Who constitutes a "war affected child"? Are boys and girls differentially affected by armed conflict?
What are the socio-cultural factors and trends in warfare that have made possible the targeting of children during armed conflicts?
What proportion of civilians affected by war are children?
What is the nature of their victimization? What has been the physical, economic, mental, psychosocial impact?
What methods are used to recruit children into armed forces and/or rebel groups (abductions, enticements, threats, peer pressure, cultural sentiments, etc.)?
To what extent is the proliferation of small arms a factor in exacerbating this problem?
What has been the impact of landmines, drugs and the illegal trade in minerals and other natural resources on children living in war zones?
What has been the impact of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases on children during conflicts?
ABSTRACT:
In spite of past and recent attempts to safeguard the rights of the child and to strengthen the protection regime for children caught in the midst of armed conflicts, children are disproportionately affected by such conflict - as both targets and perpetrators of violence.
Armed conflict traumatizes children, strips them of their innocence, and denies them the protection needed to develop physically, intellectually, spiritually and socially. Today's war-affected child may become a considerable problem for tomorrow's generation. Exposure of children to the atrocities of armed violence can have long lasting, detrimental consequences for future generations, fuelling a continual cycle of societal violence. Children are the future, and if we are to live in a relatively peaceful world, the cycle of violence that is currently affecting them must be broken.
This project examines the scope of the impact that such violence has on children in order to appreciate fully the extent of their need for protection and rehabilitation. It therefore tackles the problem in three distinct phases over three years:
1) impact,
2) protection and
3) rehabilitation.
Understanding the scope of the impact will help determine the protection strategies that can minimize or eliminate the suffering such children face, and assist in developing effective intervention strategies of rehabilitation.
