Glaring gaps in the protection of women and girls must be addressed. At political, policy and operational levels, training and sensitisation is needed to ensure children's protection in conflict. Key issues include the gender and child rights aspects of protection, international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. Current, ad hoc approaches to training have been limited in their impact. This will require recognition of their special needs and contributions, the role of women as peace-builders, the role of local communities in supporting their reintegration, and also exploring means for supporting the growing number of households headed by children.
Girls head the majority of such households.
The number of such households will increase, as AIDS continues to take it's toll, and many girls find themselves in a double-bind situation. In post conflict areas, where the majority of abducted girls have been subjected to sexual abuse, and where poverty is exacerbated, the incidence of HIV and other infections is particularly high. Not only do such girls carry the burden of loss of loved ones and protectors, they also have to cope with the care of siblings, their own immediate and longer term physical health needs, and the psychosocial consequences of the abuse they have been subjected to. They are trapped in long-lasting psychological and spiritual battles, as well as grinding poverty and despair. The cycle of child abuse is such that we must consider very carefully the consequences of abused and traumatised children, who often have not been socialised in a family environment, then producing offspring they are ill-equipped to nurture.