KEY POINTS:
During the recent Israeli-Gaza conflict, the media gave a running tally of the dead and wounded on both sides. This gruesome book-keeping ended up with an estimated 1440 killed and more than 5560 injured, the majority in Gaza.
But these stark figures don't tell the whole story. Children
are more than half of Gaza's population and they suffered badly from a deadly situation not of their making. The conflict killed 431 children and injured 1872.
Many children also lost family members or friends. Homes and schools were destroyed, and more than 28,000 children were in UN shelters at the conflict's peak.
The Gaza conflict was unusual in that children and their families had nowhere to escape to.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, by contrast, years of fighting have led to more than one million people fleeing their homes, many even crossing into neighbouring countries like Uganda. Over five million people are thought to have died in the Congo conflict since it began more than a decade ago.
Gaza and Congo are but two examples of children caught in the crossfire. In Sri Lanka, 250,000 civilians - many of whom are children - are trapped in the ongoing fighting between government forces and the Tamil Tigers.
In Iraq, some 1.7 million people have been displaced in the past two years, half of them children. And, in Sudan, up to 300,000 people have been killed since the current conflict started in 2004.
But in any conflict, the toll on children goes wider than death and injury. Children lose their homes and the security of family life, and face rape and exploitation by unscrupulous adults. They miss out on education and struggle to survive against a host of diseases and traumas. But perhaps most of all, they lose their childhoods.
When war comes to town, families are forced to flee, with children often becoming separated from loved ones in the panic. Lone children make easy prey for armed groups who recruit children into their ranks.
In the DR Congo, more than 33,000 children are estimated to have been recruited as child soldiers during the past decade. Since 2002, about 29,000 children have been demobilised through the combined efforts of Unicef and other agencies.
Once demobbed, children need to be cared for, go back to school and reintegrated into society. They are often stigmatised by communities and family, and also face re-recruitment risks.
Some are affected so badly by the trauma or enforced drug use that they may never lead normal lives. Sexual violence in conflict is another immediate risk for children, leaving emotional scars, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
If children are lucky enough to evade these dangers, living on the run or in crowded camps with a lack of clean water and sanitation weakens even the toughest. Diseases such as cholera break out.
Mothers can't eat properly, which may interrupt their breast milk. Infants not getting the life-giving milk they need get sick when moved too quickly to solids. They are at risk of malnutrition and stunted development.
Fighting and displacement also cause huge disruptions to education. Schools are destroyed or damaged, occupied by armed groups, used as displacement camps, or abandoned because of ongoing insecurity.
The stress, anxiety and fear associated with being in a conflict situation imposes a burden that no child should have to deal with. In Gaza, some children were so shocked, they were unable to speak. What must have been going through their minds?
Often threats to children remain even after hostilities cease. In Lebanon, hundreds of thousands of cluster bombs contaminated school grounds and agricultural lands after the 2006 conflict.
The children of Gaza are now trying to get back to normal routines and continue their education. Unicef is helping with a range of programmes supporting children's education, mental and physical health, and protection from unexploded ordnance. Tents are being provided as temporary classrooms and educational materials are helping thousands of children learn.
Children in Gaza and everywhere else should not be victims of the political context in which they live. It is up to adults to think about the consequences of conflict on children and to do everything they can to stop the hurt.
Internationally accepted safeguards, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Paris Principles and UN classification of rape as a weapon of war all seek to protect children and bring perpetrators of abuses to justice.
Their ultimate effectiveness requires a commitment from all parties in conflicts to do what's right for children and to stop the hurt once and for all.
Unicef is running a "Back to school" appeal for children in Gaza. Contact www.unicef.org.nz or freephone 0800 800 194.
* Dennis McKinlay is executive director of the UN Children's Fund in New Zealand.
