"On
the top floor there...[are] dozens of photographs of children with
brief captions. One girl gazes from a cot wearing a white dress and an
uncertain smile. All we are told is that her name was Irene Mutoni, she
was two years old, her farvourite food was banana and rice, her
favourite toy was a stuffed dog, her first word was daddy and she died
drowning in boiling water."
Guardian correspondent Rory Carroll, describing the Kigali genocide memorial *
"Defending America starts in the front lines, where it's always inhumanly brutal."
David Hackworth, America's most decorated soldier *
"August
- we had three babies born with no head. Four had abnormally large
heads. In September we had six with no heads, none with large heads and
two with short limbs. In October, one with no head, four with big heads
and four with deformed limbs or other types of deformities."
Dr Zenad Mohammed, maternity trainee at the Saddam Hussein
Teaching Hospital in Basra, describing human birth abnormalities
thought to be linked to the use of depleted uranium by Western forces *
"I
feel that a part of your soul is destroyed in taking another life...you
cannot kill someone without killing a part of yourself."
US soldier interviewed in Iraq for the film Fahrenheit 9/11, Dir Michael Moore, Miramax Films, 2004 *
"The flames are all long gone, but the pain lingers on."
Roger Waters, from the track “Goodbye Blue Sky” on “The Wall”, CBS Records 1979 *
Women and war
Women and girls bear the brunt of armed conflicts fought today both
as direct targets and as "collateral damage". They are often the target
of gender based violence such as rape, enforced prostitution and sexual
slavery. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates
that women and children comprise 70-80% of the world’s refugee
and internally displaced population.
Children and war
In the past decade around 2 million children have been killed in
armed conflict, three times as many have been seriously injured or
permanently disabled, and countless others have been forced to take part in or witness horrifying acts of violence.
Some 300,000 children are serving as soldiers in current armed
conflicts in more than thirty countries around the world. In addition
to taking part in combat, they serve as human mine detectors and
participate in suicide missions. Because of their immaturity and lack
of experience, they suffer higher casualties than their adult
counterparts.
Civilian deaths in Iraq
In 2002 Gen. Tommy Franks, who directed the American invasions of
Afghanistan and Iraq, sidestepped the question of the number of
civilian casualties by saying, “We don’t do body
counts”. A group of independent researchers decided to meet the
need. Their research methods are so credible that President Bush
himself quoted their findings in December 2005.
-
For recent estimates of the civilian death toll in Iraq, see the Iraq Body Count website.
-
Iraq Body Count bases its data on reported deaths; but many go
unreported. The prestigious medical journal The Lancet has put the
civilian death toll in Iraq at closer to 100,000. See for example the Washington Post.
-
For an overview of the humanitarian toll in Iraq, see the Amnesty International website.
- For a more detailed discussion of the humanitarian toll in Iraq, see the Global Policy Forum website.
Low intensity conflicts
Many conflicts around the world are not sufficiently widespread or
intense to be regarded as wars, but nevertheless exact a huge toll on
human life and wellbeing. Examples include the Israel-Palestine
conflict, in which nearly 5000 people have lost their lives since 2000*, and the ongoing conflict in Chechnya, where human rights violations are rife*. Civilians often suffer disproportionately in such conflicts, and human rights violations are common.
The psychological impact of war
War leaves long-term scars not only on people’s bodies but
also on their minds. Post-traumatic stress, bereavement, psychosomatic
health problems, drug abuse and suicide can affect both troops and
civilians years after a conflict has officially ended.
African conflicts
Many of the longest and deadliest wars of the last quarter-century
have taken place in Africa. They have been fuelled by poverty, ethnic
divisions, weak or nonexistent governance, and the lure
of natural resources such as oil, timber and diamonds. In many instances the
international response has been woefully inadequate. Despite these
obstacles, peace has been achieved in some countries including Sierra
Leone and Angola.
Landmines
Landmines maim or kill over 15,000 civilians every year, including 8,000 to 10,000 children.
