By 
Children are often the first victims of any armed conflict. Since the 1990s, attention has focused on Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia, Liberia, Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Angola . Still, active conflicts continue around the world today.
Every armed conflict forces children to go through atrocious experiences as child soldiers, refugees or displaced children.
Child soldiers
Both boys and girls are abducted and used as child soldiers in civil wars in some countries. The development of lighter weapons like the AK-47 means that children as young as eight can go armed. Children are actively used by army leaders because they are small and quick, easy to intimidate, and less likely to rebel.
Once recruited, child soldiers serve as porters, cooks, guards, messengers, spies, or are forced to provide sexual favors. Many are forced into combat, where they may be forced to go to the front lines or sent to landmines before older troops.
The rehabilitation of child soldiers is a difficult process because they have been psychologically destroyed and rebuilt as killing machines. Furthermore, many former child soldiers do not have access to educational programs, vocational training, family reunification, or even the shelter they need to successfully rejoin civil society. As a result, many end up on the streets, engage in crime, or re-enter armed conflict.
Refugee and displaced children
The waves of violence that have swept across the world have uprooted many children. Some are classified as “displaced”, having fled their homes to move elsewhere within their own country, while others are “refugees” who have crossed the border into neighboring countries.
When forced to live in misery and deprivation, the characteristic conditions of refugee camps, children are at particular risk. The lack of food, clean water and adequate medical care in some overcrowded refugee camps takes a terrible toll on child victims of war, who often suffer from chronic diseases, mutilations, blindness or mental disorders.
Most conflicts today last as long as childhood. It is not just children who are devastated by war, but also the very resources that are needed to help them develop skills for their adult life. Schools and hospitals are destroyed and, often after a protracted civil war, many countries lack the resources to rebuild their infrastructure. As a result, at the same time that many children need physical and psychological care and education, these resources are lacking.
The severe psychological wounds inflicted on children can scar them for life, paralyzing the very generations that must one day rebuild their devastated countries.
Children suffer the direct consequences of war and cannot say or do anything to protect themselves.
A tribute to the volunteers, humanitarian workers and organizations responding to the needs of child soldiers, refugees and displaced children around the world: Thank you for taking the opportunity to help our children and the world.