Documentation on child friendly spaces

Children are among vulnerable groups affected by violent conflict. In consideration of children’s vulnerability during war, since the 1990’s all international documents related to security and peace highlight children’s issues. In 1996, Graca Machel presented the United Nations’ first report on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children. The report noted internally displaced children as a special concern, while highlighting the dire affects of war on children. An estimated 20 million children have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict and human rights violations and are living as refugees in neighbouring countries or are internally displaced within their own national borders. Conflict has a physical, emotional and psychological impact on all children. At the same time, internally displaced children encounter specific risks and challenges. The very nature of displacement jeopardizes most of the human rights guaranteed to the child in international law, exposing displaced children to sexual exploitation, abuse and violence, forced
labour, abduction and recruitment by armed groups