Children: Innocent victims of aggression

By Ritam Banati

There is a famous saying that every child has a right to childhood. War in any form snatches away that right from a child. It is an undisputed fact that during times of conflict children bear the maximum brunt of it being the most vulnerable section of the society. In times of external aggression or civil war in any nation mostly the problems suffered by the innocent victims of aggression are the same like the recruitment of child soldiers, malnutrition, fear and insecurity and the like. Often, only the short-term impact of the war on children is taken into consideration and the long-term effect which in many cases is more severe that the short-term one is overlooked. The long-term repercussions include psychological trauma which hampers the mental growth of a child. Sudan, Uganda and Congo are the world`s three most dangerous places for children due to wars that have brought death, disease and displacement to millions, according to a 2006 poll. The use of children in these and other countries like Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq etc as soldiers has been pretty common. Considering this the United Nations established 18 as the minimum age for participation of children in hostilities. But still the age of child soldiers has not matched upto UN’s requirements. Some of the countries where aggression has affected children tremendously are: Sudan The crisis began in 2003 due to the government and Janjaweed attacks upon the non-Baggara civilian population. The Darfur region of Sudan was affected in particular. Over a million children were affected by the conflict resulting in disease and malnutrition. The children were also used as soldiers in the fight besides being subjected to sexual abuse and being used as sex slaves. As per UNICEF estimates, in Sudan, over 2 million children worldwide died as a direct result of armed conflict in the past decade, and about 20 million were forced to flee their homes. Congo Trouble began in Congo when Rwandan troops crossed the border into Congo’s The Kivus. Around 33,000 children were fighting for armed groups during the Congo war that started in 1998 and lasted till 2003. Even though now the conflict has ended, thousands of children are still a part of the Army Brigades, local militias and foreign rebel groups. Coupled with this, half of the population dying due to starvation is of children. Sexual violence is a common form of aggression used here against both women and children. In fact many of the female child soldiers were used as sex slaves by adult fighters. Kashmir India’s Jammu & Kashmir has been a volatile region ever since India’s independence and the partition of the country. Two wars were fought with Pakistan over Kashmir. Till today Kashmir remains not only a matter of dispute between the two neighbours but it is also a terror-stricken region where bomb blasts have been common. The children here live in perpetual fear resulting in varied problems like not wanting to attend school. Violence here also resulted in children feeling isolated, becoming aggressive and indulging in drugs. Lately there have also been reports of militants giving money to young Kashmiri boys to hurl grenades randomly at places. During 1998 children of around 12 years of age were made to fight the proxy war. Unemployment and poverty in J&K is laying the ground for the recruitment of children by militants in their terror struggle. Iraq Oil politics drove the United States to invade Iraq in 2003 under the guise of uprooting the terror regime of dictator Saddam Hussein. As per a report, when Saddam was overthrown, about 4% of Iraqi children under 5 were starving. In 2005 that figure almost doubled to 8%. In 2007, UNICEF appealed for $51 million to help Iraqi children. According to a report by UNICEF, "Since 2003, nearly 15 per cent of Iraq`s population have fled their homes - 4 million people, half of them children.” Nepal Nepal’s civil war began in 1996 during the course of which several children were recruited by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists). The Maoist guerrillas sought to overthrow the monarchy though a rural uprising. The children were made to execute crucial military and logistical support duties for the Maoists. They received training in weaponry and were forced to serve on the front lines. Even more shocking is the fact that even after the peace deal was signed in 2006, still the Maoists not only refused to release children from their forces but they also continued to recruit them. Children were tortured and raped and many paid with their lives as well during the war. Babies were also not spared. Nepal violence hit its economy to an extent resulting in high malnutrition rates among children in particular. Sri Lanka In Sri Lanka, trouble began in the 70s when the Tigers started fighting for a separate Tamilian state in Sri Lanka`s north and east. Sri Lankan children have been affected the most by the clashes. Displacement of children is one major problem as also is their abduction and recruitment as child soldiers. There have been reports of the children here being psychologically affected just as they are anywhere else wherever aggression takes place. Fear and insecurity gets embedded to such an extent in them that school loses significance. Afghanistan The Afghanistan war began in 2001 in response to 9/11 to capture Osama bin Laden and destroy the Taliban regime. During this war thousands of children have been killed in random blasts and shelling. They have also been subjected to killings and torture at the hands of the armed political groups. Like in other nations, Afghanistan too has not been bereft of child rape, sexual assault and forced prostitution. Disruption to food supplies, health services, water systems and sanitation have caused premature and unnecessary deaths, particularly for those under five. About four million children in Afghanistan have died from malnutrition and illness, while some 268,000 children under the age of five have died each year from disease. Teachers have been forced to flee schools. Young boys who have taken up the cudgels after their fathers’ killings have been targeted by drug traffickers and smugglers who have exploited them and turned them into perpetrators of violence. Since the children of today are the future of tomorrow, it is not only vital but also imperative to ensure that the effect of aggression on young minds is neutralized as soon as possible and that they don’t grow up with unhealed mental wounds.