Deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, in the context of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle East, consider it fundamentally important and urgent to appeal to the United Nations, international parliamentary organizations, and parliaments of countries around the world with an urgent appeal to support the demand to the parties to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict immediately, without preliminary conditions to end hostilities and stop the indiscriminate use of lethal weapons, leading to the death of civilians, primarily innocent children and adolescents.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as well as human rights organizations not associated with the parties to the conflict, in the first three weeks of the unprecedented outbreak of violence in Palestine and Israel, almost three thousand children were killed and more than five thousand minors were injured. Every day, more than 400 children are injured or killed in the conflict zone.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, children account for 40 percent of the total death toll as a result of the escalating conflict. At the same time, the largest number of child deaths occurs in long-suffering Gaza, which, as a result of massive bombing, is turning into a real “sector of death and horror.” The blockade of the Gaza Strip increases the inhumane suffering and agony of Palestinian children and their families, who are forced to literally survive without food, water, medicine, electricity, fuel and all that constitutes the basis of life support.
Deputies of the State Duma express sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims, as well as sympathy for the wounded and injured as a result of the military actions of the warring parties.
The State Duma notes that a crime is not only violence and murder of civilians, the taking and holding of hostages, but also the bombing of peaceful residential areas, their blockade, creating obstacles to the delivery of emergency humanitarian aid and forcible attempts to resettle a large number of civilians under the actual threat of their physical destruction.
Deputies of the State Duma are forced to state with deep regret that at present in the Middle East the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international covenants on human rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child are being grossly violated, especially in relation to minors.
It is obvious that the peacekeeping, human rights and mediation activities of a number of bodies and specialized agencies of the United Nations, the main purpose of which was to maintain peace and security on the planet, have turned out to be untenable and ineffective. Ignoring by a number of countries of the world, led by the United States of America, the goals and objectives set out in the Action Plan “A World Fit for Children”, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2002, was one of the reasons for the tragic situation with the protection of the lives and health of children in the Palestine zone. -Israeli conflict. The blocking by Washington and London of the efforts of the UN Security Council, which has the exclusive right to make fundamental decisions to prevent or stop any armed confrontation, leaves no doubt about the opportunistic and highly politicized approach of Western countries to the issue of a ceasefire and stopping a new round of hostility and violence during the protracted for decades of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Their attempts to use the escalation of the situation in hot spots of the world for their own selfish, including economic, purposes and many years of practice of torpedoing peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East, in particular as part of the “Middle East Quartet,” do not provide grounds to relieve responsibility from those international structures that within the framework of their mandates must protect the interests and rights of the child.
The State Duma considers it important to intensify the efforts of the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, to assess and give new impetus to the activities of such specialized UN agencies as the United Nations Interregional Research Institute on Crime and Justice, created back in 1968 .
The violent death of a child is the most terrible grief for his mother and father, for his entire family. The mass death of children and youth is a humanitarian catastrophe and tragedy for any country, any people.
Addressing their colleagues – parliamentarians from countries around the world, deputies of the State Duma express confidence that it is in our power, in the power of people of good will, to stop the evil and madness happening in the Middle East. Only by uniting the efforts of governments, parliaments, and civil society around the United Nations and the UN Security Council can we save the children of Palestine, Israel and neighboring countries involved in this long-standing conflict from death and suffering.
Children’s lives matter! We are all: people livinge on our planet, politicians, military men, scientists, lawyers, public figures, teachers, doctors – we bear responsibility for them and must do everything in our power to ensure that the happiness, health and well-being of the younger generations become the most important goal and result of our common efforts for the sake of the future of the planet, its peaceful and prosperous development.