Saltar al contenido principal

Childhood under attack - A timeline of harm following an explosive blast

Países
Mundo
+ 10
Fuentes
AOAV
Fecha de publicación
Origen
Ver original

KEY FINDINGS

• State actors are responsible for 22% of adult casualties compared to 53% of child casualties of explosive violence in the last decade. Of all explosive weapons, airstrikes have been shown to cause the greatest number of child casualties.

• When explosive weapons with wide-areas effects are used in populated areas, they almost always kill civilians and they frequently kill children, more so than any other conventional weapon.

• Children, especially very young children, consistently have worse outcomes than adults after exposure to explosive violence for three reasons:

  1. The inherent physiological vulnerabilities of a child.

  2. Explosive violence is often targeted at age-specific infrastructure such as schools and universities.

  3. The effects of explosive violence on children are often irreversible; the harm takes place during vital stages of physical, psychological, and educational development causing, amongst others, developmental disorders and stunting.

• The United Nations claims that “explosive weapons touch on four of the six grave violations against children and armed conflict, including killing or maiming”11. We argue that explosive weapons touch on all six (see Figure 3).

• The indirect effects of explosive weapons harm significantly more children than those directly affected. Indirect effects are predictable, yet too often appropriate mitigation measures are not taken.

• The long-term impacts of direct and indirect effects of explosive violence on children are underreported, underfunded, and poorly understood. Growing up with a disability, in particular, poses a unique growth challenge for child victims compared to adult victims.

• There is a marked absence of gender disaggregated data on child casualties from explosive violence. Children are treated as genderless all too often.

• Boys are disproportionately subjected to the direct effects of explosive violence (i.e., blast injury). When girls are victims of explosive violence, they are more likely to suffer from marginalisation and sexual violence.

• Over the last decade, the number of children used to perpetrate acts explosive violence has risen. Advances in explosive weapons technology have made explosive devices more deadly and easier for children to operate.