Oleksander, age eight, lives in a small village close to the frontline of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. Five years ago, while he and his family were sleeping, their home was hit by artillery shells. The roof was blown off and Oleksander’s older brother was badly hurt when shell fragments were embedded in his hand. His father says Oleksander still wakes up at night screaming sometimes during shelling.
This is what life is like for one child in a conflict zone.
As we mark World Children’s Day, Save the Children has published a new report that demonstrates the full scale of the challenge millions of children living in areas of conflict face.
On a day where awareness of improving children’s welfare is commemorated, our report shows that over recent years we have witnessed both an increase in the number of children living in conflict and the numbers of violations committed against them. Conflict is also becoming protracted and this year COVID-19 adds even more complexity.
Since 2010, the equivalent of 25 children a day have been killed or severely injured in conflict.
In 2020 COVID-19 has dominated headlines and focus in capitals across the world. But this report is a reminder that the world cannot afford to ignore the plight of children whose lives are being devastated by conflict.
What are the report’s key findings?
- A total of 426 million children were found to be living in conflict zones overall in 2019 – the second highest total ever recorded. 160 million of these children live in high-intensity conflicts, an increase from 2018.
- Since 2005, more than 250,000 violations against children have been verified in the UN’s annual reports on the situation of children in armed conflict. These violations include killing and maiming, abduction, recruitment, denial of humanitarian assistance, sexual violence, and attacks on of schools and hospitals. The actual figures are likely to be higher as some violations are grossly underreported, and gathering evidence in live conflicts is extremely challenging.
- Of these violations, 42% relate to killing and maiming children. And explosive weapons account for 37% of these incidents in 2019 – with the proportion much higher in Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.
But behind every statistic is a story, like that of Mohammad* (pictured above), age 15, from Afghanistan. One day last year he found an explosive device in front of his school and brought it home. He wanted to remove the gunpowder, as he’d seen boys do with other devices. But it exploded, wounding him and his cousin. Mohammad was taken to a clinic, where his hand had to be amputated.
“When I realised my hand was amputated, I got upset. I became sad, wishing I hadn’t picked up that round and brought it home so that my hand would not have been amputated. [In the clinic] I saw many others whose legs had been amputated.
“After the incident, I was terrified. Sometimes I would have nightmares and used to tell my brother to come. I could not sleep alone in a room. When I go somewhere, I would like to be confident so that when I talk, it would not come to my mind that I do not have a hand.”
What can the UK Government do?
In August this year, the UK government published its updated approach to the protection of civilians in armed conflict – something Save the Children has been campaigning on for the last two years. The updated approach included recognising that conflict affects children differently and requires specific approaches to ensure they are kept safe, and a commitment to improving accountability for violations of children’s rights in conflict.
Next year, there will be a critical opportunity for the international community, including the UK, to take concrete actions to better protect and support children in conflict.
Ireland is leading a global political process to develop a political declaration to address the humanitarian harm caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. The UK and others should endorse this declaration and help set the gold standard for all. Children and their families should be kept safe and must always be protected to the highest standards.
Children like Oleksander and Mohammad deserve nothing less.
* Name changed to protect identity
Killed and Maimed