Nearly 40 million children under 5 worldwide suffer from acute malnutrition, while approximately 1 billion minors are exposed to climate and environmental shocks with almost 90% of the global burden of diseases associated with climate change, environmental degradation and pollution falling on the very youngest. Added to this is the violence caused by man: in the last year the United Nations has detected over 41 thousand serious violations against children during armed conflicts, including almost 12 thousand cases of killing or mutilation and over 7,400 cases of recruitment or use of minors as soldiers and almost 5 thousand cases of kidnapping. Conflicts in the Gaza Strip, Sudan, Myanmar and Burkina Faso have been the deadliest for children. The NGO Cesvi recalls these data on the occasion of World Children’s Day which takes place on 20 NovemberAnd.
«Millions of children are denied the fundamental rights enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Children and Adolescents, such as the right to life, food, education and medical care», underlines the general director of Cesvi Stefano Piziali. «The effects of armed conflicts, combined with climate change and aggravated by cuts to humanitarian funds, they are erasing decades of progress in child protection, condemning an entire generation to hunger and fear, compromising the very future of humanity. Recent cuts to international cooperation risk increasing child deaths by more than a thousand per day. In contexts such as Sudan, Gaza and Ukraine, millions of minors are forced to survive in inhumane conditions with trauma that will accompany them for life. And these tragedies are not isolated events, but part of a global crisis affecting children on every continent. On the day dedicated to the rights of children and adolescents, we renew our attention towards the recognition and respect of their fundamental rights regardless of the part of the world in which they were born”.
There are over 500 million children living in areas of the planet affected by intense conflicts, of which 218 million in Africa alone, where as many as 32.6% of the total children live in areas affected by armed violence. In the last year Cesvi has supported over one million children in 28 countries around the world, also through the Case del Sorriso program dedicated to childhood, which guarantees safe and protected spaces, distribution of meals, support for school and training activities, recreational opportunities, medical care and personal hygiene for minors in difficulty in Brazil, Haiti, India, South Africa, Peru and Zimbabwe and projects for children in areas affected by serious humanitarian emergencies triggered by conflicts, where the organization provides, alongside emergency response interventions, educational and recreational activities for children, psychosocial support and access to sanitation and health services.
The Houses of Smiles are also present in Italy, to combat growing poverty and, consequently, greater exposure to the risk of child abuse, in contexts marked by economic and socio-cultural fragility, juvenile crime, school dropout and lack of educational and aggregation spaces. The structures, which offer psychological support activities, listening, parenting support, sports, psychomotor, artistic-expressive workshops and educational proposals, are located in Naples, Bari and Syracuse, in neighborhoods particularly exposed to the risk of child abuse.
To support the Case del Sorriso Program and childhood projects, Cesvi has launched a campaign until 14 December 2025: you can donate to the solidarity number 45582 by sending an SMS or calling from a landline. Information: www.cesvi.org
(Photo: the House of Smiles in Bari)
