Introduction by Croakey: Senior paediatricians and child health experts have called upon the Australian Government “to do everything in its power to stop this terrible, unprecedented war on children” in Gaza.
“We want our Government not to repeat tired words but to take urgent, decisive political actions against the policies and the war machine that are perpetrating it,” says Professor Fiona Stanley, Dr Suezanne Packer, Professor Elizabeth Elliott, Professor David Isaacs, Emeritus Professor Kim Oates and Dr John Yu in an open letter published today.
They call on the Australian Government to end immediately all military cooperation with Israel. They also want the Government to support – by declaration and action – the International Court of Justice orders that Israel provide all necessary food, medical care and other essential needs for the children and adults of Gaza, including by the opening of new entry points for aid.
“Without these and other actions, Australia will be complicit with the deliberate persecution of the children of Gaza,” says the open letter, which is published in full below.
The open letter is endorsed by and published by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, which urges readers to “share this letter with your MP or Senator and ask for decisive action to end the war on children in Gaza”.
Open letter
5 April, 2024
As paediatricians and child health professionals we have committed our professional lives to promoting the physical and psychological health of children.
Every society places great importance on the care and protection of its children in addition to the dignity it attributes to all human lives.
War harms children disproportionately. It destroys their right to thrive in a peaceful environment and takes away their physical health, their security and their future.
The conflict between Palestine and Israel, both before and after October 7, is causing grave harm to children on both sides. Both Israeli and Palestinian children are being exposed to fear, privation, imprisonment and physical violence.
For the children of Gaza the deprivation and harms of war are now on a scale not seen in recent memory.
On 13 March, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency Philippe Lazzarini stated that “This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future”.
More children were reported killed in Gaza in the four months to February this year (over 12,300) than in all wars globally in the four years to 2022 (nearly 12,200). At least 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied or separated from their parents, many of them being injured themselves.
Starvation – to which children are always the most vulnerable – is being used as a weapon. Michael Fakhri, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food states that “We’ve never seen children pushed into malnutrition so quickly”.
Five months of violence, displacement, starvation and disease is causing relentless mental harm to the children of Gaza that will stay with them life-long. They now face confusion, fear, pain and hunger.
The world knows all this. The Australian Government knows all this. Despite the efforts of UN and other agencies to stimulate action, and despite the desperate pleas from the people of Gaza, this disaster has been created and allowed to continue on our watch.
On March 28, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to immediately ensure the “unhindered provision at scale” of food and other aid for the people of Gaza, strengthening its January 26 order with which Israel has failed to comply. The new order includes “increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary”.
We plead with the Australian Government, as a close friend and ally of Israel, to do everything in its power to stop this terrible, unprecedented war on children. We want our government not to repeat tired words but to take urgent, decisive political actions against the policies and the war machine that are perpetrating it. These actions include the following:
Ending all military cooperation with Israel. Australia cooperates on defence matters with Israel in multiple ways. It exports military components to Israel and has contracts (including a new $917m contract on 28 February), partnerships and investments that are aiding or profiting from the war on Gaza. All elements of this cooperation must cease immediately.
Supporting – by declaration and action – the International Court of Justice orders that Israel provide all necessary food, medical care and other essential needs for the children and adults of Gaza, including by the opening of new entry points for aid; and working urgently to ensure that all necessary measures happen.
Without these and other actions, Australia will be complicit with the deliberate persecution of the children of Gaza. They deserve the same safety, security, care and hope that we demand for our own children.
SPOKESPEOPLE:
Professor Fiona Stanley AC FAA FASSA FAHMS, Distinguished Research Professor, University of Western Australia
Dr Suezanne Packer AO FRACP, 2019 Senior Australian of the Year
OTHER SIGNATORIES:
Professor Elizabeth Elliott AM FAHMS FRSN MD, Distinguished Professor in Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Sydney
Professor David Isaacs MD FRACP FRCPCH
Kim Oates AO, Emeritus Professor, Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Sydney
John Yu AC FRACP FAHA, formerly Chief Executive of the Children’s Hospital, Westmead
Previously at Croakey
- New report details how Gaza is being destroyed
- “Silence becomes complicity”: MPs and other health professionals urged to take stand on Gaza
- “The question is no longer whether Palestinians will starve to death in a famine, but how many will do so”
- World leaders put on notice over Gaza, amid “war on children”
- As children starve to death in Gaza, health and medical academics urge colleagues to speak up
- Australian academics call on their universities to demand ceasefire, amid fears about famine, disease and scholasticide in Gaza
- “To those speaking out for the people of Gaza – thank you for not looking the other way”: Dr Sophie Scamps
- As Australia and other countries put pressure on Israel, health and medical organisations describe horrific conditions in Gaza
- As humanitarian nightmare escalates in Gaza, and the world enters “an age of chaos”, we must work harder for peace
- As global leaders and aid groups speak up about “catastrophic crisis” in Gaza, health professionals are under pressure to remain silent
- Health workers and agencies document the war’s wide-ranging impacts on people in Gaza
- From Gaza: finding words for the unimaginable
- Health leaders join growing calls for permanent ceasefire in Gaza and Israel
- As the people in Gaza experience a “living hell”, medical and humanitarian leaders step up pressure for a permanent ceasefire
- This doctor is urging medical leadership on ceasefire in Gaza and Israel, as United Nations warns of threat to global security
- Amid catastrophic health threats in Gaza, health leaders urge a permanent ceasefire
- Amid ongoing health catastrophe in Gaza, why the silence?
- As Gaza hospitals become “scenes of death, devastation, and despair”, global community urged to act for peace
- Doctors who work with refugees urge medical organisations to speak up for a ceasefire in Gaza
- “Worse every day”: toll mounts in Gaza, including for children and health workers
- “This cannot go on” – a cry for an end to intolerable suffering
- Medical organisation publishes open letter expressing “extreme concern” at Australia’s failure to support ceasefire in Gaza
- Health sector urged to speak out for ceasefire in Gaza
- Calls for ceasefire amid catastrophe in Gaza – “every child everywhere deserves peace”
