The below is a blog based on a talk the War Child UK Programme Director gave to a group of NGOs specialising in child poverty in November 2011. In the following posts we will try to add more colour to the ways in which conflict affects a child’s mental health and social coping mechanisms.
Conflict in the World
War Child UK (WCUK) operates in the worst conflict-affected places in the world. The countries we work in are the infamous and the unjust. As well as operating in Iraq, Afghanistan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, we have recently begun working in Central African Republic (CAR) which has 17 distinct armed groups (recognised as distinct from criminal groups) creating an insecure environment . CAR is in a “bad neighbourhood” surrounded by DRC and Uganda (where WCUK also works) as well as Chad, Sudan and South Sudan, the newest and one of the poorest nations on earth. One of the reasons we started working in CAR is the link to, Congo and Uganda, where the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) has been active. There has been an estimated 30,000 children abducted since their appearance in the 1990s.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Congo, Uganda, have barely been out of international news for the continual conflict their citizens have had to live through.
All these conflicts create their own warped war economies which need soldiers, porters, cooks, assets etc. Unfortunately, in a majority of cases, these roles are taken by children.In the world today there are as many as 250,000 children currently associated with, or fighting for, armed groups. With few income opportunities, being a “wife” or a “soldier” can appeal as a legitimate livelihood choice to young people. WCUK works with children who have been negatively affected by conflict and insecurity. Whilst WCUK does work with children who have been associated with the armed forces, WCUK does not, in most cases, distinguish them from the millions of vulnerable and marginalised young people negatively affected by conflict.
Before the War
Over 600 million people live in countries affected by fragility and conflict (World Bank Institute). Poverty rates in these countries average 54%, in contrast to 22% for low-income and peaceful countries. Most of these countries don’t get a 54% poverty rate overnight, instead it is the result of years or even decades of fighting and insecurity which lead to stagnation of economic growth, capital flight, fewer opportunities and increasingly disabled and incapable state apparatuses. Without accountability, taxation, and capacity some conflict affected states also become “failed” states where the rule of law and jurisdiction of institutions becomes totally absent and ineffectual.
In countries such as Afghanistan it can be hard to distinguish when “before the war” was, as the cycle of conflict has been ongoing for nearly thirty years and breathing spaces for reconstruction have been rare. However, in other countries such as Iraq and Uganda the difference is more marked. In the 1990s, Iraq had an educational system to envy, with near universal rates of primary school education, an exemplary university system and a magnet for the region. Since 2003, universities have emptied, schools have been bombed, and the percentage of students completing school has plummeted.
Whilst in many cases life “before the war” was not golden, the protective mechanisms that communities establish to help deal with the obstacles means they are able to function, and as areas become more and more insecure, the erosion of these mechanisms can have disastrous consequences for children.
