Children in conflict

Children and conflict

The impact of armed conflict on children is immense. As violence and instability tears communities apart, children and families are uprooted from their homes and livelihoods. Displaced within their own country or across borders, children are particularly vulnerable both physically and psychologically. Not only is their right to adequate nutrition, shelter, healthcare and education denied, but children also live under the constant threat of exploitation and abuse.

In a number of armed conflict situations, children have been abducted and forced to become soldiers and/or sex slaves in armed groups.  In Northern Uganda, for example, children have been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) with boys becoming fighters who have been coerced into committing horrible atrocities and girls becoming “wives” to the LRA soldiers.  Since 1994, World Vision Uganda has run a programme in Northern Uganda to assist children who have been able to escape from the LRA to be provided with trauma counselling and appropriate skills training so that they can be reunited with their families and reintegrated into communities.

Their future in our hands

‘Their future in our hands’, a new report from World Vision Africa, looks at how conflicts are affecting children in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Focusing on the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, the study pays specific attention to children who are refuges, and those displaced within their own countries, and makes a series of recommendations for action by governments, NGOs and donors.

Although the report highlights some signs of hope, considering projects where children’s lives and happiness have been markedly improved, the overall picture is bleak. The study reveals that displaced children’s health, nutritional, education and shelter needs remain largely unmet and their access to basic services is limited. Precarious camp environments have increased children’s vulnerability to a multitude of abuses and exploitation.

Furthermore, while existing policies and standards regarding refugee children have facilitated positive progress in their protection and support, those for the protection and support of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), including children, are either non-existent or remain largely inadequate or under-implemented.

Read the full report (PDF)