The Impact of War on Children

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The Impact of War on Children

• A Global Perspective

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Basic Information

• Women and children account for almost 80 of the
  casualties of conflict and war
• They also account for 80 of the 40 million
  refugees worldwide
• In the last decade, approximately two million
  children have been killed in wars and conflicts
• 4.5 million children have been disabled and 12
  million have been left homeless

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Ways in Which War Directly Impacts Children

• Death
• Injury
• Disability
• Illness
• Rape and prostitution
• Psychological suffering
• Moral and spiritual impacts
• Social and cultural losses
• Child soldiers
• Exploitation

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Separation of Families

• Unaccompanied children are likeliest to have
  their rights violated, be killed, tortured,
  raped, robbed and recruited as child soldiers.
• By the end of 1994, more than 100,000 Rwandan
  children had been separated from their families -
  the highest number of such children registered by
  UNICEF since the agency was founded in 1946.
• In Cambodia, half the population is under the age
  of 15. The disintegration of the Cambodian family
  has led to increased rates of delinquency, crime,
  drug abuse and child prostitution.

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Separation of Families

• Adolescent girls often assume responsibility for
  their younger siblings. In September 1995, UNICEF
  and the Rwandan Government identified 1,939
  children living in child-headed households.
• Child-headed households are also vulnerable to
  exploitation by surviving relatives and
  neighbors.
• In Cambodia some refugee families had temporarily
  adopted unaccompanied children in order to obtain
  additional food and relief supplies, only to
  abandon the children once they returned to
  Cambodia.

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Separation of Families

• In Bosnia and Herzegovina, some evacuations of
  children had been organized by groups intent on
  profiting from adoption markets.
• Many unaccompanied displaced children are not
  orphans and greater emphasis needs to be placed
  on reuniting families especially before
  allowing any type of permanent adoption procedure
  to take place.

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What Can Be Done

• Reunification programs should be a main priority
  in all new and existing relief operations.
• Refugee camps should be located far from conflict
  zones to reduce the risk of children being
  enticed or recruited into warring groups. They
  should have food/water sources in locations that
  can be easily monitored to prevent further
  victimization.
• In Sudanese refugee camps in Ethiopia 'villages'
  have been created with three to five children
  living together in each traditional hut under the
  supervision of a caregiver from among their own
  people.

8
Child Soldiers

• According to a 1996 Unicef report, there are
  approximately 300,000 child soldiers, including
  many girls who are forced to 'service' the
  troops.
• Young girls are also used as combatants but at a
  much lesser rate than their male counterparts.
• Children are more easily armed and require less
  training. Current weapons are lightweight and
  easy to fire.
• Children also tend to be more obedient and
  usually do not demand pay for their services.

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Child Soldiers - Recruitment

• In Liberia, children as young as seven have been
  found in combat.
• In Cambodia, a survey of wounded soldiers found
  that 20 per cent of them were between the ages of
  10 and 14 when recruited.
• In Sri Lanka, of 180 Tamil Tiger guerrillas
  killed in one government attack, more than half
  were still in their teens, and 128 were girls.
• In the Sudan, children as young as 12 have been
  rounded up from buses and cars.

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Child Soldiers - Recruitment

• In Guatemala, youngsters have been grabbed from
  streets, homes, parties, and even violently
  removed from churches.
• In the 1980s, the Ethiopian military recruited
  boys, sometimes at gunpoint, from football
  fields, markets, religious festivals or on the
  way to school.

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Child Soldiers - Successes

• In Peru, for example, forced recruitment drives
  reportedly declined in areas where they were
  denounced by parish churches.
• In Myanmar, protests from aid agencies led to the
  release of boys forcibly recruited from a refugee
  camp.
• In Sudan, humanitarian organizations negotiated
  agreements with opposition groups to prevent the
  recruitment of children.

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References

• Somasundaram, Daya Short and Long-Term Effects
  on the Victims of Terror in Sri Lanka. Journal
  of Aggression, Maltreatment Trauma 9.1,9.2
  (2004) 215-228.
• Modell, J Haggerty, T The Social Impact of
  War. Annual Review of Sociology 17 (1991)
  205-224.
• Levy,B. S. and Sidel, V.W The Social Impact of
  War. Annual Review of Public Health 30 (2009)
  3.1-3.14.

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References

• Toole, M. J. Waldman, R. J. The Public Health
  Aspects of Complex Emergencies and Refugee
  Situations. Annual Review of Public Health 18
  (1991) 283-312.
• Levy,B.S. and Sidel, V.W The Social Impact of
  War. Annual Review of Sociology 17 (1991)
  205-224.
• Marshall, Lucinda. Unacceptable The Impact of
  War on Women and Children. Common Dreams News
  Center. 2004. 2 Dec. 2008 lthttp//www.commondreams
  .org/views04/1219-26.htmgt.

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References

• Machel, Graca. Promotion and Protection of the
  Rights of Children. UNICEF. 1996. 24 Nov. 2008
  lthttp//www.unicef.org/graca/a51-306_en.pdfgt.
•  
• Barbara, Joanna S. Impact of War on Children and
  Imperative to End War. Croatian Medical Journal.
  2006. 24 Nov. 2008 lthttp//www.pubmedcentral.nih.g
  ov/articlerender.fcgi?artid2080482gt.
• Hamblem, Jessica PTSD in Children and
  Adolescents. National Center for Posttraumatic
  Stress Disorder. 1998. 2 Dec. 2008
  lthttp//www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/ncdocs/fact_shts/
  fs_children.htmlgt.