Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, Nigeria, Sudan… The number of countries in conflict continues to increase. Neither do the millions of refugees, displaced and stateless people. According to United Nationsin 2024 this figure is around 120 million, the highest in history. Almost 80% of them are girls, boys and women, according to UNHCR. And in these contexts, girls become a particularly vulnerable target.
“Two girls disagreed. They were a little older than me. They killed them with a gun. When we saw it, we all agreed to get married.” This is how a Nigerian survivor of the armed group Boko Haram tells Amnesty International how she was forced to marry one of her kidnappers, taking her away from her life, her family, her community and her future.
Like her, millions of girls living in contexts of war and armed conflict face a devastating combination of difficulties and dangers, which put them in situations of extreme vulnerability. They are exposed to the same threats as children (kidnapping, murder, mutilation, recruitment) but are also at higher risk of suffering other types of violence: harassment, rape and sexual abuse, forced marriages, trafficking and sexual slavery.
Mutilated, murdered: girls as targets of war
Although the UN points out that almost 70% of child deaths in armed conflict are boys, girls are the specific target of violence in areas where armed or terrorist groups operate, which reject gender equality and education for them. Furthermore, girls who defend human rights or raise their voices for gender equality become targets of war, and are at risk of being brutally punished or killed.
On the other hand, girls recruited in armed conflicts live a reality of constant abuse. They are used in combat and in support work (as messengers or spies) and exploited as sexual slaves. Many armed groups refuse to release them or recognize them as full members, which increases their vulnerability at the time of their release or flight, denying them dignified integration and condemning them to stigma and rejection.
Direct attacks on schools and hospitals have a strong impact on girls’ rights to health and education. In Ukraine, more than 7,000 schools are inaccessible today. In the Gaza Strip, all of them are closed and 84% of them are almost or completely destroyed
Neither education nor health for girls
Direct attacks on schools and hospitals have a strong impact on girls’ rights to health and education. In Ukraine, more than 7,000 schools are inaccessible today. In the Gaza Strip, all of them are closed and 84% of them are almost or completely destroyed, according to data from UNICEF.
Without school, girls are relegated to domestic work and family care. Their dropout rates are much higher than those of boys (2.5 times more likely to drop out of school, according to the World Bank). They are denied the right to learn, but also the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty and aspire to a better future. Furthermore, the destruction and closure of hospitals greatly limits the access of girls of childbearing age to sexual and reproductive health services, increasing their vulnerability to diseases and complications during childbirth.
Kidnappings, rape and sexual violence as war tactics
Sexual violence in conflict disproportionately affects girls, who are more exposed to gender-based violence such as harassment, kidnapping, rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation. And this is not only limited to conflict zones, but extends to countries of asylum. In eastern Chad, where most people fleeing the conflict in Sudan have taken refuge, cases of gender violence have increased by 50%, according to UNHCR.
Armed groups such as Boko Haram use the abduction, rape and sexual slavery of girls to intimidate and dehumanize them. They are forced to join these groups, used as a reward or incentive for combatants, and subjected to sexual slavery, trafficking and forced marriages, since they consider that they are “of age” to marry.
In camps for refugees and displaced people, girls are exposed to trafficking networks, which deceive and sexually exploit them with promises of work or protection. The UN indicates that around 70% of trafficking victims in conflict zones are girls and women, the majority forced into sexual exploitation and prostitution.
Food and water shortages, lack of health care, school closures and aid restrictions increase the risk that families will resort to desperate coping measures, such as forced marriage.
Without humanitarian aid: the disproportionate impact on girls
Conflicts like the one in Gaza show us once again how girls suffer the worst consequences of war, such as lack of access to food, clean water and sanitation. But also, period poverty is an added nightmare that they have to deal with every month. UN Women It is estimated that to meet the needs of the 690,000 women and girls in Gaza, 10 million sanitary pads/disposable pads or 4 million sanitary pads are needed.
Food and water shortages, lack of health care, school closures and restrictions on aid increase the risk that families will resort to desperate coping measures, such as forced marriage. It is urgent and necessary to protect girls in conflict zones from these threats of extreme violence and inequality. To do this, States and the international community must comply with the obligation to provide them with special protection, which does not exist right now. Conflicts place girls in a difficult place to return.
“Sometimes I dream about the corpses or the stonings of women that I saw. When I open my eyes, I can’t go back to sleep.” This is how another girl forced to marry a Boko Haram fighter recounted the impact that the drama she endured continues to have on her life. We can’t let those be their dreams. Their childhoods and lives are marked forever. And they can’t wait.
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