The brutal killing and torture of 13-year-old Hamza Khatib by Syrian regime forces was one of the first sparks that fuelled the Syrian war, which has now entered its sixth year.
His only crime was participating in a peaceful protest against the decades-long dictatorship of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, and before that his father, Hafez.
But since that tragic day, the brutality of the regime against its own people, including children, has reached epic proportions.
The United Nations called it “the worst humanitarian tragedy of our era”, which has left nearly half a million dead — of which, more than over 17,000 victims have been children.
The loss hasn’t been merely in terms of casualities, but in all spheres of life: Economic, health and education.
The UN says the six years of conflict, which has forced millions of children out of their classrooms, will lead to a “lost generation” of Syrians with very poor prospects for a prosperous future.
The images of dead children on international TV screens, newspapers and on social media have failed to move the world to act in order to put an end to the carnage.
It is the collective failure of the global community that will be judged in history books to come and for which we all must bear the stain.
After the Nazi-perpetuated Holocaust of the Second World War, the world said “never again”. Yet, the Syrian people continue to die as the world stands idly by.
