Even one child is too many

This week was marked by a tragedy off Farmakonisi islet. One child died and eight are missing in the cold waters of the Aegean Sea.

There is no acceptable number when it comes to the death of children who are being abused, neglected, or left to die in cold waters.

The statistics are devastating for both child death and abuse. Randomly picking three of them:

11500 children have been killed in Syria. Some tortured or executed.

Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five - 3.1 million children each year.

Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children.

There are no excuses to justify the maltreatment or death of any child.

We cannot claim to be a civilized world if we allow the maltreatment of even one child, let alone their death.