children in armed conflict free articles

The consequences of sexual abuse include death, HIV infection, other sexually transmitted diseases, suicide, abortion without anaesthesia or antisepsis, genital injuries leading to infertility, and rejection by the child’s community. For example, during the Rwandan genocide almost every girl aged over 8 was raped. Torture and sexual abuse of children are widespread, particularly in conflicts dominated by ethnicity.

Children under 5 are the most vulnerable in refugee camps, succumbing to malnutrition, gastroenteritis, acute respiratory infection, malaria, and measles.

6 In 1996, 2.5 million of these were unaccompanied children, who had either been separated from their parents or orphaned. By the end of 1997, 11 million people were refugees and 3.6 million internally displaced as a result of conflict. Most refugees from armed conflict have fled to disadvantaged countries that cannot afford to care for them, while advantaged countries are inclined to block their entry. Armed groups frequently manipulate food supplies and target health facilities and professionals. During conflict, 5% of child deaths result from direct trauma and 95% from starvation or illness. In 1996 there were 31 armed conflicts, 24 of them in countries with mortality rates among children under 5 years old of 5% or more. Inequalities in health care, and the poverty in which a huge proportion of the world’s population lives (table 1), 5 are key factors in nurturing armed conflict, particularly within or between poor states. In accordance with their obligations under International Humanitarian laws in armed conflicts, States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure protection and care of children who are affected by an armed conflict.-Article 38, pt 4 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (International Law in 1990)

Children in armed conflict free articles