A children's rights perspective on the Graça Machel Study.

Abstract

As the major global policy framework for the 1996 Gmp Machel headed United Nations Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) holds special significance within the international community because of its pervasive attention to children's psychosocial and physical development. This article presents an overview of major findings of the Machel Study within the framework of the CRC, highlighting enabling attributes and special challenges of the CRC that bear upon the ecology of armed conflict. Psychologists have much to offer in understanding and resolving armed conflict, alleviating children's suffering, and promoting children's human rights and social transformation as essential conditions for their psychosocial development. Examples of opportunities for broader participation by psychologists are offered.The publication of the Graqa Machel United Nations (UN) Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children ( 1 996) has been applauded for generating international dialogue and action. Although the report does not claim to be exhaustive, it documents widespread violations of children's human rights in eight areas, including participation of children as combatants, risks from landmines, refugee and internally displaced children, sexual exploitation, and gender-based violence. The Study also addresses impacts of economic sanctions, increasing child mortality and morbidity, psychosocial impacts, and risks to children's educational development.The findings and recommendations of the Machel Study were framed by two bodies of international law: international humanitarian law and human rights law. Although these laws contain provisions that apply to a range of issues involved in protecting children's welfare, the Study establishes the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as its most comprehensive framework. It is within Requests for reprints should be sent to Corann Okorodudu,

Psychosocial interventions and children's rights: Beyond clinical discourse.

“…Increasingly, psychologists work alongside local and international development professionals in implementing strategies to address the impact of political violence on children, their families and communities. Key child-oriented policy documents on children in war such as the Graça Machel Report on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children and the report of the International Save the Children Alliance Working Group on Children Affected by Armed Conflict and Displacement have made explicit reference to the obligations of state parties and non-government organizations to support the psychological recovery and social reintegration of children after war (Okorodudu, 1998).…”