The War on Children : Time to end grave violations against children in conflict

There are approximately 350 million children living in areas affected by conflict today, according to new research carried out by the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO) for this report.

Many of these children have been subjected to unimaginable suffering. They are not just caught in the crossfire or treated by combatants as expendable collateral damage, but often deliberately and systematically targeted. They are killed, maimed, and raped. They are bombed in their schools and in their homes. They are abducted, tortured, and recruited by armed groups to fight and to work as porters, cooks and sex slaves.

Unless urgent action is taken, the long-term impact of this will be devastating. We will lose many more children to armed violence in the years to come, and millions will suffer lifelong physical and psychological trauma and disabilities. Children are incredibly resilient and with the right support can recover from their experiences, but this becomes less likely when communities and services are crippled by conflict.

This report is therefore a call to action for the international community to push back against this crisis of non-compliance, to ensure respect for international laws and norms and to do more to protect the world’s children – our children – from the horrors of armed conflict. There is both a moral and a strategic imperative to take action now. If we do nothing, we risk backsliding into a world of unchecked barbarity that will have far-reaching consequences for future generations