The Campaign for
Radical Truth in History P.O. Box 849, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83816
The U.S./U.N.
Holocaust Against the Children of Afghanistan and Iraq
by Arshad Mahmood
25th
Oct. 2000, The
Frontier Post, Peshawar
When
ever war broke out in any part of the world it affected the children the most.
During the last decade, 2 million children worldwide have been killed as a
result of war, 4 to 5 million children have been disabled, 12 million have been
left homeless, more than 1 million orphaned or separated from their parents,
and approximately 10 million children have been psychologically traumatised as
a result of war --. (UNICEF's The State of World's Children 1996).
The
most affected countries regarding the killings of children due to war or its
consequences are Afghanistan and Iraq. In both these countries thousands of
children were killed during the war.
In
Afghanistan only, where a civil war has been continuing for the past 20 years,
around 300,000 to 400,000 children have died out of total population of 20
million.
In
addition, the devastation has contributed to the deaths of thousands of
children from hunger and disease. An American who visited Afghanistan on an
official visit in September said that the recent drought has made the situation
worse for children in Afghanistan along with the UN sanctions. She said that
she felt very uncomfortable while having her meals in Hazarajat area of
Afghanistan because of the food situation there. More than 250,000 children are
reported dying every year of malnutrition alone in Afghanistan.
Every
three hours or so, a child is blown up as a result of more than 10 million
landmines planted all over Afghanistan. One-third of Afghanistan's landmine
victims are estimated to be children (UNOCHA 1999). Those children who survive
a trauma of a mine incident are burden on their families and require extensive
medical care, rehabilitation and most importantly, economic support throughout
their lives.
More
than one quarter of Afghan babies do not see their fifth birthday (UNESCO,
1997).
According
to UNICEF's State of the World's Children Report, Afghanistan has the fourth
worst record in under five child mortality, the infant mortality rate being 152
per 1,000 live births [15.2%]. More than a
quarter of a million children under five die each year, many more than those
caught in armed conflict or killed by mines.
War
have several other worse effects on children including loss of parents and
other close relatives, many left their education because of poverty,
displacements, disabilities, destroyed infrastructure of education etc. Many of
the street children have no shelter and are dependent on relatives for a place
to stay or they shake up in abandoned houses. According to a survey conducted by
the UNHCR in 1997, there are an estimated 28,000 street children in Kabul, 20
per cent of whom are girls. However with the increase in the number of
displaced persons in the country, the figure has risen to more than 35,000.
These children are either involved in begging or working on the streets as shoe
polishers, or car washers; the purpose being to support their families.
A
large number of child labourers in Peshawar are Afghans who are working to give
a helping hand to their parents. Those schools extending educational facilities
to refugee children are without basic necessities...
The
situation is worsening day by day in Iraq
as well, because of UN sanctions the number of
children dying is increasing due to malnutrition and lack of medicines. The
number of child labourers and child beggars is increasing rapidly. Under five
mortality rate increased from 50 per 1,000 in 1990 to 125 per 1,000 in 1998.
The
Health Ministry says around 500,000 children are among
the 1.4 million Iraqis who died due to lack of food or health care as a result
of a decade old embargo, from a total population of 22 million.
Iraq
is also scrapping its free education system and four million children will now
have to pay for their schooling. It would be for the first time in 30 years that
Iraqis have been asked to pay for their education, the parents were asked to
provide school books and equipment for their children last year. UNICEF
estimates that almost one million Iraqi children failed to sign for school and
another 200,000 dropped out during 1997-98 academic year alone due to UN
sanctions.
Malnourished
and forced to work on the streets rather going to school, most of the dropouts
take to begging while the luckier ones find some job. The literacy rate has
dropped to 66 per cent from an impressive 90 per cent before the embargo was
slapped on Baghdad, while secondary school enrollment ratio dropped to 51 per
cent for males and 32 per cent for females.
The
former head of the UN Humanitarian
Program for Iraq, Hons Von Sponeck, who quit in March in protest against
continued sanctions says, that the young Iraqis were part of a
"refrigerator generation," warning that "we will never be able
to give them back what they lost all these years".
The
children of both Afghanistan and Iraq are facing the grave consequences of the UN
sanctions.
They
are in extremely pathetic condition and the champions of "Human
Rights" are very proud of their power and victory.
There
is a great need of taking notice of the situation of both Afghan and Iraqi
children and relaxing the sanctions where they are affecting the children
directly.
The
international community should make an end to the sanctions against Iraq as
Iraqi economy and its defence is completely destroyed now and Iraq is no more a
threat for the western powers. Humanitarian aid should be sent to both
Afghanistan and Iraq to save the lives of children in both countries.
essays
/ israeli holocaust against palestinians / archives / news bureau / bookstore