Children and war

http://www.redcross.int/EN/mag/magazine2003_3/4-9.html

By Nick Danziger

Every day as a result of conflict, thousands of civilians are killed or injured. More than
half of these victims are children. The days when the captain of a sinking ship ordered
women and children first onto lifeboats are just a fading notion. The Second World War
was a watershed when civilian victims were as numerous as combatants. Now, in almost
all current conflicts, civilians are the majority of casualties, with children suffering
disproportionately. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 2
million children have been killed by conflict over the last decade; 6 million children have
been made homeless; 12 million have been injured or disabled; and there are at least
300,000 child soldiers operating in 30 different conflicts across the globe.

A child is particularly vulnerable to the ravages of war. According to a United Nations

study on children in war by Graca Machel, "The physical, sexual and emotional violence
to which they [children] are exposed shatters their world. War undermines the very
foundations of children's lives, destroying their homes, splintering their communities and
breaking down their trust in adults." We treat bullet and shrapnel wounds, provide
prosthesis for mine victims, house the displaced and refugees of ongoing conflicts, but
how do we fare in providing those most vulnerable and least able to cope with the
nutritional, environmental, emotional and psychological effects of conflict?

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is working to limit the effects of armed
conflict on children. The ICRC, frequently in conjunction with different National
Societies and the International Federation, is bringing food and medical relief to child
victims as well as investing in longer-term solutions to ensure respect for a child's basic
human rights during armed conflict.

A deadly threat in Iraq

The problem of explosive remnants of war (ERW) is acute in Iraq. ERW describes a wide
range of explosive munitions remaining in an area after the end of a conflict. It includes
everything from artillery shells, grenades, mortar and cluster bombs to rockets and
missiles. According to Johan Sohlberg, the ICRC's regional ERW adviser, "They
constitute a permanent threat to the population, especially children, who are unaware of
the danger: they continuously come into contact with them, play with them and risk
getting maimed or killed."Along with the International Federation, the ICRC has
launched an awareness campaign on mines and ERW. "The main message we are
stressing is: if you see something suspicious, stop! Don't go near it; don't touch it; don't
throw anything at it; and don't pick it up!" says Sohlberg. Iraq Red Crescent volunteers
are involved in areas at risks — especially in southern Iraq — where they distribute
posters and leaflets, collect data and report their findings.
Rehabilitating child soldiers

by Rosemarie North

During Sierra Leone's ten-year civil war, armed factions used thousands of children as
soldiers. A Red Cross programme has been reintegrating former fighters for three years.
But can young ex-combatants ever really go home?

Sisqo(1), a slim 16-year-old, is consulting Red Cross workers about trouble at school. He
wants his teacher to stop taunting him by calling him a rebel.

In the past Sisqo would have sorted the problem out with jungle justice — the brutality he
learned when he was indeed a rebel fighting against Sierra Leone's government. The
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) kidnapped Sisqo at the age of 9. After proving his
worth as a fighter, he was promoted to the rank of chief security officer and managed a
band of boys who looted villages. Crazed by drugs, armed factions in Sierra Leone
roamed the countryside stealing, burning houses, deliberately maiming children and
adults, raping and killing.

Sisqo managed to escape from the RUF after four years. At 13, he was tired of war. His
native village, Makeni, rejected him because he'd been a rebel. And his family was too
poor to support him financially. But he'd heard of a programme that might help him.

Child Advocacy and Rehabilitation (CAR) is a ten-month Red Cross programme, aimed
at young people aged 10 to 18 who were harmed during the war. Some young people
fought. Others became sex slaves, domestic labourers or the victims of violence. This
year 450 youngsters are enrolled in three CAR centres, funded by the British, Canadian
and Swedish Red Cross and the ICRC, and run by the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society.
Participants receive counselling to help them come to terms with their experiences, they
catch up on basic schooling, their health is checked, and the older children learn job skills
like tie-dyeing, soap-making, building construction or tailoring. At the end of the year,
most of the younger children are enrolled in schools. More than 300 children have been
through CAR since 2001. The Spanish Red Cross plans to build a fourth centre.

At the same time as working with the children, the Sierra Leone Red Cross goes into
villages and uses drama, dance and discussions to encourage parents, neighbours and
communities to accept and care for the children.

CAR case manager Abu Bakar Sesay says the Red Cross tells villagers that even the ex-
fighters are victims.

"We tell them these kids are not the cause of the war. They were drugged, forced to do
certain things. If you just leave them the problem will return. But if you can occupy them
then good can come from it."
Fatmata, a tiny 17-year-old, is still adjusting to the CAR programme. Rebels captured her
in her home, when she was 14. They said she had to join up or they would kill her. She
was with a rebel band called Kill Man No Blood, named because they could attack others
and escape without being wounded. Fatmata commanded 15 other children.

She managed to leave but it's not a happy ending yet. She fell out with her mother, who
told her she would always be a killer. Fatmata discovered that she and her boyfriend were
going to have a baby. But a former RUF colleague told her boyfriend she'd been a rebel.
He left her and denied the baby was his. Now in the CAR programme, Fatmata struggles
to support herself and her 11-month-old baby. She's hoping to be able to live by selling
fabric she dyes.

When asked about her future she nods uncertainly. She's only been at the CAR centre a
few months and she has fears for her future. Fatmata is one of several dozen ex-
combatants living in the 2,000-strong village of Rokel, a short drive away from the
Waterloo CAR centre. The elected headman, Tunde S. Coker, says some people in Rokel
were reluctant to accept the former fighters. It's understandable — in some cases,
children were forced by the rebels to kill their parents, mutilate them by chopping off
limbs or rape their own mothers. And then villagers resented the special treatment the
young people were getting — counselling, education, skills training and a hot meal at the
CAR centre.

"It takes time to forgive and forget but it is part of the healing process. When you take
into consideration the serious atrocities, it takes time," says village secretary, Septimus A.
Saffa.

How War Affects Children

War tears the childhood happiness apart. According to the United Nations, children in 50
countries are currently growing up in the midst of war. When researchers asked few
moral questions to these children, there was a whole new moral outlook found. When
researchers questioned these children about the morality of stealing or harming someone.
Although they grew up in an environment filled with homicide, theft and physical
violence on daily basis, surprisingly, these children all said that stealing and harming
others was wrong, morally wrong, even if everybody did it. But the children had a whole
different view of right and wrong within the context of revenge. They will harm someone
when it comes to revenge.

Fights, terrorism and all-out conflict are based in real or imagined scenarios where each
side see themselves as victims. These children justified the reason for revenge. You have
harmed me or those I love, so I can righteously harm you and yours which is a social
context of tit-for-tat. These children are dragged into the complex network of revenge
justice.

http://www.snugd.com/2008/07/21/how-war-affects-children/