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The Forum > Article Comments > Saving our children from the scourge of war > Comments

Saving our children from the scourge of war : Comments

By Olara Otunnu, published 23/11/2005

Olara Ottunu delivers the 2005 Sydney Peace Prize Speech on children and armed conflict.

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More talk from a United Nations fat cat. What he says is about the horrors inflicted on children is true, but the UN will never do anything but talk about. The UN is the last organization capable of influencing war lords and despots, particularly those on the author's own continent.
Posted by Leigh, Wednesday, 23 November 2005 10:19:01 AM
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It is a pure pipedream that we can lessen the impacts of children in wars.

Wars break out regardless of children, and War changes thinking of all people, especially those in direct invlovement with the conflict.

Children will always be victims of wars. As will the elderly, women and various young men sent to the slaughter.

If men have guns and that village is to be taken, the anarchy in achieving that goal cannot be quantified, rules dont apply, thus the only means to help these children is to stop the conflict in the first place.

We need to work on the conflict, but i support your compassion 100%.
Posted by Realist, Wednesday, 23 November 2005 12:22:18 PM
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"Children represent the hopes and future of every society". Yet they need to be saved from the scourges of war. On the face of it, that seems a paradox. But it deserves a closer look.
In contrast to Europe, where children represent 17 per cent of the population, in the countries where the horror of it all is most pronounced, children make up approximately half. The percentage for Sudan is 45, Niger 50, Nigeria 44, Somalia 45, Uganda 51, Congo 50.
They, the children in these desperate locations, represent a readily accessible resource - an easily-replaced commodity for the warring factions.
The competition for social needs in these same societies increases in tandem with increasing numbers trying to access such needs. And those numbers, for the above, are expected to double in 25 years or less. The pressures for their wars increase in concert with the competition.
If it wasn't for the fundamentalist bigotry of the US administration, and of the Vatican, and tardiness of the likes of our Australian Government, assistance towards empowering women in developing countries would be offered to the full extent agreed to in the 1994 conference in Cairo.
With that, now sadly neglected assistance, the hopes and future of every society would have been greatly enhanced. And it would have been a grand step in the general direction of every child being a wanted child; and one whose opportunities for proper development would have been much enhanced.
Posted by colinsett, Wednesday, 23 November 2005 1:49:18 PM
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Unfortunately "empowering woman"(?), paper shuffling and Resolutions are not in tune with the real world on saving lives.

The forces of war can take lives but can also save them - US Air Force bombing of Serbs in Kosovo forced a Serb withdrawal, thus saving 100,000s of Muslims, including children. The Australian Army in East Timor stopped the slaughter more effectively than any UN "w..king".

Colinsett has a point about the Vatican though. Whatever good it does in Latin America and much of Africa is undone by its opposition to birth control, particularly condoms. So religious doctrine leads to millions of unwanted children and aids the spread of AIDS.
Posted by plantagenet, Wednesday, 23 November 2005 11:33:25 PM
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Ok , how about preaching to where it is needed. The pictures in the attached web link , they are awfully young adults would you say? Second guess where it is. No, not America.
http://derafsh-kaviyani.com/gallery/uglyislam.html
Posted by All-, Friday, 25 November 2005 7:26:28 PM
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What's the beef with the UN Leigh? The author's origins weren't discussed - perhaps he's Australian? The UN consists of no more than its member nations. Most show good faith and some do not.

Q: Which UN member initiated war in the M.E.? Lots of children suffering there.
Q: Which UN member leads the world in sales of weaponry, and (still) uses napalm and cluster bombs on civilian populations? Lots of children suffering from the effects of those.
Q: Which UN member funds conflicts on other continents, including Africa? Children, as the author points out, are the ones who suffer most.
Q: Which UN member(s) refuse to sign up to the global ban on landmines, which to this day kill hundreds of children a year?

A: not Africa.

Realist had it right, we can only prevent all this by preventing the outbreak of war. It's too bad there are very powerful interests working in the opposite direction.
Posted by bennie, Friday, 2 December 2005 3:14:47 PM
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Bennie, you views and high opinion of the UN, well that is your privilege, how much of the loot did they give you: that is the UN, anything other than understanding what it actually is: is Pantheistic psychobabble. I think you are a lot smarter than that, The UN is as corrupt and as criminal as was Stalin through to Al Capone or any of the fellow looters and parasites, and protect fellow looters, Parasites and terrorists, surly you concede that? There you have it, it is called the UN. Facts are on file and on line.
Posted by All-, Friday, 2 December 2005 3:31:10 PM
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The UN has problems proportionate to its size, with many individuals and countries prepared to take advantage of funding and positions of responsibility. The current US representative has insisted there must be a cultural change within the UN and most observers, myself included, think it's overdue. Despite this I would suggest there exists no alternative forum to deal with conflict and suffering caused by the failure of politics at a national level.

The constitution allows some states a much more powerful say than others but 191 countries are never going to concur on anything, especially when the power weilded by some of them is used against the interests of the majority. How many resolutions have been ignored by key members? Consider any number of issues playing out between the developed and undeveloped world. The ethos of 'might is right' now permeates world politics.

We also get the humanitarian response to the Pakistan earthquake, the distribution of aid in war-torn countries, the attempted co-ordination of the settling of millions of refugees, and contributions like this from Olaru Ottunu. If you think it's all too much for the U.N. you'd be right. Huge budgets and manpower but inefficient control has led to corruption. Should we all be on our merry way without it?
Posted by bennie, Saturday, 3 December 2005 5:02:00 PM
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