Risks for Libyan children 'living in war zone'

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Tuesday said NATO was not doing enough to protect civilians in Libya. Juppe said NATO should target heavy weapons besieging Misrata, the rebel-held city in western Libya where an increasingly bloody siege by Muammar Gaddafi's troops led rebels to dismiss the AU call for a ceasefire as meaningless.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for an immediate end to fighting in Mistrata – warning that tens of thousands of children are at risk. The organization reported that at least 20 children have been killed in the city due to weeks of conflict, while many others lack food and clean water.

“They’ve been living in a war zone,” says UNICEF spokesperson James Elder. “At UNICEF we know, and we’ve seen far too many times, what impact this has on children; on their safety – first and foremost – on their general health, on their everyday needs, on their psychological state.”

Elder told Vatican Radio that all parties “need to recognize that children must be protected at all times.”

Listen to James Elder’s full interview with Kelsea Brennan-Wessels: