Photo Credit: Gary Raynaldo  /  Sep. 13, 2019.   UNICEF installation on the North Lawn at the UN Headquarters in New York highlights the grave scale of child deaths in conflict during 2018.

By Gary Raynaldo      DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –   NEW  YORK –   As the late, famous R&B singer Marvin Gaye sang:  “WAR IS NOT THE  ANSWER!”   A sea of UNICEF children’s backpacks set up as headstones on the North Lawn at United Nations headquarters in New York is a stark reminder of the insanity of war that Mr. Gaye sang so passionately about.   The UNICEF installation displays 3,758 school backpacks as headstones to illustrate the grave scale of child deaths in conflict in 2018 and call for greater protection of children living in conflict. The installation was unveiled  this week as a message to world leaders, who will convene for the annual General Assembly.  It features rows of backpacks reminiscent of a graveyard, each one representing a senseless loss of a young life to conflict, according to the UN.

“UNICEF backpacks have always been a symbol of hope and childhood possibility,”  said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.     “In just two weeks, world leaders gathering at the UN General Assembly will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child”, she continued, saying:     “This installation should remind them of the stakes”.

Photo Credit: Gary Raynaldo  / RIP.  UNICEF Memorial at UN world headquarters in New York for children killed in global conflicts. 

According to the 2019 Annual Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, more than 12,000 children were killed or maimed in conflict zones last year – the highest number since the UN started monitoring and reporting this grave violation.

Photo: Gary Raynaldo /  UNICEF installation on the North Lawn at the UN Headquarters in New York highlights the grave scale of child deaths in conflict during 2018.

The UNICEF  installation will run through 10 October, and once it is taken down, the backpacks will continue on their journey to support children’s education.  According to the UN, in ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen and many more, children pay the heaviest price of war. The vast majority of child casualties in armed conflict are caused by the continued and widespread use of explosive weapons, such as airstrikes, landmines and cluster munitions.

Photo: Gary Raynaldo /  The scale of child casualties in armed conflict is horrific. These backpacks represent children killed in war just last year. 

Fore added that “as many children go back to school this week, we are drawing attention to the thousands of children killed in conflict zones and whose tragic loss will forever be felt in their homes, classrooms and communities around the world”.     UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, to defend their rights, and to help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

Conflict Kills 300 Babies Every Day:   Report

More than half a million babies may have died as a result of conflict over the past five years,  according to a report by Save the Children.  That’s an average of more than 100,000 deaths annually – or 300 babies every day.   At least 550,000 deaths of children under the age of one could be attributed to the effects of conflict in the 10 worst-affected conflict zones between 2013 and 2017, the most recent year for which data was available, the charity found.

“War Is Not The  Answer.  For Only Love  Can Conquer Hate”  –  Marvin  Gaye

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