Article 6 reflects Article 3 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states: ‘We all have the right to life, and to live in freedom and safety.’ I’ve got a beautiful book called ‘We are all born free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures.’* Each ‘Right’ is colourfully illustrated by a different artist. The illustration for Article 3 is a picture of ‘Freedom Park’, a garden with children of all nationalities running, playing, parading with instruments, one is flying a kite, another watering a plant, others join hands dancing round a statue of Nelson Mandela. The feeling is of enjoyment, being with your friends, in the uninhibited way that children do things. I mean of course, children who are lucky enough to live in freedom, without daily fear for their lives and those of their families.
So the right to life isn’t just simply to stay alive, it’s about mental and physical health and emotional well being (as a Christian I would add spiritual well being). On a training course recently I learned that by the age of two years, 75% of a child’s brain growth has occurred and that the experiences of the child up to that age physically affect brain structure. A child who has experienced fear, pain, confusion, separation and loss of loved ones as a result of living with conflict will actually grow and develop differently than if they had not had those experiences. Most children, whatever their environment will grow up loved and cared for to the best of their parents’ ability, which will give them a certain amount of resilience, but this will not, in the long term, protect them from the ‘risk factor’ of war. This is a sobering thought, isn’t it? Is any war worth that?
A video clip I was sent shows children aged about 8 to 12 in Syria talking about no longer being able to go to school, playing in the war damaged street, the deaths of friends and family. Suddenly there was the sound of gunfire. The children stood up unhurriedly and started to go inside. One boy said calmly to the interviewer, ‘It’s a sniper, it’s normal’. This was obviously an everyday occurrence, just an inconvenient interruption, not a cause for panic or fear. Perhaps it once was, but now these children are desensitized. In a few years’ time will they be wielding the guns?
I’m sorry this is such depressing reading, I have been deciding how, and even whether, to approach writing about this Article for some weeks. But ultimately, it needs to be said, for the sake of the children. And can I mention again the brilliant ongoing work by UNICEF, Save the Children, Tearfund, Christian Aid and many other organisations, to increase resilience and decrease some of the damage which war inflicts on the youngest, least powerful members of society.
*Published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books www.franceslincoln.com in association with Amnesty International. One of my favourite books!
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