Like many, we at Hope and Homes for Children are deeply concerned about the impact of escalating conflict on children and families across the wider Middle East.
We strongly support the UN Secretary-General’s call for urgent dialogue, de-escalation, and respect for human rights and international law. In times of conflict, children are always among those most profoundly affected. From bitter experience, we know that when families are forced to flee but orphanages remain, it becomes increasingly difficult—and often dangerous—for children trying to survive and stay safe. We fear this may now become the case in Iran and across the wider region.
Evidence from conflict-zones (including Ukraine, where we have worked since 1998) shows that orphanages quickly become sites of extreme risk, not safety. The tragedy is that around 80 percent of children in orphanages are not orphans – they have families who want them home.
Even in peacetime, research shows that orphanages harm children’s development and expose them to abuse and neglect. In war, those harms intensify. As fighting escalates across parts of the Middle East, oversight can quickly collapse, and children (particularly those with disabilities) can be left behind as evacuation becomes more complex and specialist support disappears. What was already damaging can quickly become life-threatening.
Today, more than one in six children globally lives in a conflict-affected area, and millions are displaced – many separated from the adults who love them. That reality is threatening to unfold right now in Iran and across the region as fighting escalates and families face growing danger.
That is why we are working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure children separated from their families are not forgotten by governments and decision-makers. At moments like this, we stand up for children separated by conflict and for those confined to orphanages, so their rights and protection remain front and centre. Because in times of conflict, more than ever, children need the love, reassurance and protection of a family.
Mark Waddington CBE, Chief Executive Officer, Hope and Homes for Children.
