OFFICIAL STATEMENT
5 March 2026
A World That Fails Its Children Is a World That Has Lost Its Way
IPA World Condemns the Systematic Violation of Children’s Rights in Conflict Zones
The International Play Association — IPA World — speaks today with one voice, on behalf of our members in nearly 50 countries, to condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing and systematic violation of children’s rights in conflict zones across the world.
Children are not combatants. Schools are not military targets. Play, safety, and the right to a childhood are not privileges — they are rights enshrined under international law. Yet in too many places, and with alarming frequency, those rights are being obliterated.
THE DESTRUCTION OF CHILDHOOD IN GAZA
Since October 2023, the children of Gaza have endured suffering that the world should not — and must not — normalise. The scale of harm inflicted upon them is staggering.
| More than 18,000 students and 780 education staff have been killed in Gaza (UN OCHA, October 2025). Over 97% of Gaza’s schools have been damaged or destroyed (UNICEF). More than 20,000 Palestinian children have been killed — approximately one child every hour over 23 months (Save the Children, September 2025). Some 638,000 school-aged children have been denied access to education for over two full academic years. Children who remain describe feeling ‘like the living dead’ — too traumatised and malnourished to learn or play (University of Cambridge, January 2026). |
These are not statistics. These are children who should be running in playgrounds, drawing pictures, asking questions, and imagining futures. Instead, they are being buried, maimed, starved, and robbed of everything a childhood should be.
IPA World recognises the particular cruelty of targeting education. When schools are destroyed, more than buildings fall — the future falls with them. Gaza’s children have already lost the equivalent of five years of education. A generation’s potential is being erased in real time.
THE BOMBING OF THE SHAJAREH TAYYEBEH GIRLS’ SCHOOL, MINAB — IRAN
On 1 March 2026, as part of US and Israeli military strikes on Iran, a guided missile struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school for girls in Minab, in the Hormozgan province of southeastern Iran. The children inside were between seven and twelve years old. It was a Saturday morning. They were at school.
| At least 165 schoolgirls and staff were killed. Approximately 100 more were wounded. Iran held a mass funeral in Minab for more than 160 of the victims. UNESCO condemned the strike as a grave violation of international humanitarian law. Satellite imagery analysis by Al Jazeera and NPR indicates the school had been clearly separated from an adjacent military site for over a decade. The Pentagon has stated it is investigating. Israel’s military said it was ‘not aware’ of any operation in the area. Nobel Peace Laureate Malala Yousafzai called the killing of children ‘unconscionable’ and demanded accountability. |
Regardless of the investigation’s ultimate findings, what is already known is this: young girls were sitting in a classroom, and they were killed. Under international humanitarian law, educational institutions are protected civilian spaces. Whether through error, negligence or intent, the destruction of a school full of children represents a profound failure — moral, legal and human.
IPA World joins UNESCO, the United Nations, and advocates around the world in demanding full accountability, a transparent independent investigation, and justice for the children and families of Minab.
CHILDREN’S RIGHT TO PLAY CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT SAFETY
IPA World exists to uphold Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child — the right of every child to play, to rest, to leisure, and to participate freely in cultural and creative life.
But Article 31 cannot exist in isolation. A child who is bombed cannot play. A child who is starving cannot learn. A child who has lost their school, their home, their siblings, and their sense of safety is a child whose rights have been comprehensively violated.
We are clear: there is no military or political justification that supersedes the rights of children. The laws of war — including the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by 196 countries — are not optional. They are binding obligations.
OUR COMMITMENT AND CALL TO ACTION
IPA World and our global membership will continue to advocate, loudly and without apology, for the rights of every child in every conflict zone. We call upon:
• All states and parties engaged in armed conflict to immediately uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law — including the absolute prohibition on targeting schools, hospitals and civilian spaces.
• The United Nations Security Council to act decisively to protect children in Gaza, Iran and every conflict zone where children’s rights are being violated.
• All signatories to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to fulfil their obligations under the UNCRC — including Articles 28 and 29 (right to education), Article 31 (right to play), and Article 38 (protection in armed conflict).
• The international community to support urgent, unrestricted humanitarian access to children in Gaza — including the immediate restoration of food, medicine, education, and the conditions for play and psychological recovery.
• An independent and transparent investigation into the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab, and full accountability for those responsible.
• All governments to invest in the protection of children in conflict — not as an afterthought, but as a fundamental obligation.
We will not be silent. Our members across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and the Americas stand united behind this statement. We will continue to amplify the voices of children who cannot speak for themselves, and to hold the international community to the standards it has committed to uphold.
Play is how children know they are safe. It is how they heal, how they hope, and how they reclaim their humanity after horror. In Gaza, in Minab, and in every corner of the world where children are suffering, IPA World stands with them.
Every child deserves to play. Every child deserves to live.
Issued by:
IPA World — International Play Association
5 March 2026
ipaworld.org.au
Media enquiries and endorsements: please contact IPA World via ipaworld.org.au
We encourage all member organisations to share, amplify and co-sign this statement.