violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

7Situations of unrest or conflictSome situations in which conflict or unrest areongoing – such as in Northern Uganda andNepal – have exposed children to mass kidnappingand abduction, so they can performas fighters, porters, or be in support positions;girls have been used as sexual slaves. 145,146 Othercountries in which systems of public securityhave broken down in the wake of actual warsuch as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republicof the Congo, and Somalia, have developed a‘semi-formal’ structure in which groups basedon ethnic affiliation compete for authorityover territory, and over lucrative forms of trade(especially drugs), or other resources. Duringturbulent times in Somalia’s southern and centralregions, for example, one of the only ‘jobs’available to young men was in clan militias,without whose protection civilian businessesor aid operations cannot function. These failuresof Governments impact heavily on theircommunities.Violence against children in situations of ongoingconflict – the case of the Occupied PalestinianTerritoryPolitical violence in the community tends to affect the risks of violence in other contextsnot related with the ongoing conflict. More than four decades of conflict havedeeply affected the lives of Palestinian children from the Occupied Palestinian Territory(OPT). Development and human rights indicators for children, who comprise53% (1,954,000) of the total population of the OPT, have deteriorated sharply since thestart of the second intifada (September 2000). For example, in 2005 42.1% (822,634)of Palestinian children were living below the poverty level, 147 and in 2003 data relatedto the psychosocial well-being of Palestinian children indicates that nine out of 10 parentsreport symptomatic traumatic behaviour among at least one of their children. 148The increasing pressure the Israeli occupation has on the lives of those in the OPT,and the renewed and reinforced restrictions on mobility which apply deeply affect relationsbetween and within communities and families, leading to an increase in violenceagainst children in different settings. Addressing the root causes of this violence in theOPT, rather than its symptoms, only requires contextualising the violence within theongoing conflicts.307Violence against children in the community>>>