Peer-reviewed article
Children's rights and needs during war: the case of adolescents in Israel.
Rum Y, Milsthen E, Zedan HF, Gal T ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how adolescents in Israel experienced their rights and needs during the war following October 7th, 2023. Researchers surveyed 359 Hebrew-speaking and 125 Arabic-speaking adolescents and their parents using a questionnaire based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The findings show that while basic safety is generally maintained, adolescents experience verbal violence in schools and at home, fear 'the other', face disrupted education, and report limited freedom of expression—particularly Arabic-speaking youth. Parents are the main source of safe information, though many adolescents want more opportunities to be heard.
Key points
- Exposure to verbal violence in schools is widespread, with higher rates of verbal assault at home reported by Arabic-speaking adolescents
- Fear of 'the other' emerges as a significant theme affecting adolescents' sense of safety
- Education continuity is challenged, though Arab schools show more stability than others
- Arabic-speaking adolescents report feeling significantly less free to express their opinions compared to Hebrew-speaking peers
- Adolescents identify a need to 'talk more' and 'be heard more', highlighting gaps in participation and safe spaces for expression
Limitations
The study is limited to Israel and does not provide comparative data from conflict-affected populations elsewhere. The study captures a specific moment in an ongoing conflict and may not reflect longer-term impacts or trajectories of recovery.
Abstract
Introduction This study aims to examine the attainment of rights and needs of adolescents during the war following the October 7th 2023 terror attack on Israel. A normative analysis of the human rights of children and youth, based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), was integrated with an empirical examination of children's rights and needs attainment. Committed to a children's rights epistemology, the empirical examination is based on children's own reports. Additional aims were to explore whether gaps existed between the adolescents' perspectives and those of their parents, and across demographic groups (using Hebrew and Arabic surveys). Methods A novel questionnaire was developed based on key children's rights detailed in the CRC and organized according to the "Three P's" classification: protection (whether children are safe from harm), provision (continuity and equality in public services), and participation (children's access to safe information, participation in decision-making, privacy, and freedom of expression). Data were collected in Hebrew from 359 adolescent-parent dyads between May and July 2025. In a second wave, data were collected in Hebrew and Arabic from additional samples of adolescents (n = 101; n = 24) between August and September 2025. A mixed-methods approach was employed to analyze the quantitative data, alongside qualitative analysis of text responses to open-ended questions. Results Protection: while basic safety seems to be maintained for adolescents, exposure to violence, mainly verbal, in schools was noted. Among responders to the Arabic survey, higher percentages of verbal assault at home were reported. Fear of "the other" emerges as a significant theme in text responses. Provision: education continuity is challenged, with Arab schools showing more stability Participation: Arabic-speaking adolescents report feeling less free to express their opinions. Parents were reported as a central source of safe information for adolescents, mainly in the Hebrew surveys. Text responses highlight the need of some to "talk more" and "be heard more" despite their young age. Discussion By employing an interdisciplinary framework that combines a normative rights-based analysis with an empirical examination of children's reports on the attainment of their rights and needs, this study contributes to the broader understanding of how war impacts adolescents, emphasizing often-overlooked areas such as freedom of speech, equality, access to safe information, and participation. Findings highlight the impacts of prolonged war on the sense of safety beyond immediate needs.