Emotional Wellbeing of Children in Conflict Zones |
War is often described through images of destroyed buildings, injured bodies, and displaced populations. What receives far less attention is the quieter and more enduring damage done to children’s emotional worlds. Armed conflict disrupts the foundations of childhood itself: safety, routine, care, learning, and play. For children growing up in war-affected regions, fear is not an occasional experience but a constant condition of life.
“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.” These words were written by Anne Frank in January 1943 during the Second World War. Decades later, they continue to describe the lives of millions of children in places such as Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria, and Myanmar. The settings have changed, but the emotional burden placed on children has not.
While armed conflict leaves visible scars on cities and communities, its emotional impact on children often remains unseen and unaddressed. These effects are not temporary. Emotional distress experienced during childhood can shape development and continue to influence mental health, relationships, and self-perception well into adulthood.
Childhood is generally associated with protection, stability, and growth. Conflict breaks these basic conditions. Children in war zones are exposed to bombings, forced displacement, separation from family members, the loss of loved ones, and the destruction of homes and schools. According to UNICEF, millions of children worldwide grow up in environments where violence and insecurity are a daily reality rather than an exception. In such circumstances, children rarely have the space or support to process grief as it occurs. Fear and loss are often internalised, remaining unresolved and resurfacing later in life in different emotional and psychological forms.
Judith Herman’s........