Mattarella: 'Children's rights at risk, especially in the inhuman situation in Gaza'

"Children's rights are continually at risk and are violated not only in war zones where we are in the presence of a real humanitarian emergency that affects children in particular. I think of the heartbreaking memory of children in desperate conditions of malnutrition as in Sudan, children kidnapped and taken away from their families as in Ukraine, children even newborn babies killed or abducted as on the dreadful day of 7 October, children dying of starvation even when hospitalised for malnutrition in hospitals that are without means and often destroyed by bombing as in the inhuman condition of Gaza. This state of affairs represents an unbearable burden of incivility for the international community. These are the tragic consequences of the brutal violence of wars'. This was underlined by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, receiving the Burgio prize at the Quirinale.

"The republic protects childhood by favouring the necessary institutions for this purpose" and it is "essential not to weaken this commitment," the President of the Republic continued. The Prize is named after Professor Roberto Burgio, a master of Italian paediatrics, the founder of the Paediatric School of Pavia, and a staunch defender of children's rights.

'Malnutrition, hunger and its consequences must raise the attention of our conscience, of the consciences of peoples. More than 200 million children in the world are affected by malnutrition or chronic undernourishment," Mattarella added. "There has been progress in recent years, but due to the effects of the international economic situation, together with the increase in conflicts, there is a serious and regrettable decrease in international aid destined for crisis areas and the situation," Mattarella added, "tends to worsen. We are a long way from the development goals set by the UN for 2030'. "What future is humanity preparing for itself? It is a question,' the president explained, 'not rhetorical, not misplaced, at a time of rapid scientific development that offers increasingly advanced tools if we measure it in the faces and undernourished bodies of so many children. It reinforces the need and the expectation that the international community will rediscover within itself the reasons for solidarity that have enabled it to save itself in the face of other trials'.

"Scientific rigour and clinical observation characterised his experience as a doctor and as a lecturer in the context of the contribution of Italian paediatrics to the growth of child health in our country. His strenuous support for the practice of vaccines in paediatric age was no coincidence, as was his farsightedness in the interdisciplinary approach that is fortunately reaffirming itself in the world of science among its various branches, all in need of interaction with each other,' said the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, recalling the figure of Roberto Burgio, a master of Italian paediatrics, founder of the Paediatric School of Pavia, and strenuous defender of children's rights.