A call to unite: Physicians must help children in areas of conflict

Canadian physicians should throw their considerable political weight behind international efforts to protect children's rights and help heal children who've been affected by war and conflict, former Canadian senator Langdon Pearson pleaded in a keynote address to the Physicians for Global Survival (Canada) on Mar. 30 in Ottawa.

Figure. This child from south Sudan puts a face to the 6 million children who have been seriously wounded in conflict. Photo by: ICRC/T. Gassman

“You cannot underestimate the impact you all can have when you get together and communicate a message,” the former president and chair of the Canadian Council on Children and Youth (1984–90) said in her address, entitled “Conflict and Health: the imperative for response and prevention.”

Protection of children's rights should be a key component of Canada's foreign policy, Pearson argued. “We need to put pressure on the government to put children back on the agenda — credible groups like you can help do this.”

The Physicians for Global Survival say that more than 2 million children have been killed in armed conflicts since the 1989 UN Convention of the Rights of the Child was adopted. Three times as many have been seriously injured or permanently disabled, while countless others witnessed or participated in acts of violence.

“But just as many children die of malnutrition heightened by conflict,” Pearson said. “The most vulnerable are under 5 years old.”

International efforts must focus on preventing child soldier recruitment and child prostitution; protecting refugee children, helping families to reunify, and providing access to education, reproduction education, health care, physical and psycho-social help, and more, Pearson added.

Pearson also argued that physicians have a “responsibility to look after the world's children.”