A children's rights perspective on the Graça Machel Study.

As the major global policy framework for the 1996 Graca Machel headed United Nations Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) holds special significance within the international community because of its pervasive attention to children's psychosocial and physical development. This article presents an overview of major findings of the Machel Study within the framework of the CRC, highlighting enabling attributes and special challenges of the CRC that bear upon the ecology of armed conflict. Psychologists have much to offer in understanding and resolving armed conflict, alleviating children's suffering, and promoting children's human rights and social transformation as essential conditions for their psychosocial development. Examples of opportunities for broader participation by psychologists are offered.