The 65-page report names more than 15 commanders and officials from both the government Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the rebel SPLA-in Opposition and their allies who have used child soldier
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s. The report is based on interviews with 101 child soldiers who were either forcibly recruited or joined forces to protect themselves and their communities. They said they lived for months without enough food, far away from family, and were thrown into terrifying gun battles in which they were injured and saw friends killed. Children also expressed deep regret that they had lost time they should have spent in school.
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Global concerns: Implications for the future
Child Mental Health Atlas
This report outlines the known problems of child soldiers and the different forms of recruiting. The report zooms in on the Colombia situation and the motives with which Colombian children join thes
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e armed groups. Finally there's a list of actions that can be taken to change this situation and the contributions of War Child in these actions.
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Armed conflict continues to tear apart communities across the world. From Boko Haram’s abducted ‘brides’ and Islamic State’s ‘Caliphate Cubs’, to the countless others exploited by armed groups in Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Afghanistan, many taking part in the world’s
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wars are still children.
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“Because we struggle to survive” Child Labour among Refugees of the Syrian Conflict | This study provides pertinent first-hand information on the reality facing Syrian children who are working either in their homeland, the neighbouring countries
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or elsewhere in Europe. Syria's civil war is the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Hundreds of thousands of people - adults and children alike - have been killed. Two thirds of all Syrians have lost their homes and their livelihoods. Millions of Syrians have been uprooted from their home communities and forced to flee within their country or to neighbouring countries. The consistent spill-over has drawn global attention not just to the humanitarian crisis facing both local communities and national governments but also to the economic and social strain. The bloodshed wreaked by the different parties continues. The suffering deepens. Approximately half of the Syrian refugees and displaced persons are children and young people who suffer from a double-vulnerability: as children and as migrants or refugees.
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The report showed commitments made three decades ago to protect the rights of children remain unfulfilled for millions. Violence still affects countless children. Discrimination based on age, gender, disability, sexual orientation and religion harms children worldwide.
Key factors include a lack
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of investment in critically important services. Most countries fall well short of spending the 5-6% of GDP needed to ensure universal coverage of essential health care. And foreign aid, which many lower income countries rely on, is falling short in areas such as health, education, protection and child care.
Another factor, the report said, is the lack of quality data. Governments tend to rely on data that reflects national averages, making it difficult to identify the needs of specific children and to monitor progress. Comprehensive data collection and disaggregation of data by gender, age, disability and locality, are increasingly important as rights violations disproportionately affect disadvantaged children.
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Thirty years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child at a moment of rapid global change marked by the end of apartheid, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the birth of the World Wide Web. These develop
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ments and more brought momentous and lasting evolution, as well as a sense of renewal and hope for future generations. In a reflection of that hopeful spirit, the Convention has since become the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history.
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The community based programme aims to address the psychosocial needs of children and youth through helping to rebuild peaceful child- and youth-friendly communities through the use of cultural, creative, recreational, sportive and social activities.
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Within War Child, the community-based approach is relatively new and Sierra Leone was the first self-implementing War Child Programme Area (WPA) applying this approach.
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We live in a world in which 28 million children have been driven from their
homes as a result of conflict, persecution and insecurity¹. If current trends
continue, more than 63 million children could be forced to flee by 2025², of
which over 25 million will cross borders and become refugees. At
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least
300,000 of these child refugees will end up alone, separated from their
families³. Without a step-change in the provision of education for refugee
children, at least 12 million of them will be out of school by 2025⁴.
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Infant Psychiatry
Chapter B.1
Early Maltreatment and exposure to violence
Protecting children on the move from violence, abuse and exploitation
White Paper from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Refugee Trauma Task Force
Action on behalf of unaccompanied and separated children should be guided by principles enshrined in international standards. The validity of these principles has been confirmed by experience and lessons learnt from conflicts and natural disasters i
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n recent years. The objective of the present publication is to outline the guiding principles which form the basis for action in this regard.
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Guidance | Preparedness - Response and early recovery - Recovery and reconstruction
This study complements the growing amount of research on the psychosocial impact of war on chil-dren in Sierra Leone by examining local perceptions of child mental health, formal and informal care systems, help-seeking behaviour and stigma
Yoder et
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al. Int J Ment Health Syst (2016) 10:48 DOI 10.1186/s13033-016-0080-8
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This report presents the findings of research conducted by Child Soldiers International to assess the effectiveness of release, psychosocial recove
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ry and reintegration interventions (commonly referred to as ‘DDR’) for girls associated with armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). More specifically, it seeks to shed some light on the extent to which girls have been reached by DDR programmes, and on the appropriateness of this support where it was offered, mostly from the point of view of the girls themselves.
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Non-discrimination disability and ethnic rights
Researchers focused on mental health of conflict-affected children are increasingly interested in the concept of resilience. Knowledge on resilience may assist in developing interventions aimed at improving positive outcomes or reducing negative outcomes, termed promotive or protective interventions
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.
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War Child put forward a specific request for comparative study, addressing the following questions: •What are the key types of intervention for psychosocial assistance that are being applied to children in war-affected areas? •What are the resu
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lts of (scientific) research into the effects of the most relevant programmes? •Which NGOs operate in this sector and what is their practical experience with specific methods? •How does the War Child methodology relate to developments in the sector; what is known about the effects of War Child’s programme and how can these be measured? How will War Child work towards the development of additional evidence?
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