Skip to main content

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

  • 29 Accesses

Abstract

Warfare is not limited to combat among professionals. Children are killed in attacks on civilian populations, as in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Nicaragua, many children were maimed or killed by mines.1 The wars in Afghanistan in the 1980s and in Bosnia in 1993 have been especially lethal to children. Many children have been killed and injured in the intifada in the territories occupied by Israel.2 As the news media show us, the horror stories are endless.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes and References

  1. Ron Arias, ‘Agonies of the Innocents,’ People Weekly, February 29, 1988, pp. 46–53.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Anne Elizabeth Nixon. The Status of Palestinian Children During the Uprising in the Occupied Territories (Stockholm: Rädda Barnen, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  3. James P. Grant, The State of the World’s Children1994 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), p.4.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Jane Green Schaller and Elena O. Nightingale, ‘Children and Childhoods: Hidden Casualties of War and Civil Unrest,’ Journal of the American Medical Associaton, Vol. 268, No. 5 (August 5, 1992), pp. 642–4. The El Mozote massacre is described in detail in The New Yorker of December 6, 1993. The killing of children is described on pp. 84–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Neil Boothby, ‘Children and War,’ Cultural Survival Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 4(1986), pp. 28–30.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Michael Jupp, ‘Apartheid: Violence Against Children,’ Cultural Survival Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 4 (1986), pp. 34–7.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Rémi Russbach, ‘Casualties of Conflicts and Mine Warfare,’ in Kevin M. Cahill, ed., A Framework for Survival: Health, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Assistance in Conflicts and Disasters (New York: Basic Books/Council on Foreign Relations, 1993), pp. 121–37. Also see Susan Ruel, The Scourge of Land Mines: UN Tackles Hidden Peacetime Killers in the United Nations Department of Public Information series. United Nations Focus, in October 1993. 9. ‘A Time for Decision,’ International Review of the Red Cross, No. 297 (November–December 1993), pp. 471–3. UNICEF has published a report on its UNICEF Mine Awareness Project in El Salvador. See ‘Making People Aware of Mines in El Salvador,’ First Call for Children, No. 1 (January-March 1994), p. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Dominique Leveille, ‘Children Used by the Guerrilla in Mozambique: Younger than the War Itself,’ International Children’s Rights Monitor, Vol.5, No. I (1988), p. 24.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Cole P. Dodge, ‘Child Soldiers of Uganda: What Does the Future Hold?’ Cultural. Survival. Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 4 (1986), pp. 31–3.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Dorothea Woods, Children at War: Some Developments 1991–1993 (June 1993). Ms. Woods’ reports are distributed by the Quaker United Nations Office-Geneva, Quaker House, Avenue du Mervelet 13, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Meng Try Ea, ‘War and Famine: The Example of Kampuchea,’ in Bruce Currey and Graeme Hugo, eds., Famine as a Geographical Phenomenon (Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1984), pp. 33–47.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Francis M. Deng and Larry Minear, The Challenges of Famine Relief-Emergency Operations in the Sudan (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1992);

    Google Scholar 

  13. Thomas G. Weiss and Larry Minear, eds., Humanitarianism Across Borders: Sustaining Civilians in Times of War (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Jean Mayer, ‘International Agreements in the Food and Health Fields,’ in Alan K. Henrikson, ed., Negotiating World Order: The Artisanship and Architecture of Global Diplomacy (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1986), pp. 3–17.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Robert Conquest, The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror — Famine (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 297.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Dan Jacobs, The Brutality of Nations (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Beth Osborne Daponte, ‘A Case Study in Estimating Casualties from War and Its Aftermath: the 1991 Persian Gulf War,’ PSR Quarterly (Physicians for Social Responsibility), Vol. 3, No. 2 (June 1993), pp. 57–66.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Richard Reid, ‘Lifelines to the Innocent: Children Caught in War,’ in Cahill, A Framework for Survival, pp. 275–92, at 276. Also see Ellen Messer, ‘Food Wars: Hunger as a Weapon of War in 1993,’ in Peter Uvin, ed., The Hunger Report: 1993 (Providence, Rhode Island: World Hunger Program, Program University/Gordon and Breach, 1994), pp. 43–69.

    Google Scholar 

  19. See, for example, Anna Freud and Dorothy T. Burlingham, War and Children (New York: Medical War Books, 1943);

    Google Scholar 

  20. Alice Cobb, War’s Unconquered Children Speak (Boston: Beacon Press, 1953).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Alison Acker, Children of the Volcano (Westport, Connecticut: Lawrence Hill & Co., 1986), pp. 24–5.

    Google Scholar 

  22. William Vornberger, ed., Fire From the Sky: Salvadoran Children’s Drawings (New York: Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Arata Osada, Children of the A-Bomb: The Testament of the Boys and Girls of Hiroshima (Tokyo: Uchida Rokakuho, 1959); Child Study Association of America, Children and the Threat of Nuclear War (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1964);

    Google Scholar 

  24. Florence Weiner, Peace is You and Me: Children’s Writings and Paintings on Love and Peace (New York: Avon, 1971);

    Google Scholar 

  25. Children of Hiroshima (London: Taylor & Francis, 1981); Helen Caldicott, Missile Envy: The Arms Race and Nuclear War (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1986), pp. 251–6;

    Google Scholar 

  26. Phyllis La Farge, The Strangelove Legacy: Children, Parents, and Teachers in the Nuclear Age (New York: Harper & Row, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  27. Jeremy Harbison and Joan Harbison, A Society Under Stress: Children and Young People in Northern Ireland (Somerset, England: Open Books, 1980).

    Google Scholar 

  28. Jennifer W. Bryce, Cries of Children in Lebanon: As Voiced by Their Mothers (Amman, Jordan: UNICEF Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  29. Cole P. Dodge and Magne Raundalen, eds., War, Violence and Children in Uganda (Oslo: Norwegian University Press, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  30. Also see Cole P. Dodge and Paul D. Wiebe, eds., Crisis in Uganda: The Breakdown of Health Services (New York: Pergamon Press, 1985).

    Google Scholar 

  31. Ivanka Zivcic, ‘Emotional Reactions of Children to War Stress in Croatia,’ Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Vol. 32, No. 4 (July 1993), pp. 709–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. The diary of a young girl suffering through the war in Sarajevo, reminiscent of Anne Frank’s famous diary, was published in the U.S. in 1994. See Zlata Filipovic, Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo (New York: Viking Penguin. 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  33. Howard Tolley, Jr., Children and War: Political Socialization to International Conflict (New York: Teachers College Press, 1973).

    Google Scholar 

  34. An overview of such studies may be found in Peter S. Jensen and John Shaw, ‘Children as Victims of War: Current Knowledge and Future Research Needs,’ Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Vol. 32, No. 4 (July 1993), pp. 697–708.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. James P. Grant, The State of the World’s Children1986 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 72.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Grant, The State of the World’s Children1987, p. 9. The impact of defense spending on children is examined systematically in Saadet Deger and Soninath Sen, Arms and the Child (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  37. John C. Caldwell, Children of Calamity (New York: John Day Company, 1957).

    Google Scholar 

  38. John A. Shade, America’s Forgotten Children: The Amerasians (Perkasie, Pennsylvania: Pearl S. Buck Foundation, Inc., 1981).

    Google Scholar 

  39. Beverly Creamer, ‘Children of the Dust: Hoping for New Lives in America,’ Honolulu Advertiser, May 9, 1988, p. B-l.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975); Shana Swiss and Joan E. Giller, ‘Rape as a Crime of War: A Medical Perspective,’ JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), Vol. 270, No. 5 (August 4, 1993), pp. 612–5.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Maggie Black, The Children and the Nations: The Story of Unicef (New York: UNICEF, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  42. Everett M. Ressler, Neil Boothby, and Daniel J. Steinbock, Unaccompanied Children: Care and Protection in Wars, Natural Disasters, and Refugee Movements (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  43. Everelt Ressler, Evacuation of Children from Conflict Areas: Considerations and Guidelines (Geneva: UNHCR and UNICEF, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  44. Also see Stephen Coats, Military Spending and World Hunger: Let Them Eat Missiles (Washington, D.C.: Bread for the World Background Paper No. 62, 1982);

    Google Scholar 

  45. Marian Wright Edelman, ‘How the Military Budget Hurts America’s Children,’ Food Monitor, No. 41 (Summer 1987), pp. 3–5, 23.

    Google Scholar 

  46. See, for example, Lester Brown. ‘Redefining National Security’ in Lester Brown et ai, State of the World 1986 (Washington, D.C.: WorldWatch Institute, 1986), pp. 195–211.

    Google Scholar 

  47. The application of the Geneva conventions and the protocols to children is analyzed in Denise Plattner, ‘Protection of Children in International Humanitarian Law,’ International Review of the Red Cross (May-June 1984) and Sandra Singer, ‘The Protection of Children During Armed Conflict Situations,’ International Review of the Red Cross (May-June 1986). pp. 133–68. Also see M. Ressler, Unaccompanied Children, pp. 246–61.

    Google Scholar 

  48. I am indebted to Dorothea Woods for providing this paraphase of and comment on an article by Serge Marti, ‘Les Nations Unies ont adopté à l’unanimité la convention sur les droits de l’enfant’ Le Monde, November 21, 1989. On May 17, 1991 the Times of London reported that a parliamentary inquiry had called for a ban on troops being sent to fight abroad after it was learned that 200 minors had been deployed to the Gulf. Two soldiers aged 17 were among the 34 British casualties in the Gulf war.

    Google Scholar 

  49. Neil Boothby, ‘Children and War,’ Cultural Survival Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 4(1986), pp. 28–30.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Neil Boothby, in United States Senate, Children of War: Victims of Conflict and Dislocation. Hearing before the Subcommittee on Children, Family, Drugs and Alcoholism of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990), p. 45.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Peter T. White, ‘A Little Humanity Amid the Horrors of War,’ National Geographic, Vol. 170, No. 5 (November 1986), pp. 647–79.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Maria Teresa Dutli, ‘National Measures for Implementation of National Humanitarian Law’, Dissemination, No. 13 (May 1990), pp. 8–10.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Also see Frits Kalshoven and Yves Sandoz, The Implementation of International Humanitarian Law (Boston: Nijhoff, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  54. Varindra Tarzie Vittachi, Between the Guns: Children as a Zone of Peace (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  55. Ernesto Attias and Ilene Cohn, Children and War: Report on ‘The Psychosocial Impact of Violence on Children in Central Americ’’ (Guatemala: UNICEF Area Office for Central America and Panama, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  56. Everett M. Ressler, Joanne Marie Tortorici, and Alex Marcelino, Children in War: A Guide to the Provision of Services (New York: UNICEF, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Copyright information

© 1995 George Kent

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kent, G. (1995). Armed Conflict. In: Children in the International Political Economy. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230375536_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics