By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

Children are the hope of the future. Childhood is the stage through which every grownup human being has to pass. It is that sensitive period of life when parents, whatever their economic state, whether rich or poor, shower love and affection upon children in order to groom them for becoming responsible adults.
Morally upright family units inculcate children with ethical values, which in turn lead to the building of a sound and healthy society with respect for the rights of its members of all ages, from infants to the elderly.
Islam attaches special importance to the upbringing of children and has warned of the dire consequences of the mistreatment of orphans. An example in this regard is the following Ayah:
“Indeed those who wrongfully consume the property of orphans only ingest fire into their bellies, and soon they will enter the Blaze.” (Holy Qur’an 4:10)
A famous statement from Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) to his cousin, son-in-law and vicegerent, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) reads:
“O’ Ali, there are as many rights of children incumbent upon parents as there are rights of parents incumbent upon children.”
Children are also held dear by other religions, such as Christianity, which says in the Gospel of St. Mark (10:16) about the habit of Prophet Jesus (peace upon him):
“And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”
In the Book of Zechariah it is mentioned: “Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor.” (7:10)
In short, even in the animal kingdom we observe how the birds and the beasts feed their young and are hypersensitive towards them.
Unfortunately, the modern world of science and technology which has drifted away from spiritual values, has become totally devoid of humanitarian tendencies, and begun to view children as objects of the carnal and commercial desires of the unprincipled adults.
A few days ago on November 20, the United Nations ritually marked “World Children’s Day” with reports and photo exhibits, but without any solution to the plight of children worldwide.
It merely said that 30,000 children have been killed in Syria over the past ten years because of war and displacement, while the surviving children, including orphans, are forced to work for long hours, often in dangerous environments, in order to feed siblings or their destitute and disabled parents.
The UN, which fully knows the cause of the conflict and the devils in human form that triggered it for their nefarious political ends, did not name them.
In a barely hidden hypocrisy it tried to blame the government in Damascus for the plight, but made no mention of those who fueled the crisis, such as the US, the Zionist regime, and the rootless and unrepresentative rulers of the oil-rich Persian Gulf states funding the macabrely murderous terrorists who used to sadistically slaughter children.
In Yemen and in Afghanistan, the same pathetic situation prevails for children, and it is fully evident that the US is the prime killer, either directly or through clients – the Saudis and Emirates in the former country and the Daesh terrorists in the latter.
If the illegal US sanctions are starving the children of Venezuela and other Latin American states, the impoverished children of Sub-Saharan Africa are the victims of the exploitative policies of the West – both the Americans and the Europeans who plunder the natural resources of the Dark Continent and install client regimes to facilitate their crimes against humanity.
Meanwhile, in the supposedly advanced societies of North America and West Europe, the rights of children continue to be trampled upon, and most of them are reared without ethics and spiritual values so that they grow into rogues, rascals, and hardened criminals without morals and humanitarian tendencies – as are the ruling classes in Washington, Paris, London, and etc., which are the cause of the current crises and terrorism all over the world.