Children and War
Two Palestinian boys, Ebrahim Kaseh, 15, and Eesa Ghalyah, 12, visit the place where they were wounded in the northern Gaza Strip. Eight children were killed by Israeli tank shells on 4 January 2005 in the Beit Lahia Refugee Camp near the Israeli settlement of Nesaneit. Abid Katib/Getty Images
Entire generations are growing up without ever having known what it feels like to be safe. Millions of children in Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Uganda and other conflict-rife areas have been killed, injured, or forced to live in camps. Separated from their families or orphaned, some find themselves left on their own to take care of younger siblings or relatives. For many, access to adequate food, clean water, education, health care or security remains non-existent. Landmines and unexploded ordnance kill and maim children on a daily basis.
Increasingly, children are also being drawn into conflicts as participants by both government and armed groups. Some children are forcibly recruited while others join voluntarily to escape poverty or find stability amid the chaos of war and displacement. At least 300,000 under-18s – some as young as eight years old – are currently engaged in active combat in over 30 countries.
In addition to the hazardous work of soldiering, both boys and girls are used as porters, cooks and other military support roles. Girls are often sexually exploited though forced “marriages” to commanders. Some engage in “survival sex” in tenuous exchange for protection, food or money. The risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases is high.
Child combatants are routinely abused both physically and mentally as part of their indoctrination, making them more compliant for high risk missions and the use of brutal tactics. Casualty rates are generally high.
Deeply traumatized by their experiences, many children continue to be haunted by the memories of the abuses they witnessed or were forced to commit. Some former child are afraid to return to their communities because the local people witnessed them taking part in crimes.
Updated: 6 February 2006