In Kenya, a few weeks ago, hundreds of gunmen attacked a
village in the arid North-East of the country, the scene of frequent
clashes between rival clans over cattle and access to land and
water. The attack took place in the early morning hours as parents
were busy preparing breakfast for their children before they could
go to school. The gunmen targeted young children of school going age
that they made sure they killed indiscriminately. Of course, just
like in any other kind of brutality, many women also lost their
lives.
Survival: This Sudanese boy is dehumanised by
war and lacks even the most basic human need -water |
![Darfur]( "Darfur") |
In the northern part of Uganda,
thousands of children have been abducted by the Lords Resistance Army
(LRA) rebels who force them to fight, carry supplies or become sex
slaves. For these children, every night brings with it a nightmare
as fears of abduction amount with every tick of the clock. As a result,
many children no longer sleep in the comfort of their beds. They have been
turned into refugees in their country as they spend their nights in the
streets of neighbouring towns only to go to school in the
morning.
This has been the situation in many countries where armed
conflicts erupt. In Afghanistan for example, there are 10 to 15 mine
victims everyday and most of them are innocent children. Most of the
casualties of modern wars are not soldiers but civilians - a high
proportion of them children. In the last decade, an estimated 2 million
children have been killed in armed conflicts. Perhaps 4 to 5 million more
have been disabled and more than 12 million made homeless. Many more
millions have been traumatized by the atrocities they have been forced to
witness or take part in.
Though the Convention on the Rights of
the Child calls on governments to take special measures to protect
children in the event of armed conflict and bans the use of children as
soldiers, much has not been achieved. The practice is still common in
several of the wars of recent years including those in Afghanistan, Iran,
Iraq, Mozambique, DR Congo, Liberia, Somalia and former Yugoslavia.
In the refugee populations for which relevant data are available,
the proportion of under-18s is regularly more than 50%. There are an
estimated 26 million internal refugees who have been forced to leave their
homes but who have not crossed national boundaries. In the last decade,
two million children have died in wars, six million have been disabled, 12
million left homeless and one million have been orphaned. Countless
children have been psychologically scarred.
It is sad that most of
these wars are caused by the scramble over the limited resources. There
are few times, that we have seen a just war, which was the centre of
intellectual debate in the early 19th century. Instead, we are fed with
horror stories of innocent children who have been ambushed and many times
hear heart rending encounters of rape cases which end up being death
sentences on the victims who are HIV positive.
It is, therefore, high
time that we came up with a new way of looking at the reality on the
ground. There is need for a concerted effort to curb incidences of war.
This we can easily do by ensuring an equal distribution of available
resources and at the same time fight the various woes that make many
children join warring factions.
Healthy children are the echelon
of civilization. Todays world boasts of a high level of technology yet
there are millions of innocent children who are suffering as we watch.
Many are starving to death, others are left orphaned (as is the case
now with Rwanda) while others are indirect victims of war as they have
either been born with deformitiesas happening in Japanor have been born
with the deadly HIV virus which the mothers contracted during war. And as
this happens many people read these and similar stories in the comfort of
their homes disregarding the fact that what they read or even view on TVs
are real stories not fairies.
We can resolve to end conflicts and
seek harmonious coexistence through tolerating each others religious,
ethnic and colour differences. But unfortunately, tensions are mounting
worldwide. Weapons are becoming more readily available and as a result
more people are resorting to violence. Similarly, more and more weapons
are small, light and easy to use which has made it easier for children to
take part in violence and conflicts.
There is need, therefore,
for world leaders to objectively weigh out situations when tensions arise
as it is now happening in the Sudan and avoid using humanity as an
experimental field for weapons testing. The world should avoid the
Hiroshima-Nagasaki scenario which today, 60 years later, the then
energetic scientists confess to having advocated for the bombing as a way
of testing and, whose effects now affect children.
As child
psychiatrist and McMaster University Peace Studies professor Joanna Santa
Barbara, says, War is unnecessary and there are alternatives. We
often
take altruistic postures on the issue of children affected by war but
there is a disconnect.
we forget the hundreds of thousands of children
who will be affected by this.
Let us seek for lasting solutions
to our differences and save the future generationsour childrens
children.
