Laura Valentina Vasquez and Maria Isabel Cuellar

Children and War

In war, even though they are the least responsible, minors are the most affected. This has been evidenced

throughout our century with the second world war or the war in Vietnam, where children are attacked in

their schools, their homes or are persecuted to be recruited. These scenarios occur as a consequence of the

fact that wars today are given as internal conflicts or civil wars and the insurgents are camouflaged in the

population, consequently in the midst of these wars’ victims die who have no relation to the war, causing

not only damage to the opponent but also economic and moral damage to entire regions.

However, children are also recruited as insurgents to attack, kill or maim other children regardless of their

sex or age, children have become targets of violence in many countries. In many places around the world,

children carry weapons and take an active part in fighting. But they are also used to perform other tasks,

such as lookouts, spies, or sex slaves. Whether or not they are forcibly recruited, and regardless of their

functions, these children are separated from their families, deprived of education and vulnerable to being

imprisoned, wounded, or killed.

The reasons why armed groups and the military recruit children is because, they are more impressionable

and obedient, less likely to run away, discreet as spies and messengers. Children who participate in war

are also victims of intense psychological violence. Tormented by the traumatic events they suffered,

many relive incessantly the horrors they witnessed or the atrocities they were forced to commit,

sometimes even against their own family or friends.

On the other hand, children are society's future, they are precious and cared for, so they become the

perfect target to take away someone's most precious possession. Evidently society has failed to protect

children, and it has been suspiciously due to a lack of will and means to implement legislation. Although

the 1977 Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions are the first international treaties that attempted

to address this problem, there are still thousands of victims.