The UNICEF 1996 Antiwar Agenda stated: "Children need be the victims of war only if there is no will to prevent it. Experiences in dozens of conflicts confirm that extraordinary actions have been taken and can be taken to protect and provide for children."

Since that time, a number fo significant measures have helped ensure higher visibility and greater protection of children, even as conflicts and atrocities seem to build. As of 1 November 1999, 89 coutries have ratified the Ottawa treaty on  the prohibition of antipersonal land mines. There are ongoing international efforts supporting an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child that would raise the minimum age for children's recruitment info armed forces and participation in conflict from 15 to 18 years.

And in 1998, the International Criminal Court, another mechanism for international accountability, was accorded the authority to prosecute as war criminals those conscripting and using children under 18 in hostilities.

For nearly two decades, UNICEF has build a peace and security agenda on its belief that children - whether in their homes, in the streets, in their schools or in camps for the displaced - shoudld be respected by all as a "Zone of Peace", a concept first advanced to UNICEF by the distinguished Swedish humanitarian, the late Nils Thedin.

It is a commitment recently reaffirmed by the Secretary-general of the United Nations. Cease-fires have been negotiated for 'days of tranquility'¨and 'corridos of peace' to bring food and vaccines to children trapped in wars, including those in Afthanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Lebanon, Sudan and Uganda, groundbreaking efforts that saved millions of children from malnutrition and disease.

Because the immediate crises caused by war are dramatic and pressing, they can obscure longer term needs.

Helping children and communities cope with the traumas and tensions that continues after fighting subsidies is vital. It is also crucial that world leaders, who have been willing to bear the expenses of militarization, not shrink from the costs of peace and demobilization. Experineces in countries such as  Angola, Liberia, Mozambique and Sierra Leone has taught us that without a long term commitment to the retraining and reintegration of combatants, post-conflict societies risk careening into anarchy and crime.

UNICEF Anti War Agenda
UNICEF Children in War
UNICEF Angolas landmines maim and kill, despite wars end
United Nations - Study of the impact of armed conflict on Children

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