Question

diary writing on the topic 'the effect of war on human societies

Answer 1

Answer:

Younger readers of this journal may themselves have been exposed to war during their teen years. Much has been written on the subject in the last two decades – how war affects children, how to rehabilitate war-affected children (tertiary prevention), and how to make the experience of being in a war zone less damaging for children (secondary prevention). However, any degree of immersion in the suffering of children in war impels one to consider ways of removing the vector producing the suffering – war itself (primary prevention). While in a previous essay in this series (1), I considered ways to prevent specific wars, here I will consider a broader issue of replacing our present war system with a peace system.

The impact of war on children

War affects children in all the ways it affects adults, but also in different ways. First, children are dependent on the care, empathy, and attention of adults who love them. Their attachments are frequently disrupted in times of war, due to the loss of parents, extreme preoccupation of parents in protecting and finding subsistence for the family, and emotional unavailability of depressed or distracted parents. The child may be in substitute care with someone who cares for him or her only slightly – relatives or an orphanage. A certain proportion of war-affected children lose all adult protection – “unaccompanied children,” as they are known in refugee situations.