Caring for children and adolescents impacted by armed conflict: A rights-based approach

Abstract Understanding how armed conflict impacts children and adolescents in wartime helps their care providers take the necessary time and space to attend to, and address, the unique exposures and health needs of newcomer families to Canada. This statement examines the direct, indirect, and remote effects of armed conflict on those disproportionately affected by violence, disruption, and displacement. Young people whose educational, socially supportive, and health service structures are seriously compromised or destroyed by armed conflict often experience huge gaps in access to care and live with long-unmet physical and mental health needs. Based on Canada's obligations under the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, this statement offers strategies and resources that care providers can use to better recognize, appreciate, and address the effects of armed conflict—and migration experiences—as part of essential quality care.