Beirut: Lebanon’s economic crisis threatens the present and future of millions of children, according to human rights activists and UN officials.
They are at risk of child labor and premature marriages to help their families survive.
Many people suffering from extreme poverty have resorted to forcing their children to work.
Children can be seen giving orders to passersby in grocery stores and in front of roadside express shops.
During the past week, there were frequent fatal or dangerous incidents involving children under the age of six in Lebanon.
A six-year-old was killed in Baalbek on Saturday when a hand grenade exploded while he was playing with other children, some of whom were seriously injured.
The kids found the device while they were playing.
Due to the presence of the militia, weapons are easily transported and used in this area.
Poverty-stricken areas are susceptible to all kinds of dangers and are often the only places children can play.
On the same day, social media platforms were abuzz with photos and news of a Syrian refugee in Lebanon who tortured his two daughters at a housing camp on the outskirts of Muhammara on Lebanon’s northern border.
The photographs show bruises and torture marks on the bodies of young girls, both of whom are less than two years old.
While the wife denied abusing the two children and claimed she had “fallen on them while sleeping,” a medical examination by a doctor at a nearby health clinic revealed that one of the two children suffered a shoulder injury. Bone was dislocated and there were bruises on his face. While the other girl had a fracture in her pelvis.
When the father of the girls switched off the phone, the workers of the area reached the grandfather of the girls.
One of them was taken to Halba Government Hospital for surgery, but the parents were unable to bear the cost of the procedure.
An NGO contacted the UNHCR, which in turn investigated the matter with Lebanese security officials, and the two girls were transferred to the UNHCR Security Centre.
If domestic violence and living difficulties weren’t enough, another incident occurred more than a week ago at a zoo in Lebanon, nearly killing a child.
A three-year-old boy accompanied his brothers and grandfather to a zoo in Nahr al-Kalb, north of Beirut.
According to the grandfather, when the child reached near the cage of a lioness, they were roaming between the cages of the animals.
In an instant, the animal hit the boy and started biting his body.
But the grandfather and another man managed to rescue the child from the lioness’s clutches.
The child suffered 21 wounds all over his body, including serious injuries.
The child’s father filed a legal complaint against the zoo owners due to the alleged lack of supervision by state agencies.
He said that “the principle of captivity of animals is rejected, but if it does, there are certain conditions that must be applied.
“The least of these situations is that the captured lions do not starve to the point where, if they escape from their cages, they will attack people and cause carnage.”
A report released by UNICEF on 17 December called for its handling of violence against children in Lebanon and warned that “at least one million children are at risk of violence as the crisis in Lebanon intensifies.”
It is estimated that “one in two children in Lebanon are at risk of physical, psychological or sexual violence at a time when families are struggling to cope with the worsening crisis in the country.”
This report coincides with the visit of Dr. Najla Muallah Majeed, Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, to Lebanon.
She said: “More than ever, there is a need to ensure that children are protected from abuse, harm and violence and that their rights are protected.”
Lebanon, which hosts more than 1 million refugees from Syria, is suffering from an economic crisis described by the World Bank as “one of the worst crises the world has seen in modern times.”
More than 80 percent of the population lives in poverty, and the local currency has lost 90 percent of its value against the US dollar.
UNICEF estimated that “nearly 1.8 million children – more than 80 percent of children in Lebanon – now suffer from multidimensional poverty.”
Its report showed that “the number of child abuse cases and cases dealt with by UNICEF and its partners increased by almost 50 percent between October 2020 and October 2021, meaning that attacks increased from 3,913 to 5,621. “
It has become common to see homeless children roaming the streets and various areas of the capital, either driven by their parents or out of their own hunger and desperation.
Several mothers from poor communities contacted by local TV stations during Christmas revealed that their babies go to sleep for some days without eating dinner.
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