LAHORE: Two Pakistani minor children have come forward to extend virtually the United Nations exhibit, titled “Gaza, Palestine – A Crisis of Humanity, A Cry for Justice” across the globe.
They took up the cause of Gaza children as an extension of the UN exhibition, which continued for one-and-a-half months at the Visitors’ Lobby of the UN General Assembly building, from Nov 26, 2024 to Jan 10, 2025.
According to a press release, issued on Saturday by the children through Prof Dr Aurangzeb Hafi, their father as well as inspiration, who’s the senior principal investigator (PI) for postdoctoral research in Asia and Oceania, the move is part of a long-drawn-out campaign, being run by the minor brother-sister duo for protecting rights of Palestinian children, as well as all those who are victim of war and violence across the world. The release said that 10-and-a-half-year-old Ubaydah al-Fiddhah Hafiah and her 12-year-old brother Ghulam Bishar Hafi have decided to extend and continue the UN exhibit wall virtually as part of their campaign for protecting rights of children in Gaza and across globe.
The minor siblings had initiated an online petition, titled ‘Stop Infanticide in Gaza’ [https://chng.it/Dttx6ZV9sF] on the International Human Solidarity Day 2024, observed on December 20, to reinvigorate their over six-month-long campaign for protecting the lives of Palestinian children, as well as those living in conflict zones of the world. That petition addressed the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and Catherine Russell, the Executive Director of UNICEF, to take serious and timely action to stop the ongoing infanticide in Gaza. The petition, still being signed across globe, was destined at making the global leaders and institutions turn their attention to the cries of innocent children, who are becoming the softest targets and the easiest objects of prey in wars and conflict zones.
The signature-signing petition was aimed at rallying the world support for the terror-stricken children of Gaza, especially newborn babies, constantly experiencing bombing, and who are without any feed for days. Evidence-based data shows that in Gaza, nearly 700,000 children are starving to death. It is an unparalleled reference point of shame that babies in cradles are being shot, and infants are traumatised in their earliest moments of life, through ‘Neo-Hitlerian’ tactics.
Earlier, on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, observed every year on November 29, these children had dedicated their awards to the children of Gaza, who are victims of unprecedented violence in the world history. The siblings were honoured by the UN-KAKHTAH for their symbolic act of writing open letters with their own blood to the world bodies to highlight the plight of children in Gaza and other parts of the world.
They were honoured with the UN’s ‘Grace Do Monaco’ International Medal and the ‘Eglantyne Jebb Platinum Pen for Peace’ on the World Children’s Day 2024, observed on Nov 20 every year, for consistently raising voice for the horror-struck children in Gaza, Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, Congo, Mozambique, Myanmar, Syria and elsewhere in the world.
