Somy Ali: ‘We need to protect the 250 million children residing in areas affected by conflicts’

Every year, June 4 is observed as the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression. ‘It’s a sad reality’, says Somy Ali, ‘that there are children across the globe who are abuse victims, be it physical, mental or emotional.’ The actor turned humanitarian, who runs her NGO NO More Tears in Miami, US, talks about the significance and relevance of the cause.

“In recent years, the number of violations against children has increased to an exponential level, more so in many conflict zones. We need to do a whole lot more to protect the 250 million children residing in countries and areas affected by conflicts on a daily basis. Children have to be protected by violent extremists and more needs to be done to keep these children safe in order to promote international humanitarian rights law as well as assure consequences and accountability for violations of the rights of children,” she says.

Somy’s NGO also works closely towards saving children from being trafficked and abused. She shares a few incidents to highlight the horrific reality.

“The youngest child we rescued was being sold on the dark web by her parents who were drug addicts. It was a two-year-old baby girl and customers were paying money to watch sexual acts committed against this child by her own parents. I have never seen something so disgusting in 15 years of running NMT,” Somy Ali adds.

They have also rescued children being sexually abused within their own families and extended families. NMT gets them out of those situations and provides them with mental counseling along with medical care so they can heal.

“We also have 8-9 year olds boys and girls sold into brothels and to pimps. We rescue these children and provide them with numerous services from mental health counseling, medical care, a place to stay, an opportunity to go to school, and in the end grow up in a loving environment so they can heal from the horrors they have endured. In all my years of doing this work, I have seen the worst of humanity and what they are capable of when it comes to abusing children of any age. This is what ignites the fire in me to continue my social work through NMT and I hope we continue getting the support so we can save more children’s lives,” Somy Ali signs off.