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| (Duncan Willets/Camerapix) |
In today's conflicts, children are the most
tragic victims. It is estimated that more than 22 million children
have been displaced by war within and outside their countries. In the last decade
alone, some two million of the world's youngest have died as a
direct result of armed conflict. Millions of children have been seriously injured or permanently disabled. Even
greater numbers have died as a result of malnutrition and disease,
and more than 300,000 children under 18 years of age have been
ruthlessly exploited as soldiers in government armed forces or
armed opposition groups in ongoing conflicts. Increasingly,
children are specifically targeted by combatants or abducted for
use in forced labor or as sexual slaves. These shocking facts
cannot begin to describe the damage done to an individual child
who has survived such brutality.
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In
the last decade alone, two million of the world's youngest have
died as a direct result of armed conflict
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Children driven from their homes and communities are often left without adequate food, shelter or healthcare. Education is sporadic, if available at all. Children face malnutrition, disease, violence, and sexual, physical and psychological abuse on an unprecedented scale. It is clear that the legal instruments, such as the
Convention on the Rights of the Child
and the Geneva Conventions must be recognized and
respected.
In today's conflicts, children are the most tragic victims. Yet children also have a role to play in building a more stable future for war-torn countries. In its Resolution 1314 of 11 August 2000 on children in armed conflict
(S/RES/1314), the Security Council called on Member States to encourage the involvement of young persons in programs for peace consolidation and peace-building. Both United Nations Children's
Fund and the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict have spoken repeatedly of the need to ensure the participation of adolescents in humanitarian response and peace building activities. Consequently, the Secretary General reiterated the call made in his report on children and armed conflict
(A/55/163-S/2000/712), by recommending that children and youth participation be encouraged and promoted in all programs and policies aimed at protecting their rights and the rights of other civilian populations, before, during and after armed conflicts, as a means to improve these programs and policies.
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