Table of contents hide 1 The effects of war on children 2 Economic effects of war on children. 3 Psychological effects of war on children 4 Resistance
The current wars have brought many disasters both in infrastructure and in people, especially in the most innocent, the boys. There are many effects of war on children. Gone are the days when most wars were fought between the armies of countries on a remote battlefield. The vast majority of modern conflicts take place within countries, not between them.
In many conflict zones children represent the majority of victims. Most die not thanks to the weapons themselves, but to preventable diseases that are not being treated because health systems and infrastructure have been destroyed.
More than 2.7 million children died in the Congo as a result of the conflict in that country.
“The physical, sexual and emotional violence to which children are exposed breaks their world. War undermines the very foundations of children's lives, the destruction of their homes, splintering their communities and breaking their trust in adults, ” says Graca Machel in his 1996 report, The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children .
The effects of war on children
What catches the attention of the headlines are the children killed and mutilated by the bombs and bullets of war. However, some are recruited to become soldiers and thus place them directly in the line of fire. When the heat of battle is over, landmines and unexploded ordnance can leave a deadly legacy for years.
Rape and sexual violence are increasingly used as a weapon of war . Many girls and young women have babies as a result, or are injured in such a way that they cannot have children in the future.
Many more children die or become seriously ill from the indirect physical effects of war. Hospitals and health centers are destroyed. Doctors and nurses are killed or have fled. Children are more vulnerable to diseases such as diarrhea, malaria and cholera. The treatment is simple and cheap, but millions of children have died due to lack of it.
Economic effects of war on children.
One of the most serious effects of war on children is the way education is disrupted and destroyed. However, education is really the best weapon against poverty and conflict.
War destroys industries, jobs and infrastructure. Huge pressure can be put on families and the conflict usually takes place in the poorest countries first. Parents often cannot afford to take care of their children and may be forced to keep them at home to care for their siblings, to work instead of going to school, or children may even end up in the streets, in the most acute cases of poverty.
It is at this economic level that the damage really contributes to the cycle of conflict and poverty that has caused innumerable deaths and ruined lives across large areas of sub-Saharan Africa in particular.
Psychological effects of war on children
Other effects of war on children are psychological and emotional traumas caused by armed conflict, which have been widely studied in recent years. While World War I soldiers received little sympathy for those who suffer from war neuroses, more is now understood about posttraumatic stress disorder.
This negatively affects adults who are sent to fight in conflicts, and the effects on vulnerable and impressionable children may be worse. In particular, since many do not really understand what the conflict is about why it is happening. It can affect your ability to forge healthy relationships with adults or with your parents. Some resort to alcohol or drugs as a defense mechanism; This behavior is particularly common among street children and child soldiers.
The resistance
However, it is also noteworthy that children are often incredibly resistant. Taking into account the appropriate environment and protection that can remarkably prosper and recover from a very hard start in life.
This is an important point and that forms the basis of the recovery work of these boys. It is not necessary to treat children as helpless victims; You have to look at them as a source to build on your own resilience. We need to provide and strengthen more programs that offer young people the tools and opportunities to rebuild their own lives, and create the protection environment for them to do so.
AUTHOR: JoT333, editor of the hermandadblanca.org family
