Working in early childhood settings with children who have experienced refugee or war-related trauma

In recent years, war has affected many civilians. More than 24 million people worldwide were displaced from their homes because of wars in 1996 (Machel, 1996). Half of the displaced people are children, who are particularly vulnerable to increased risk factors associated with displacement. Risk factors include physical danger (shelling, sniping, land mines), limited access to food and water, separation from parents, high levels of violence, substance abuse, illness, rape, prostitution, sexual molestation and mutilation, trafficking, and conscription. Such risk factors continue to exist in refugee camps. The arrival of peacekeeping troops does not lessen all the risk factors. Increased rates of child prostitution, and subsequent HIV infection, are often the result of living in areas occupied by peacekeeping troops (Machel, 1996).