Effects
of Conflict and Crisis on Children
Abu
Alilu
More and more of the
world of ours is being sucked into a desolate security vacuum. This is a space
devoid of the most basic human values; a space in which children are
slaughtered, raped, and maimed; a space in which children are exploited as
soldiers; a space in which children are starved and exposed to extreme
brutality. For our children today nowhere is safe.
Almost all conflicts
are now fought by armed groups within national boundaries and almost 90 percent
of the casualties are civilians, mainly women and children. In the last decade
an estimated twenty million children worldwide have been forced to flee their
homes because of conflict and more than two million children have died as a
direct result of armed conflict. At
least six million children have been permanently disabled or seriously injured.
Painfully women and
girls in particular experience clash and displacement in different ways because
of the gender division of roles and responsibilities.
Increasingly, the
modern warfare is inflicting havoc on the lives of children and women, and on
the health and educational services that are keys to family and community
survival as well development of a nation.
Among the most severe evils
which all children face during armed conflicts is a heightened risk of rape,
sexual humiliation, prostitution and other forms of gender-based violence. Yet
such evil is rarely taken as seriously as it should be.
These crimes might be
seen simply as a consequence of general societal breakdown during conflict time,
but rape and other forms of gender-based violence are often used systematically
as weapons of war.
In countries where
children are already vulnerable to disease, the onset of armed conflict may
increase death rates by ninety-ninety fold.
Also during the
conflict, more than half the deaths in some places were caused by measles.
Often health services available in emergency situations are dominated by men,
so many children, for cultural or religious reasons, underutilize these
services despite their need of them.
If we stop to ask why
children are so brutally exposed during modern warfare and crises?. It is not
just accidentally but deliberate targets.
The most challenge is
to the changing character of modern warfare. All of today's wars are being
fought not between States but within them. And in many cases religious and
ethnic affiliations are being manipulated to increase feelings of hatred or
aggression. Battles are fought from village to village and from street to street.
As a result, the proportion of victims who are civilians has leapt in recent times
and at least half of these are children.
In addition, children
are being deliberately recruited as combatants. This has been made easier by
the proliferation of light weapons. Assault rifles are cheap and widely
available.
Previously, the more
dangerous weapons were heavy or complex, but these guns are so light that
children can use them, and so simple that they can be stripped and reassembled
even by a child.
Coupled with this is the
rapid social change in the way the world communicates. The use of social media
leads to a breakdown in the family support systems so essential to a child's
survival and development.
Other forms of
protection also slip away, particularly government and community support systems.
As a result, children are being denied the protection promised them in the right
of a child to life.
In fact crisis violates
every right of a child, the right to life, the right to be with family and
community, the right to health, the right to the development of the
personality, and the right to be nurtured and protected.
Although some may argue
that armed conflict promotes development of new abilities in children such as a
commitment to the ideals of the children’s future such as better future for the
children.
Unfortunately, crisis
more often discourages children from attending school because it is unsafe for
them to leave home. This is particularly true when, in the absence of both
parents.
In some crises, particularly
religious conflicts, certain factions may believe that children should not be
educated.
To help prevent these
abuses our leaders must do all it can to prevent the outbreak of fighting, by
addressing the socio-economic roots of conflict.
Banning arms shipments
to conflict zones and insisting that all actions to resolve conflicts and
implement peace agreements should focus strongly on the needs of children.
In the meantime,
however, everything must be done to protect children. Everyone has a responsibility
to report abuses of the rights of children.
It is unforgivable that
children are assaulted, violated, murdered and yet our conscience is not
revolted nor our sense of dignity challenged."
Today in our country where we are witnessing one
types of armed conflicts or the other, we appeal to aggrieved parts for the sake
our children lay down your arms. And be friends of our children, without these secured
relationships, our children remain vulnerable to the continued exploitation.
