The Innocent Children

Over the last couple of weeks whenever I surf the Internet I kept going back to topics on children to read on things that have been at the back of my mind, often troubling me. The disturbing thoughts surface at unexpected moments. I guess those photos that were sent to me earlier in the month didn't stop haunting me and so every time I wanted to pick a topic to read it had to be about 'misused' and abused children. And from all that reading …..

I cannot believe that we have mega-billion dollar budgets for all kinds of expenditure, from space exploration to meteorology, but children and the issues that threaten them are ignored with shameful zeal. At other times we do seem to show some kind of concern but the commitment seem to be lacking and both the intent and purpose in carrying out any of programmes promised to them during some lofty conference or governmental blue print end up being a sham.

One particular topic that shocked me was how children became involved in armed conflicts throughout the world. I felt incensed that the BIG countries that were supposed to be guardians of the world citizens and responsible to correct the ills of society were the very countries that regularly worsened the plight of children and didn’t seem to give a damn about them. It pains me to realize that even after a good decade later; after meticulous studies have been conducted and reports filed, we haven’t gotten any better in addressing the outrageous treatment of children and shoved aside whatever resolutions had been charted out by specialists or specilaist organisations.

And guess who is pussy-footing around the issues? Yes, it is the BIG countries that have all the bucks in the world but seem more focused than ever in impoverishing others and not ever minding about the children. They are the big spenders, spending billions of dollars on arms and weapons and for all the rhetoric, never a moment’s thought is given to children in the very countries they are messing with. Oh yea, they do seem to formulate several well-meaning programmes to get the children off the streets and all that but what happens to PREVENTING the situation? As in saying NO to war and armed conflict? Doesn’t that make more sense? Why screw up a good thing? Why put innocent children through so much deprivation, waste and disease? The reason as some of us are aware is rather obvious. Big money. The weapons industry is a multi-billion dollar industry feeding the greedy amongst us.

Yes I am incensed.

Millions of children are caught up in conflicts in which they are targets. They suffer all kinds of violence or are exposed to hunger and disease. In the past ten years an estimated two million children have been killed in armed conflict. Three times as many have been seriously injured or permanently disabled. They have been mercilessly slaughtered, raped, maimed, abused and exploited.

While the customs and rules of warfare among people in the past generations made it a taboo to attack woman and children, the picture is different now. In those days soldiers fought amongst soldiers in battlefields, but now armed conflicts are in the open streets and targeting civilians.

According to a study, the proportions of war victims who are civilians has leaped from a mere 5 % to over 90% over the last decade. And children have become targets as well as perpetrators of horrific violence and atrocities. In 1995, 30 major armed conflicts raged in different parts of the world and most of these wars have not stopped completely. Persistent economic, social and political crises have brought about the lack of public order.

The collapse of governments, the power struggles between opposing groups and fights among factions split along ethnic, cultural and religious lines are causing widespread civil unrest. The armed conflicts drag on for years with no beginning or end and they subject successive generations to endless struggles for survival. Children are definite victims.

Child soldiers are recruited in many different ways. Some are conscripted while others are kidnapped and still others are forced to join armed groups to defend their families. Governments in a few countries legally conscript children under 18. (In accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the term ‘child’ is to include everyone under the age of 18.) However, even where the legal minimum age is 18, the law is not necessarily a safeguard because birth registration is not accurate or non-existent.

In addition to being forcibly recruited, youth also present themselves for service. They may be driven by any of several factors including cultural, social, economic or political pressures. One of the most basic reasons that children join armed groups is economic. Children believe that this could be the only way to guarantee regular meals, clothing or medical attention. Also, hunger and poverty drive parents to offer their children for service where armies pay a minor soldier’s wages directly to the family.

In regions where war of conflicts have been going on for a long time, educational opportunities become more limited or even non-existent. The recruits tend to get younger and younger. Armies begin to exhaust the supplies of adult manpower and children may have little option but to join.

Some children become soldiers for their own protection. Faced with violence and chaos all around, they decide they are safer with guns in their own hands. Guns also mean power and the ability to get what they want. Another reason is the lure of ideology. This is particularly strong in early adolescence when young people are developing personal identities and searching for a sense of social meaning. They may also identify with the fight for social causes, religious expression, self-determination or national liberation.

The use of children as soldiers has been made easy by the abundance of weapons that are both light and cheap. Guns nowadays are so light that children can easily carry them about and are so simple that they can be stripped and reassembled by a child of ten. Even the poorest communities now have access to deadly weapons. For example, in Uganda an AK-47 automatic machine gun can be purchased for the cost of a chicken and in northern Kenya it can be bought for the price of a goat.

When not directly involved with handling weapons and killing, children serve in armies as cooks, porters, messengers and spies. Some commanders prefer children because they are more obedient do not question orders and are easier to manipulate than adult soldiers. Children are also used for household and other routine duties. In many regions children have done guard duty, worked in gardens, hunted for wild fruits and vegetables and looted food from granaries. Girls are often used to prepare food, attend to the wounded and wash clothes. They are also used to provide sexual services.

The fearlessness of the children is further exploited by sending them on suicide missions, sometimes by plying them with alcohol or drugs. In many countries children have been forced to commit atrocities against their own families and communities. This is done to deliberately expose them to violence and desensitize them so that acts of violence become natural to them.

Often the uncalled for attacks on civilians in certain regions have caused mass exodus and displacement of huge numbers of people. They flee conflict areas in search of sanctuaries. At the beginning of the 1980s there were 5.7 million refugees worldwide but today the number has increased to 27.4 million. The number of internally displaced people (those who have not crossed borders) has increased tremendously and stand at 30 million.

At least half of all refugees and displaced people are children. At a crucial time in their lives these children are uprooted and exposed to danger and insecurity. Their temporary homes or camps are places that further subject them to violence, uncertainty and fear. There is high mortality and children die of diseases like cholera, malaria, tuberculosis and even malnutrition.

Sexual exploitation continues and sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS continue to affect the health of children. It is estimated that 60 to 70 % of the child victims of prostitution are HIV positive. Many adolescents who have gone through the effects of armed conflict are pessimistic, depressed and even think of suicide.

When the war and armed conflict is over are these children (those who miraculously survive the horrible events) able to go back to a normal life? If, after all that they have been through, they do escape the threats of danger and devastation, do they not need to regain their health, self-respect and dignity. Can they? The children have to reintegrate socially, reunite with their families (if they are lucky), get an education and start life afresh. And most important of all, they must forget or learn to deal with the nightmares of the conflict days that will continue to haunt them.

And now knowing all these are we ever going to force the Uncaring and Abusers out of business?

*SIGH*