A generation at risk?

The problem of children left orphaned and vulnerable by HIV/AIDS is receiving increasing attention worldwide. Yet, even as the global community acknowledges the human tragedy that orphaning on the scale heralded by the HIV/AIDS epidemic represents, it is widely speculated that large numbers of orphans may themselves represent a security challenge. By reducing the resources available to children and destabilising the institutions on which they depend - such as the family, school and community - it is argued that HIV/AIDS may severely affect children's development, creating generations of disenfranchised and potentially dysfunctional young people left with little alternative but engage in criminal and other threatening activities.