The war affects the children in all aspects of their lives. They lose all kinds of opportunity and adult protection, parenthood, proper caring, schooling, empathy, and attention of adults who love them. “unaccompanied children,” as they become displaced. They may experience the following sadly and tragic impacts during their lives, like:
1. Death. Hundreds of thousands of children die of direct violence in war each time. They die as civilians caught in the violence of war, as combatants directly targeted, or in the course of ethnic cleansing.
2. Injury. Children suffer a range of war injuries. Certain weapons affect them particularly. A landmine explosion is more likely to kill or seriously injure a child than an adult. Thousands of children suffer landmine injuries each year.
3. Disability. Millions of children are disabled by war, many of whom have grossly inadequate access to rehabilitation services. A child may have to wait up to 10 years before having a prosthetic limb fitted. Children who survive landmine blasts rarely receive prostheses that can keep up with the continued growth of their limbs.
4. Illness. Conditions for maintenance of child health deteriorate in war – nutrition, water safety, sanitation, housing, access to health services. There may be loss of immunity to disease vectors with population movement. Refugee children are particularly vulnerable to the deadly combination of malnutrition and infectious illness. There is also interruption of population immunization programs by war which may be responsible for increases in child mortality.
5. Human traffic. These phenomena which often occur in situations of war, ethnic cleansing and refugee life leave lasting physical impacts in sexually- transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, psychological impacts and changes in life course.
6. Psychological suffering. Children exposed to situations of terror and horror during the war – experiences that may leave enduring impacts in posttraumatic stress disorder. Severe losses and disruptions in their lives lead to high rates of depression and anxiety in war-affected children. These impacts may be prolonged by exposures to further privations and violence in refugee situations.
8 7. Moral and spiritual impacts.
The experience of indifference from the surrounding world, or, worse still, malevolence may cause children to suffer the loss of meaning in their construction of themselves in their world. They may have to change their moral structure and lie, steal, and sell sex to survive. They may have their moral structure forcibly dismantled and replaced in training to kill as part violence or warring groups. 8. Social and cultural losses. Children may lose their community and its culture during the war, sometimes having it reconstituted in refugee or diaspora situations.
9. Child soldiers. It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of teenagers serving in militias thru faction groups. They are particularly vulnerable to all the impacts listed above. Peace development Network reaffirming children's rights require special protection and call for continuous improvement of the situation of children all over these two countries, as well as for their developmental education in conditions of peace and security.
PADN Profoundly concerned that the situation of children in the above area remains critical because of inadequate social conditions, natural disasters, armed conflicts, exploitation, illiteracy, hunger and disability, and convinced that urgent and effective national and international action is called for, Mindful of the the important role of the national, regional organizations and International Community, in promoting the well-being of children and their development.
PDN is committed to implementing the following principles:
Principle 1
The child shall enjoy all the rights set forth in this Declaration. Every child, without any exception whatsoever, shall be entitled to these rights, without distinction or discrimination on account of race, color, sex, language, religion, political opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or another status, whether of himself /herself family bag ground.
Principle 2
The child shall enjoy special protection, and shall be given opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, to enable him to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. In the enactment of laws for this purpose, the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration. Principle 3 9 The child shall be entitled from his birth to a name and a nationality.
Principle 4 The child shall enjoy the benefits of social security. He shall be entitled to grow and develop in health; to this end, special care and protection shall be provided both to him and to his mother, including adequate prenatal and post-natal care. The child shall have the right to adequate nutrition, housing, recreation and medical services.
Principle 5
The child who is physically, mentally or socially handicapped shall be given the special treatment, education, and care required by his/her particular condition.
Principle 6
The child, for the full and harmonious development of his personality, needs love and understanding. He shall, wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility of his parents, and, in any case, in an atmosphere of affection and of moral and material security; a child of tender years shall not, save in exceptional circumstances, be separated from his mother. Society and the public authorities shall have the duty to extend particular care to children without a family and to those without adequate means of support. Payment of State and other assistance towards the maintenance of children of large families is desirable.
Principle 7
The child is entitled to receive education, which shall be free and compulsory, at least in the elementary stages. He shall be given an education which will promote his general culture and enable him, on a basis of equal opportunity, to develop his abilities, his individual judgement, and his sense of moral and social responsibility, and to become a useful member of society.
The best interests of the child shall be the guiding principle of those responsible for his education and guidance; that responsibility lies in the first place with his parents.
The child shall have full opportunity for play and recreation, which should be directed to the same purposes as education; society and the public authorities shall endeavor to promote the enjoyment of this right
Principle 8 10 The child shall in all circumstances be among the first to receive protection and relief.
Principle 9
The child shall be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation. He shall not be the subject of traffic, in any form. The child shall not be admitted to employment before an appropriate minimum age; he shall in no case be caused or permitted to engage in any occupation or employment which would prejudice his health or education, or interfere with his physical, mental or moral development.
Principle 10
The child shall be protected from practices which may foster racial, religious and any other form of discrimination. He shall be brought up in a spirit of understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples, peace and universal brotherhood, and in full consciousness that his energy and talents should be devoted to the service of his fellow men.
To improve the livelihood of poor mothers, guardians, elderly and widows in the community through supporting their local initiatives i.e. craft-work, poultry, vegetable growing, goat and improved animal rearing projects.
