Around 53 million people have been forced into flight, either displaced within their own countries, or as refugees seeking protection elsewhere. At least half of these are children. Most uprooted children travel with their parents, but many others are 'unaccompanied children' who have been lost, separated or orphaned in the panic of flight. In 1994, an estimated 114,000 Rwandese children were separated from their families. The report says that during conflicts around 20 times more people die from lack of food and medical services, combined with the stress of flight, than from weapons.
Hunger is an inevitable outcome when war disrupts food production.
But warring parties also deliberately manipulate conditions to affect food production and to control relief supplies. Children are especially vulnerable. The report says that in the period of conflict from 1980 to 1988, Angola lost an estimated 330,000 children and Mozambique about 490,000 due to war-related causes. These experiences are reflected in a wide variety of symptoms from nightmares to a general sense of fear, insecurity and bitterness. One of the most disturbing traumas for a child is, in fact, separation from parents.