Hundreds of thousands of children were made homeless in Lebanon…reports Asian Lite News
“Despite more than 200 children killed in Lebanon in less than two months, a disconcerting pattern has emerged: their deaths are met with inertia from those able to stop this violence,” according to UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder.
“For the children of Lebanon, it has become a silent normalisation of horror,” said Elder in a press briefing today in Geneva.
“We must hope humanity never again witnesses the ongoing level of carnage of children in Gaza, though there are chilling similarities for children in Lebanon.”
Hundreds of thousands of children were made homeless in Lebanon, he said, noting that Despite efforts in early November to open some schools for children in Lebanon, given widespread attacks over the weekend, all are again closed.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on an immediate ceasefire and the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.
In his video message to the fifth session of the conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, Guterres said that the idea of such a zone stretches back across decades, but with regional conflicts raging and tensions reaching a boiling point, this goal is becoming more urgent by the day, Xinhua news agency reported.
For over a year, Gaza has experienced a non-stop nightmare that threatens to engulf the entire region. And we are all alarmed by the escalation in Lebanon, he noted.
The UN chief called on the international community to mobilise for an immediate ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and the beginning of an irreversible process towards a two-State solution.
“At the same time, true, sustainable security — in the Middle East and around the world — depends on continuing to pursue our disarmament goals,” he said.
The Pact for the Future adopted in September includes a fresh global commitment to achieve a world free of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, Guterres said. “A zone in the Middle East would represent an important step towards that goal.”
He said that the recent awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo, an organisation of survivors of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, demonstrated renewed global momentum to eliminate nuclear weapons, once and for all.
Guterres stressed the importance of establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones, saying that the work of the conference is critical to building a more peaceful future for all people — in the Middle East and around the world.
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