children in Palestine have had to become too familiar with the cruel nature of conflict, and the accompanying limitations on so many freedoms which are taken for granted here in Ireland. I commend Sadaka for their campaign, which serves to remind us of our duty to those children and young people.”