‘Layers of vulnerability’: The children growing up in urban war
Marwa, an activist who advocates for vulnerable communities, describes the terror of growing up during the war in Yemen at an event on protecting children in urban warfare organised by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
She described having to live under air raids, never going to school without feeling anxiety or ever playing outside without the watchful eyes of her concerned mother on her.“When the war erupted, I was 11 years old. Frankly, I don’t remember much other than the fear and crying,” she said of the conflict, which started about eight years ago.
“Nothing can save you from an air strike. The missile can kill you and all your family members while asleep at home, and there’s nothing you can do to avoid dying under the rubble of your own home,” she said.
Child-specific harms of urban warfare
In a report published late last month, the ICRC tries to address what it calls a gap in knowledge about the child-specific harms caused in increasingly urbanised conflicts – from Gaza to Syria and Ukraine – that it says can help better respond to children’s needs in these complex environments.
“When the war erupted, I was 11 years old. Frankly, I don’t remember much other than the fear and crying,” she said of the conflict, which started about eight years ago.
“Nothing can save you from an air strike. The missile can kill you and all your family members while asleep at home, and there’s nothing you can do to avoid dying under the rubble of your own home,” she said.
Child-specific harms of urban warfare
In a report published late last month, the ICRC tries to address what it calls a gap in knowledge about the child-specific harms caused in increasingly urbanised conflicts – from Gaza to Syria and Ukraine – that it says can help better respond to children’s needs in these complex environments.
The ICRC report also details how economic downturns caused by urban warfare can cause children and their families to adopt harmful survival strategies, such as child labour, early marriages, or relying on their children for things like evading checkpoints or picking their way through rubble.
‘The most vulnerable’
Another urban war has erupted since mid-April in Sudan, where two generals are fighting for control of the country and many ceasefires have failed to stop the conflict.
