Save the Children is calling on the UK to urgently update its cross-government Protection of Civilians strategy to recognise the challenges of using explosive weapons in populated areas, and outline measures to address them. This is in light of Amnesty International’s report on the devastating campaign to root out ISIS in Raqqa, in which civilians paid a heavy price.
As also argued in Save the Children's joint report with the Royal United Services Institute, Ensuring the Protection of Civilians in Modern Conflict there is a need to improve monitoring and reporting of casualties in war to better protect children and their families.
Save the Children is calling on the international community to also increase investment in measures to support children’s recovery from conflict, particularly in their mental health and psychosocial well-being. Save the Children has seen first-hand the effect of explosive weapons in populated areas, from Iraq to Syria to Yemen to Gaza. Children are more likely to be killed and maimed than adults, their small bodies unable to withstand the intense force of blast waves and shrapnel. Those who survive are left with deep emotional scars that can take years to heal. Save the Children's research report The War on Children shows one in six children globally lives in a conflict zone.
* Read the Amnesty International report Syria: War of annihilation: Devastating toll on civilians, Raqqa – Syria here
* Read the report Ensuring the Protection of Civilians in Modern Conflict here
* Save the Children https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/
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