According to a report of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, in 2012 alone, more than 43 million people were forced to leave their homes and countries because of war; the majority of these are children, who are the innocent victims and suffer the greatest injuries. Many were orphaned. Nearly 22 thousand minors have sought asylum abroad. The hardest hit countries are Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, the Sudan and Somalia.


Children in warring countries live in a context where human rights and the fundamental child rights are constantly violated: lacking water and in dramatic hygienic-sanitary conditions, without the opportunity to study and an unappeasable emotional hunger, subjected to all kinds of violence and exploitation. At least 250 million children are living on the streets, where they are often easy prey for organized crime and the illegal economy, objects of trade and abuse. In addition, there is the tragedy of child soldiers: boys and girls who, as early as age 5, are recruited to fight in armed conflicts.

The daily newspaper “Avvenire”, in an article by Susan Dabbous, on August 24th, denounced the inhuman conditions of the children caught in the civil war in Syria. (Attached)
 
On the website of the Pontifical Council for the Family, among other things, see the appeal Maronite Archbishop of Damascus, Msgr. Samir Nassar, in a letter to the Dicastery.
 
In an interview with Vatican Radio, Marco Lombardi, director of Educational Projects in Afghanistan at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, talks about the drama of growing up in the midst of war and the role of the family and education. (Attached)
 
 
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