The Palestinian Center for Conflict Resolution lights the candles of World Children's Day in the Gaza governorates
Gaza, Publication and Information Unit:
"Daddy, when will the electricity come?" These are words the Palestinian father has come to hear night and day with the continuing siege and the cutting of power from more than one million seven hundred thousand Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Despite all these challenges, the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution lit the candles of hope and of an end to pain to mark World Children's Day, through a series of public and recreational events under the title "Campaign against violence against children", with the participation of 1,000 children across all the governorates of the Strip.
"Our Children Are Our Hopes festival"
The children of the North governorate had a new appointment with the "Our Children Are Our Hopes" festival, attended by 200 children and their families and by representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF. The festival's coordinator for the Conflict Resolution Center, Rabie Hamouda, said: "We came today to support our children's rights on their world day, so that they can say that hope will remain their refuge as they go on with their lives despite the circumstances and the suffering." He noted that the North festival presented a set of performance and artistic pieces about child labour, in addition to clown items, dabke, folklore and rides on swings.
"The Freedom Marathon for Childhood"
Rafah governorate, and in particular the crossing gate, had an appointment with a sports marathon in which 100 children took part, running from the Amer roundabout towards the main gate of the land crossing that links the Gaza Strip with sister Egypt. The marathon's coordinator for the Centre, Abdel Qader Dhaher, pointed out that the message of Gaza's children is clear: to open Gaza's only window on the world and to give Palestinians the right, like the rest of the world, to freedom of travel and movement. He stressed that the children want to enjoy calm and ease so that they can travel, since among Gaza's children are the sick and the students who want to complete their studies abroad, and we hope it will open permanently without closure.
"A celebration: no to violence against children"
Ending violence against all children was the slogan of the Middle governorate's festival, in which 200 children took part, in addition to a series of murals about stopping violence against children in Palestine. The coordinator of the Middle governorate celebration at the Conflict Resolution Center, Ramez Jaber, explained that the children expressed their happiness and their smiles through the items, balloons and recreational games. He explained that violence has become a prevailing feature in how parents and schools deal with pupils, and so we are conveying our message today to work to stop all forms of violence used against our children, as he put it.
"Our Hope Is in Our Children festival"
The last of the achievements in the series of World Children's Day events was held in Khan Younis governorate, with a campaign distributing stickers about combating violence, as well as a recreational festival with the participation of 200 children at Al-Maarri School in the Al-Qarara area of Khan Younis. The festival's coordinator for the Centre, Mohammed Abu Haddaf, explained that the children of Khan Younis achieved their message of making the governorate's public aware of ending violence against them, through a set of posters distributed to hundreds of cars and shops. He called for increasing public pressure to entrench children's rights and their freedom in recreation, places to play, education and health, like the rest of the world's children.
