UN General Assembly
1997

of war on children. The study points out that millions of children are caught up in conflicts in which they are not merely bystanders but targets. Some fall victim to a general onslaught against civilians; others die as part of a calculated genocide. Still other children suffer the effects of sexual violence or the multiple deprivations of armed conflict that expose them to hunger or disease. Just as shocking, thousands of young children are cynically exploited as combatants. In 1995, according to the study, 30 major conflicts raged in different locations around the world. All of them 8 took place within States, between factions split along ethnic, religious or cultural lines. The conflict destroyed crops, places of worship and schools. Nothing was spared, held sacred or protected: not children, not families, not communities. In the past decade, an estimated two million children have been killed in armed conflict. Three times as many have been seriously injured or permanently disabled. Countless others have been forced to witness or even take part in horrifying acts of violence. These statistics are