Childhood in the crossfire: How to ensure a dignified present and future for children affected by war

Abstract

I just want to go back to a normal life, resume my training and become a builder one day, like my father. Testimony by I. N., former child soldier 1 Eglantyne Jebb, drafter of the Declaration on the Rights of the Child and founder of Save the Children, said: "All wars, just or unjust … are waged against children." 2 During armed conflict and other situations of violence, children are especially vulnerable to a myriad of risks that deprive them of the opportunity to fully experience childhood. 3 They are often deprived of food, clean water, health care, and access to education; this is particularly troubling given the number of children who die of preventable illnesses, malnutrition, lack of safe shelter, or violence. Moreover, despite the protection afforded by international law, children are all too often drawn into hostilitiesdirectly as fighters, or indirectly, separated from their families, detained, recruited, forcibly driven from their homes, killed, injured, sexually abused or exploited in other ways. 4 In circumstances where survival becomes a daily struggle, children often lose any opportunity to study. Fortunately, children rarely give up their sense of hope, and their resilience should not be underestimated. Children have been affected by war throughout history, and this is still true in today's conflicts, where we continue to see terribly high levels of suffering. Gender, age, ethnic and cultural background, disability, beliefs and other factors can exacerbate specific vulnerabilities in a given context. 5 In light of this, more research is needed on the consequences that armed conflict has for children, as well as on the most suitable responses to their various needs and the challenges they face during and after armed conflict. For this reason, and as we have just marked the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Review has chosen to dedicate this issue to children and war.