Armed conflicts are a major problem when it comes to countering problems relating to militancy, since the dawn of civilizations armed conflicts have been troubling each and every independent state be it internal rebellion or external threats. Many terror groups like the ISIS in Syria or the Israel regime have been disrupting the peace inside and outside the international borders; these kinds of conflicts usually disrupt the peace and has a negative impact on the life of the individuals living inside or outside the conflicting states or parts of states. A very disturbing fact is the increase in the use of young children as soldiers. The Swedish Save the Children Fund reported that one quarter of a million children, who were as young as seven years of age, were used as soldiers in 33 armed conflicts in 1995 and 1996 alone. They were made to work as cooks, porters or messengers or participated in real time war as executioners, assassins, spies and informers. These child soldiers are assigned various types of jobs and they work with great accuracy and very close in proximity to combat.
Armed conflicts affect the life of normal civilians very dearly as many of them loose their homes and most importantly their loved ones. Basic Human Rights are violated as people get killed; their lives get destroyed with the amount of emotional and mental turmoil they face each day during the war. Children and Women face the most amounts of problems as they are left to fend off for themselves and without the proper amount of support they tend to crack and are manhandled by the conflicting groups. The children develop mental problems like flashbacks of the war events, nightmares and isolation from the society, increased aggression, depression and decreased future orientation. Problems regarding mental health and psychological turmoil persist long after the fighting has stopped and makes it difficult for children, who usually are half of the total population of the country to benefit fully from education system or take part in the reconstruction system which starts off after the war. The psychosocial impact from war are often overlooked by the Government or not addressed at all, as are the root causes of the conflicts, such as exclusion and polarization of groups, when they carry out the process to reconstruct a society and prevent a reoccurrence of the violence malnutrition, disease and deaths among young children is also common
Women suffer the increased amount of social violence going on in times of war, Sexual violence is considered as an excellent weapon of war. Parties who are at war tend to rape and turn women in to sex slaves to subject one another to humiliation, intimidation or terrorism at times as seen in the past. Rape has been a weapon of ethnic cleansing aimed to humiliate and ostracize women and young girls for bearing the “enemy’s” child and to destroy communities. Many women were forced to give birth to babies conceived during rape. Others were forced to have abortions.
The division between human rights and humanitarian organizations that aims to protect civilians is a continuing challenge regular which is being a broader concept including humanitarian assistance and guarantees of human rights standards, whereas militarily-oriented institutions consider protection only as preventing physical harm. Up until now, the official guidelines from the UN provide more detailed information on civilian protection. Finally, there is a need to match peacekeepers’ assurance of protection mandates with appropriate resources, including providing specific training on civilian protection, developing civilian protection doctrines and practical guidance, and additionally encouraging international political support – especially within the scope of Human Rights and Security Council.
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