Nothing destroys us more as a society and as a civilization than hurting our children: their suffering is not only the most barbaric exercise we can conceive of, it is also the renunciation of any hope for the future for them and for the whole of humanity. Their pain is the pain and failure of us all.

As a parent and a citizen of the world, the mistreatment of those who, by age and life circumstances, are most vulnerable has always left me shocked and frozen, unable to react to such an atrocity. One of the most frequent expressions of child abuse around the world is the use of children as weapons of war. We in the west are unaware of the magnitude of this outrage, but right now, as you read these lines, thousands of children are being recruited by armed militias in remote places to learn how to kill or are being exposed to violent situations the very sight of which would shock most of us for the rest of our lives.

Unwitting victims of other people's conflicts, child soldiers are a humanitarian tragedy that appeals to everyone's conscience. To ensure that their cause is not forgotten, every 12 February is the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, a reminder that 300,000 children are currently being used as war materiel in wars around the world.

This year I want to join the clamour promoted by child protection organizations against this scourge. To this end, I have created an NFT inspired by the image of a child that invites both emotion and reflection. I am convinced of the potential of art to stir consciences and I know that often a colour, a stroke or a reflection of light can make us see what words and raw data fail to communicate.

The 50% of the profits from its sale will go to UNICEF which has been fighting for years against the ignominy of the presence of minors in armed conflicts. Hopefully this creation can go some way to alleviating the damage that these children are suffering right now. Their pain is also yours and mine.