“Denis* was just six years old when his house in Ukraine was hit by a shell, leaving him with shrapnel wounds to his skull and body. Doctors were unable to remove all the shrapnel over fears it could cause nerve damage and leave him without movement in his arm, so the remaining fragments remain under his skin. 

He is one of at least 357 million children who are now living in areas around the world impacted by armed conflict, a report by the Save the Children charity has revealed. 

Since 1991, the number has increased by 75 per cent, with one in six children globally now considered to be living in areas where they are vulnerable to grave violations of their human rights. 

Such violations include killing and maiming, sexual violence, the recruitment and use of children, abductions, attacks on schools and hospitals and the denial of humanitarian assistance…

The number of United Nations-verified cases of children being killed or maimed has increased by almost 300 per cent since 2010, while incidents of the denial of humanitarian access have increased by more than 1,500 per cent, the "War on Children" report said.

The rise has been fueled by a growing lack of respect for the rules of war and indiscriminate violence in countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan.

The report found children have increasingly been used as suicide bombers, while schools and hospitals have been deliberately targeted and children maimed and killed as a result of the widespread use of indiscriminate weapons, such as cluster munitions, barrel bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). 

Two in five children in the Middle East live in a conflict zone, the highest rate globally, while one in five children is affected by conflict in Africa. Asia has the highest overall number of children affected by conflict.

Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia were the most dangerous conflict-afflicted areas in the world to be a child in 2016, the last year for which comprehensive data is available. 

Keven Waters, CEO of Save the Children, said: “The marked increase in the number of children living in conflict-affected areas, combined with the worsening violations against those children by warring parties, should worry all of us.

“We face a stark choice. Do we stand by while more children die in school attacks or in their hospital beds - or are denied life-saving aid - or will we tackle the culture of impunity and end this ‘war on children’?”

Samuel Osborne, Helen Hoddinott, Thursday 15 February 2018, Independent.co.uk

Please pray for the United Nations and governments of the world community to work together to end the multiple wars that are destroying the lives of so many children and their families right now. Agree in faith that Satan, the murderer and destroyer, will be bound and that Christ’s peace will come in and rule these conflicted situations. Here are some of them in the news right now:

1) Syria

The United Nations has called for an extension of Russia's daily five-hour pause in military activity in the besieged eastern Ghouta area while the European Union has urged Russia, Iran, and Turkey to fully implement a UN order for a cease-fire.

"Five hours is better than no hours but we would like to see any cessation of hostilities be extended," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on February 26.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on February 26 that President Vladimir Putin ordered a "humanitarian pause" from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time, Russian news agencies reported.

A humanitarian corridor will be opened in Ghouta to allow civilians to leave, Shoigu also said.

Yury Yevtushenko, a Russian official based in Syria, said on February 26 that Syrian government troops would not carry out any air strikes during the daily five-hour-long pause.

The announcement comes after the UN Security Council on February 24 passed a resolution demanding a 30-day cease-fire "without delay" to allow aid deliveries and medical evacuations in Syria's conflict areas.

The move followed a week of intense bombardment by Syrian government forces in the besieged area near Damascus that killed more than 540 people, according to activists.”

Russia has ordered a daily pause in fighting on the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta to start from tomorrow after a UN-ordered ceasefire failed to hold.

Vladimir Putin's demand to his ally Bashar Assad offers hope for residents inside the contested zone to escape - and for humanitarian aid to come in.

Children were among those killed and injured a fresh wave of what are said to be chemical attacks on the area today.

A UN Security Council resolution passed at the weekend which called for a 30-day cease-fire across Syria failed to stop the carnage in the eastern Ghouta region.

Nearly 90 have been killed since the vote was taken since Saturday.

The priority now is to get urgent humanitarian relief to those in eastern Ghouta.

That is more likely to be possible, thanks to Russia's demand for a five-hour pause in military operations in the area each day.

Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Putin has ordered daily "humanitarian pauses" between 9am and 2pm, starting from Tuesday.

But in a war where ceasefire deals have failed many times before, those inside eastern Ghouta are still watching and hoping to see if it holds.

Radio Free Europe and  ITV News

2) Yemen

“A proxy war between Iran-aligned Houthis and the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which is backed by a Saudi-led alliance, has killed more than 10,000 people since 2015, displaced more than 2 million and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure, including the health system…

Yemen relies heavily on food imports and is on the brink of famine. The United Nations says more than 22 million of Yemen’s 25 million population need humanitarian assistance, including 11.3 million who are in acute need. 

Salama said the country had also had an outbreak of diphtheria, a vaccine-preventable disease that usually affects children and which has largely been eliminated in developed countries. 

Both cholera and diphtheria outbreaks are a product of the damage to the health system in the country, he said, adding that less than half of Yemen’s health facilities are fully functioning. 

“We’re very concerned we’re going to go from a failing health system to a failed one that’s going to spawn more infectious diseases and more suffering,” Salama said.”

Sarah Dadouch; Editing by Alison Williams for Reuters.com

3) South Sudan

“South Sudan is close to another famine, aid officials said on Monday, after more than four years of civil war and failed ceasefires in the world’s youngest nation. 

Almost two-thirds of the population will need food aid this year to stave off starvation and malnutrition as aid groups prepare for the “toughest year on record”, members of a working group including South Sudanese and U.N. officials said. 

“The situation is extremely fragile, and we are close to seeing another famine. The projections are stark. If we ignore them, we’ll be faced with a growing tragedy,” said Serge Tissot, from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in South Sudan. 

A total of 5.3 million people, 48 percent of the population, are already in “crisis” or “emergency” - stages three and four on a five point scale, according to a survey published by the working group. 

The oil-rich east African nation has been torn apart by an ethnically charged civil war since late 2013, when troops loyal to President SalvaKiir and then-Vice President Riek Machar clashed. 

Since then, more than 4 million people have been forced to flee their homes, creating Africa’s larges refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide…”

Tom Miles; Editing by Peter Graff and Andrew Heavens for Reuters.com

Please hold up these tragic and horrible conflicts before the Lord, asking that He bring about peace negotiations, effective humanitarian relief, and willingness by the combatants to declare ceasefires that hold, bring about reconciliation and become lasting peace agreements. Only God in His mercy can bring about a real solution as His people pray, both within these affected nations and around the world.

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields^[d] with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalms 46:9-10)