You may be worried about friends and family in Afghanistan
You may be worried about friends and family in Afghanistan and don’t know what to do.
Pictures and news of the current situation in Afghanistan are disturbing and can be triggering or bring flashbacks.
We share your concern for the situation and your worries for the people in Afghanistan. If you yourself feel anxious or triggered by the situation and have trouble functioning, we offer this information on how to cope.
Stabilization techniques and grounding exercises are some tools to calm yourself.
It may be helpful to know a little bit about trauma and what type of mental and physical reactions that are common if you have experiencing trauma or extreme stressors, both for people experiencing trauma and for friends and relatives.
Weapon of war: Sexual violence against children in armed conflict
This report presents the very first quantitative analysis of the risk of sexual violence against children in conflict for the period 1990–2019. The report flags remaining data gaps, shortcomings in child-centred and gender-responsive service delivery, and impunity for these crimes. Our findings also show the urgency of the broader call for gender equality and child rights, including increased focus on girls’ empowerment initiatives, recognising that girls are disproportionately affected. Sexual violence in conflict is a weapon, whether it is used tactically or opportunistically. While children face increasing risk of sexual violence in conflict, the international community struggles to adequately address this human rights violation. The scale and gravity of sexual violence against children in armed conflict call for immediate and concerted action by the UN, states, donors, the humanitarian community, researchers and civil society to meet their obligations to ensure children are safe from harm.
https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/18763/pdf/weapon-of-war-report_final.pdf
Colombia Democratic Republic of Congo Iraq Somalia South Sudan Syria Yemen
Why do they want to kill us?
Defending human rights in Colombia is a high-risk profession, especially for those who protect and promote rights to the territory, to the environment and those linked to access to land. Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world in which to carry out this legitimate and essential activity, according to the organization Global Witness.1 The crisis faced by human rights defenders in Colombia is nothing new but the situation is deteriorating, despite the adoption of a peace agreement and numerous demands from Colombian civil society organizations and the international community that the government address this violence, as the numbers of killings and the hundreds of reports of attacks, harassment and threats faced by defenders clearly illustrate.
https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AMR2330092020ENGLISH.PDF
The War on Children: Time to end grave violations against children in conflict
This report identifies concerning trends for the safety and wellbeing of children living in areas impacted by conflict, through analysis of the United Nations Annual Reports of the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) and new research by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). The research utilizes figures that are published, independently verified and credible, but one of the key findings of the data mapping process is that there is a significant and worrying gap in child-specific data in conflicts.
Although all warring parties are obliged to protect children, in conflicts around the world heinous attacks are committed against children on a daily basis, for which the perpetrators are not being held to account. What is more, many of these violations are increasing, driven bybrutal conflicts like the war in Syria. There is an urgent need for action to end what is too often a war on children.
https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/13150/pdf/war_on_children-web.pdf
Afghanistan Democratic Republic of Congo Global Myanmar Somalia South Sudan Syria
Children and conflict in a changing world: Machel study 10-years strategic review
More than a decade after it was presented to the United Nations General Assembly, Graça Machel’s report on the agony of children trapped in armed conflict remains the definitive assessment of the issue. It has continuously roused moral outrage and has been a foundation for programming and advocacy.
The changing nature of contemporary armed conflict cries out for a different approach, one that no longer focuses on particular countries or themes but on the totality of issues affecting children caught in armed conflict, a point captured in Mrs. Machel’s study. That is the central message of this 10-year strategic review, and it grows out of Mrs. Machel’s powerful insight that “war violates every right of the child.” We cannot hope to move forcefully on behalf of children in conflict until we turn our attention to all impacts, on all children, in all situations affected by conflict. The organization of this report aims to heighten our understanding of the myriad ways in which armed conflict affects children – and how children regard their participation not only in war but in programmes aimed at preventing violence against them and in promoting their recovery and reintegration.
https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/publications/MachelStudy-10YearStrategicReview_en.pdf
Stop the War on Children
The protection of children in conflict – and with it the realisation of the promises made in the declarations, conventions and statutes of the 20th century – is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century. The nature of conflict – and its impact on children – is evolving.
In today’s armed conflicts, there is often no longer a clearly demarcated battlefield: children’s homes and schools are the battlefield.
Increasingly, the brunt of armed violence and warfare is being borne by children. Children suffer in conflict in different ways to adults, partly because they are physically weaker and also because they have so much at stake – their physical, mental and psychosocial development are heavily dependent on the conditions they experience as children. Conflict affects children differently depending on a number of personal characteristics – significantly gender and age, but also disability status, ethnicity, religion and whether they live in rural or urban locations. The harm that is done to children in armed conflict is not only often more severe than that done to adults, it has longer lasting implications – for children themselves and for their societies
https://www.savethechildren.org/content/dam/usa/reports/ed-cp/stop-the-war-on-children-2019.pdf
Afghanistan Central African Republic Democratic Republic of Congo Global Iraq Mali Nigeria Somalia South Sudan Syria Yemen
Stop the war on children 2020: Gender matters
The third report of Save the Children’s Stop the War on Children campaign reveals shocking trends in the threats to the safety and wellbeing of children living in areas impacted by conflict. While fewer children are living in conflict-affected areas, those who do face the greatest risk of falling victim to serious violence since systematic records began. This report delves into the differences between boys’ and girls’ experiences through a gendered analysis of the six grave violations of children in conflict.
https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/node/16784/pdf/ch1413553.pdf
Afghanistan Colombia Democratic Republic of Congo Global Iraq Mali Syria
Mental health conditions in conflict situations are much more widespread than we thought: But there’s a lot we can do to support people
“Today, there is no shortage of countries in conflict. UN estimates suggest that in 2019, nearly 132 million people in 42 countries around the world will need humanitarian assistance resulting from conflict or disaster. Nearly 69 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced by violence and conflict, the highest number since World War II.
Fortunately, there’s a lot we can do to help them. Indeed, there’s a lot we are doing.
In 2019 WHO is addressing mental health in countries and territories with populations affected by large-scale emergencies across the world, in Bangladesh, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Nigeria, South Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine and the West Bank and Gaza Strip, among others.
In many countries in the world, ignorance about mental health and mental illness remains widespread. The uptake of mental health care during conflict and other emergencies, in countries where such support has been limited, can lead to the identification of people who are tied up, locked in cages, hidden from society. In many cases, it is this very support that helps dispel myths about mental illness and leads to treatment and care and a path towards a more dignified life.
We have also learned that, when the political will exists, emergencies can be catalysts for building quality mental health services”, Dr Mark van Ommeren, WHO
Bangladesh Gaza Strip Global Iraq Jordan Libanon Nigeria South Sudan Syria Turkey Ukraine West Bank
Conflict related sexual violence: Report of the United Nations Secretary-General
“Conflict-related sexual violence is now widely recognized as a war crime that is preventable and punishable. The United Nations Security Council has played an important role in the past decade
by passing successive resolutions that emphasize accountability for perpetrators and services for survivors.”
– United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres
Afghanistan Bosnia and Herzegovina Burundi Central African Republic Colombia Côte d'Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo Iraq Libya Mali Myanmar Nepal Nigeria Somalia South Sudan Sri Lanka Sudan (Darfur) Syrian Arab Republic Yemen
Road to recovery – Responding to children’s mental health in conflict
The report states that 142 million children are living in high-intensity conflict zones, with many more millions forced to abscond as refugees. More than 24 million children exposed to conflict today are likely to encounter mild to moderate mental health problems yet, as Save the Children rightly contends, the global response to mental health support continues to be regrettably inadequate
https://www.savethechildren.org/content/dam/usa/reports/emergency-response/road-to-recovery.pdf