Children living in Gaza face a number of challenges — and their mental health is a top concern.
That’s according to Janti Soeripto, president and chief executive officer of Save the Children, a Fairfield-based humanitarian aid organization. She visited Gaza in March.
Soeripto joined Connecticut Public’s “Where We Live” to discuss the most pressing issues facing children in the Gaza region.
One year into the Israel-Hamas war, conditions in Gaza have worsened. Soeripto said that in the community she visited, there was just one toilet for 600 people.
In addition to the lack of food, clean water and other basic necessities, some parents have mounting concerns about the trauma their children have endured.
Soeripto recalled her conversation with one mother.
“What I actually need the most is mental health support,” the mother told Soeripto. “When I look at my children, they’re so traumatized, I would prioritize mental health support over food security.”
During times of international conflict, Save the Children distributes household essentials, provides fuel and water, delivers mental health and psychosocial support services for children, sets up temporary learning spaces and identifies the most at-risk children for child protective services.
However, Soeripto told “Where We Live” that frequent bombardments have made it increasingly difficult for her team to deliver aid to the Gaza region. Soeripto calls education – or more simply, a place for children to gather and learn – “life saving.”
“This is about giving kids a sense of normalcy, to be in a space with their classmates, with their peers, to play,” she said. “It also allows us an opportunity to bring in some counseling, some trauma experts.”
However, the constant threat of danger has made it difficult to create “safe spaces” in Gaza.
“If there’s no guarantee of safety or deconfliction of those places, we sometimes hesitate to bring children together because we don’t want to put them at even more risk,” Soeripto said.
Soeripto said that the current conditions in Gaza constitute a violation of children’s rights.
In 1924, the League of Nations enshrined the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child. The international document acknowledges childrens’ internationally-recognized right to development, assistance, relief and protection.
The declaration was drafted by Eglantyne Jebb, the founder of Save the Children.
“Ironically, this month, it's been 100 years that those rights were actually enshrined,” Soeripto said. “We're sort of pointedly celebrating that or memorializing that because it's clearly so obvious that the rights are trampled on still in many, many places in the world, not just in Gaza.”
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