IPOH: Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah today expressed his concerns towards the welfare and well-being of children around the world.
Although the future of global humanity depends significantly on children, Sultan Nazrin said, children, in some parts of the world are currently suffering disproportionately in humanitarian crises and conflict situations.
"There are currently four million children in Sudan facing acute malnutrition.
"In Ukraine, the United Nations estimates that 3.5 million children are living under severe to catastrophic levels of need, and in Gaza, half of the 1.7 million people displaced from their homes are children.
"These children are losing their families, their homes, their loved ones and, all too often, tragically, their lives.
"Even those who survive through conflict and famine are at risk of losing their futures. Because all too often, children living through these situations do not have access to an education."
Sultan Nazrin said this in his Royal Keynote Address at the 7th World Conference on Islamic Thought and Civilisation (WCIT) at Hotel Casuarina@Meru here, today.
Sultan Nazrin said almost all children in Sudan are now out of school and in Gaza, the latest UN estimates suggest that at least 80 per cent of schools have been destroyed in the war.
"Indeed, the scale of the destruction is such that scholars worldwide have now coined a shameful new word in our human lexicon: 'scholasticide'.
"In the world as a whole today, nearly 250 million children are out of school – a staggering figure – and due to the correlation between poverty and poor school provision, many of those millions are in the Muslim world.
"Despite global progress on achieving gender parity, there are still a disproportionate number of young girls missing out on education in regions in crisis, with female students two and a half times more likely to be out of school in countries experiencing conflict," he said.
Sultan Nazrin said many of the problems facing the world, the global community, and the Muslim ummah, are complicated, deep-rooted and difficult to solve.
"They stem from a complex web of political, environmental and financial causes, and they require more than funding if a solution is to be found.
"We must invest in opportunities for children around the world, because they are the problem-solvers of tomorrow.
"We must stand up for every child's right to an education, even in conflict and crisis situations, and we must remember that this is about ensuring a brighter future for humanity," he said.
Sultan Nazrin said this year's conference is all about standing together, both as Muslims, and as a global human community.
"And so, I felt that it would be remiss of me to strike the same celebratory note that I did last time, when millions of people, including so many of our Muslim brothers and sisters around the world, are facing increasing hardship in war and poverty.
"Across the globe, whether in Gaza or Sudan, our Muslim brothers and sisters are in pain, and we must feel that pain together with them.
"And we must recognize the pain of non-Muslims too, in conflict situations like Ukraine, but also everywhere in the world, as we strive for a truly global understanding of humanity.
"Countering the evils of poverty and conflict is no easy task; but I hope that all of you, like me, can see there are reasons for optimism.