Stolen childhoods: from Gaza to our home

Stolen childhoods, unscrupulous governments. This sums up the reality we live in: children massacred under bombs in Gaza and children abandoned on the fringes of the system in our country.

Every morning we wake up to a new shock to our collective conscience: news reports of the systematic violation of children's human rights. The images coming from Gaza are unbearable: children lying dead under the rubble, mothers crying for children who have died from lack of food and medicine, families torn apart by violence and dehumanization. Children are attacked as a strategy of war, intentionally and perversely, with the aim of condemning a people to the disappearance of their future.

Europe, faced with this, cannot remain impassive. Calls on European governments to act decisively are not only necessary: they are an ethical imperative. Saying enough, demanding an end to the barbarity, is the least we can do. Because nothing is more inhumane than stealing children in the name of political or military interests. This is not a question of ideology, but of human dignity.

However, it would be too easy to point only to the horrors that happen far away and turn a blind eye to the violations that take place much closer. In our country, there are also children who are victims of abandonment and political manipulation. We are talking about migrant children, those fleeing hunger, violence, and death in their countries of origin. Children who have traveled thousands of kilometers alone, often exposed to all kinds of abuse and danger. When they finally arrive in our country, they do not find the welcome they deserve, but rather mistrust and stigma. They are labeled with a dehumanizing acronym—"menas"—that turns them into bureaucratic objects and, worse still, into weapons in the political debate.

We cannot forget that we are talking about children. These are not statistics, security issues, or distribution figures: they are minors who have endured experiences that many adults would not tolerate. Reducing them to an acronym is denying them their human condition. And using them as bargaining chips in political disputes is a frontal attack on their most fundamental rights.

It's clear that the migration issue is complex and requires courageous, coordinated, and ambitious policies. Resources, planning, and a long-term vision are needed. But there is a red line that cannot be crossed: children cannot be turned into puppets in the service of partisan confrontation. Their well-being and protection should be placed above any electoral calculations. They do not deserve this, and we, as a society, cannot afford it.

Recent history has shown us that when there is political will, resources appear. During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency shelters, shelters, and extraordinary resources were set up in a matter of days to care for vulnerable people. No one questioned its necessity, and it was done because the situation demanded speed and commitment. Why now, with only 49 children arriving, does Ms. Prohens's government say it feels overwhelmed? Should we really believe that the institutions lack the capacity to accommodate them with dignity? Or should we rather understand that this is a calculated strategy to keep them at the center of controversy and use them as a tool to confront the Spanish government?

This attitude is unacceptable. Children can never be the subject of political disputes. Public authorities have a legal and moral obligation to protect them, and society has a duty to demand it from them. There are no excuses. If resources could be generated in record time for a health emergency, they can also be generated for a humanitarian emergency. The difference is not one of capacity, but of will.

And, in the face of this, there is only one possible option: raise your voice, denounce the injustice, and demand immediate action. Because the right to a safe, dignified, and fulfilling childhood is non-negotiable. And because every time a society turns a blind eye to the violation of children's rights, it surrenders its own humanity.