“The stories and images in this book are both challenging and tragic. They tell how eight land-mines in my own country, Mozambique, prevented more than 20, 000 people from returning to their villages in the Mahniça valley for seven years. They tell of the exploitation of girls as soldiers and sexual slaves ... The book charts the rise of HIV/AIDS as the single most powerful new factor compounding the dangers for children in armed conflict.“The book also showcases programmes that have been put in place since 1996 that have made a real difference in the lives of children caught in desperate circumstances ... It shows the powerful role that women play in building peace and reconstructing their families and communities ... And it argues for education to be at the centre of what must become a renaissance – a transformation of schools into safe havens for communal care, learning and support.“But we still have very far to go before we can say that our promises to children are fulfilled."- Graça MachelThe impact of armed conflict on children is devastating and total. War wounds children’s bodies and destroys their spirit. Using examples from around the world, this book analyzes the special vulnerabilities of children when families and communities are torn apart, schools are destroyed, and stability shattered. Children are routinely forced into active combat, sexually exploited, and abandoned to malnutrition, starvation, and disease. This book demonstrates how war’s legacy of horror continues to affect children long after hostilities cease, especially through landmines and unexploded ordnance, the proliferation of small arms, the instability of refugee existence, and the spread of HIV/AIDS. The toll demands an urgent response to protect children everywhere. As author Graça Machel, an international advocate for children, notes in the preface, the impact of armed conflict on children is everyone’s responsibility. | The Impact of War on Children by Graça Machel, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters