Since infrastructure is usually destroyed, schooling is impeded and is often halted. During war, parents are usually preoccupied with pure survival, paying less attention to their own children, who are left to make sense of adverse events by themselves.ĭestruction, poverty and violence create a vicious circle. Those who are orphaned are frequently left to live in the streets, where they are exposed to slavery, drugs and alcohol. Many children lose their parents, siblings, friends and extended family members. Lack of the medication, medical staff and proper health care services cause the mortality rate and the morbidity toll to increase during wartime. Poor living conditions, with inadequate sanitation, lead to spread of the infectious diseases. Insufficient diet, especially if in an already impoverished population, leads to malnutrition and weakens the immune system. It is not rare that children are recruited in military as the child soldiers, where they are at greater risk of being injured or to injuring others. Some of them are killed or tortured brutally, while others suffer from serious injuries, sometimes leaving them disabled. Since children and adolescents are still in development, both physical and psychological, their health is seriously endangered in war. Displacement, loss of home and family members, and separation from parents, on whom they depend for their survival needs, leaves long-term consequences on their development and growth, lasting well into adulthood. Losing their protective and secure environment, they are exposed to and affected by all the above-mentioned aspects of armed conflict. In the context of new warfare, children are the most vulnerable group. In 1996, UNICEF stated that in the period from 1985-1996, 2 million children had been killed in war, 4-5 million had been left disabled or severely wounded, 12 million children were displaced or made homeless and 1 million lost their parents or were separated from them (Machel 1996). Among them, half are children and adolescents younger than 18 years of age (Machel 2001). Sexual exploitation and gender-based violence have become part of the reality in conflict zones, while the landmines and unexploded ordnance pose problems decades after the fire has ceased(De Jong 2002, Dupuy and Peters 2010, Machel 1996, Machel 2001).Īccording to United Nations Report on the impact of armed conflict on children, in ongoing conflicts around the globe, civilians have been increasingly and severely affected by war. The number of refugees fleeing from terrors in their home country (or being forcefully displaced in their own country) has been increasing recently, rather reluctantly becoming an important agenda in developed countries politics. Political and military elites commonly profit from warfare, competing for power and resources, and enhance the vicious circle of poverty and structural violence in local populations. Armed conflicts are very often situated in impoverished regions or states that already have insufficient infrastructure, health or educational services. Many of these conflicts are protracted (such as those in Sudan, Sri Lanka, Israel-Palestine, Afghanistan, Uganda, India), causing whole generations to grow up in war zones or refugee camps. Warfare has changed also in terms that it includes the activities of both the governmental army and non-state paramilitary forces and militias, of different origin and ideological orientation, which are perpetrating atrocities and acts of terror on civilians, sometimes on everyday basis. Wars are led more commonly within the country’s borders instead of between countries. Machel warned of the changing dynamics of war in 20th century (especially in its second half) that have been increasingly affecting civilians, that were no more considered as “collateral damage” but have become an explicit and direct targets of weaponry. In 1996, Graca Machel, an advocate for human rights, wrote an extensive report for United Nations on the effects of armed conflicts on children, urging for better recognition of violation of human rights of children and young people and establishment of the protective measures in conflict areas.
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