The changing nature of armed conflict and its implications for children: The Graça Machel/UN study.

Over the past several decades, a new pattern of armed conflict has evolved, taking increasingly heavy tolls on communities and civilian populations. In the 1990s, most armed conflicts are intrastate affairs fought with relatively low technology in and around communities, where they kill mostly civilians, inflict extensive psychological damage, destroy communities, and displace masses of people. They also serve to normalize violence and to plant seeds of future armed conflicts. To assess the impact of this situation on children, the United Nations commissioned the first global study on Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, headed by Ms. Graca Machel. The Study presents a holistic picture of the assault on children, examining issues of physical attack, landmines, sexual abuse, displacement, separation from parents, recruitment into military activity, nutritional deficiencies, stress of caregivers, and community destruction, among others. It also makes recommendations on how to more effectively protect the r...