By Edwin Nwachukwu
For more than three months, children in Lebanon have lived through experiences no child should ever endure. Many have fled their homes multiple times, witnessed violence first-hand, lost loved ones, and seen their schools, communities, and sense of safety shattered.
According to a statement by the UNICEF Country Representative in Lebanon, Marcoluigi Corsi, “after over 100 days of increased hostilities – since 2 March – 247 children have been killed and 992 injured, an average of 12 children killed or maimed every day. Behind these staggering figures are lives cut short or forever changed, and families facing profound loss, trauma, and uncertainty.
It said that the numbers alone cannot convey the full scale of the crisis. Beyond those killed and maimed, an entire generation of children has seen its childhood disrupted. Their sense of safety – one that every child needs to grow and thrive – remains profoundly undermined.
“With renewed hope for hostilities to halt, children need more than an end to violence – they require protection, sustained support to restore access to essential services, and to be offered a consistent pathway to recovery and a safer future.
“Widespread destruction remains across large parts of the country, affecting homes, schools, and essential services – including water, sanitation and hygiene systems – further compounding already severe humanitarian needs.
“More than 770,000 children are experiencing heightened distress from repeated exposure to violence, loss and displacement. Many remain unable to return home because of ongoing fighting and the threat of unexploded ordnance,’’ the statement said.
The statement explained that the scale of physical and psychological harm they are witnessing is unacceptable, and children continue to pay a terrible price for this conflict, stressing that ending the violence is essential to restore access to education and other basic services and providing children with a pathway to recovery and a safer future.
‘’The true cost of this crisis will not only be measured in lives lost today, but in the opportunities missed tomorrow. Without sustained support, many children risk carrying the consequences of this war with them for years to come.
“UNICEF reiterates its urgent call for a sustained cessation of hostilities. Children need to be protected from further harm and schools, hospitals, water systems and other civilian infrastructure urgently safeguarded. Humanitarian access must be ensured and international law must be respected.
“Most importantly, Lebanon’s children must be given the chance not only to survive this crisis, but to recover from it and reclaim the future that conflict has placed at risk.”
