Leder: Barndom i krig, krig i barndommen. Barndomsminder som åbning

At vokse op i krig og under besættelse er en åbenlys krænkelse af børns rettigheder, som de er defineret i FN’s Børnekonvention (United Nations, 1989). Shalhoub-Kevorkian, der har forsket i Palæstina, har udviklet begrebet unchilding (2019) til at pege på, at Israels politik og praksis fratager palæstinensiske børn deres grundlæggende ret til at være børn, ikke alene fordi børnene lever der, hvor volden udspiller sig, hvorved de fratages retten til familieliv, uddannelse og liv, men fordi palæstinensiske børn gøres til genstand for en systematisk politik, der angriber selve barndommen. Unchilding foregår blandt andet gennem systematiske angreb på skoler, sygehuse og andre institutioner, der skal beskytte børn og børns rettigheder. Unchilding sker også gennem politikker, der i udgangspunktet definerer børn som trusler og (fremtidige) fjender og dermed definerer dem som legitime mål for straf og angreb på linje med voksne. Dermed fratages børnene den beskyttelse, der normalt tildeles børn. Unchilding kan altså siges at være en proces, der fjerner børn fra selve kategorien barndom. Også børn, som ikke selv lever i krig eller under besættelse mærkes af volden. English abstract Editorial: Childhood in War, War in Childhood. Childhood Memories as an Opening Growing up in war and under occupation is a clear violation of children's rights, as defined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989). Through her research in Palestine, Shalhoub-Kevorkian has developed the concept of unchilding (2019) to point out that Israel's policies and practices deprive Palestinian children of their fundamental right to be children, not only because the children live where violence unfolds, thereby denying them the right to family life, education, and life, but because Palestinian children are made the object of a systematic policy that attacks childhood itself. Unchilding takes place, among other things, through systematic attacks on schools, hospitals, and other institutions that are supposed to protect children and children's rights. Unchilding also occurs through policies that, from the outset, define children as threats and (future) enemies, and thus define them as legitimate targets for punishment and attack on par with adults. This deprives children of the protection normally afforded to children. Unchilding can thus be said to be a process that removes children from the very category of childhood. Even children who do not themselves live in war or under occupation are marked by the violence.