PRAY FOR CHILDREN IN CONFLICT

CHILDREN IN CONFLICT – THE SITUATIONS

Hundreds of thousands of children in conflict situations around the world are still:

• consequentially or deliberately killed in war
• recruited or abducted as soldiers
• victims of landmines
• forced to witness violence and killing
• orphaned by violence
• Children in war zones have been deliberately killed or maimed by parties to conflict, often in extremely brutal ways.
• refugees and displaced persons

CHILDREN IN CONFLICT – GLOBAL STATISTICS

• More than 300,000 children around the world are being used in war as soldiers.
• During the last decade, 2 million children have been killed as deliberate targets of war or because they have been forced to fight.
• Nearly half of the 3.6 million people killed in war since 1990 have been children.
• Another 6 million children have been permanently disabled or seriously injured.
• Millions of children suffer from malnutrition, disease, and sexual violence.
• More than half of an estimated 20 million refugees and displaced persons around the world today are children.
• Currently, an estimated 7.7 million people under UNHCR's care are children below the age of 18.
• Almost 20 million war-affected children have been forced from their homes, and have no schools and no communities to offer support to them and their families.
• Females of all ages are particular targets for brutality.
• Entire families and communities of one ethnic group are targeted and systematically killed - genocide.
• 10 million children psychologically traumatized

CHILD SOLDIERS – GLOBAL STATISTICS

• More than 300,000 children under the age of 18 around the world have been coerced or induced to take up arms as child soldiers.
• Most soldiers under 15 are to be found in non-governmental military organizations.
• Most child soldiers under 18 have been recruited into Governmental armed forces.
• The youngest child soldiers are about 7 years old.
• Over 50 countries currently recruit children under age 18 into their armed forces.
• Even girls are not spared. In case studies from El Salvador, Ethiopia and Uganda, it was found that reportedly a third of child soldiers were girls.

CHILD SOLDIERS’ JOB

• They wield assault rifles, machetes, or rocket propelled grenades on the front lines.
• Others are used in "combat support" roles as
• messengers
• spies
• cooks
• mine clearers
• porters
• sex slaves.

REASONS FOR CHILDREN BECOMING CHILD SOLDIERS

• Hunger and poverty drives parents to offer children for service
• Children volunteer to guarantee regular meals, clothing or medical attention.
• Some children become soldiers to protect themselves or their families in the face of violence and chaos around them
• Others, particularly adolescents, are lured by ideology.
• Children also identify with social causes, religious _expression, self-determination, national liberation or the pursuit of political freedom.
• Recruiting children by force is not uncommon - Armed groups take children as they pass through villages.
• Some groups have specifically recruited orphans and nurtured their loyalty.

REASONS FOR CHILDREN BEING CHOSEN AS CHILD SOLDIERS

• Children are impressionable and can be manipulated easily into becoming ruthless and unquestioning tools of war.
• Child soldiers committed some of the worst atrocities in Sierra Leone. Proliferation of lightweight weapons- requiring no physical prowess or technical expertise to manipulate- has made it possible for very young children to bear and use arms.

Key Facts about Children and Landmines

• Mines kill and mutilate 8,000 - 10,000 children each year.
• Children form 25% of those treated for landmine injuries in Red Cross units in the Afghan and Cambodian conflicts, and 75% of the mine related injuries in a hospital in northern Somalia.
• Children are often under represented in hospitals that treat landmine injuries - many simply do not survive a landmine blast because of their size. Some are killed outright or die of sheet agony. They may not survive the huge losses of blood which result from landmine injuries.
• A child who survives a mine blast is likely to be seriously injured and permanently disabled. They may lose one or both legs or arms and suffer horrific injuries to their abdomen and genitals. Shrapnel may cause blindness and disfigure their face.
• Cambodia has twice as many landmines as children (7 million landmines)
• Handicap International estimates that a child may have to wait up to 10 years before having a prosthetic limb fitted.
• Child amputees might not be able to attend school or may be too ashamed to leave their home.
• Children are particularly at risk because of their curiosity - they like to pick up and play with new objects and can mistake a landmine for a toy or harmless object. In Northern Iraq for example, some children use landmines to make go-carts.
• Some antipersonnel mines, such as airborne butterfly mines, are specifically designed to attract children.