Report: Crimes Against Children Around the World Increased by 170 Percent
Millions of children live in areas of wars and conflicts in many parts of the world, where they are exposed to various types of violations, exploitation, and violence.
According to the United Nations, crimes against children are divided into 6 main crimes, which are the use of children in wars, murder, sexual exploitation, kidnapping, attacks on hospitals and schools, and denial of humanitarian access.
The report published by the international organization Save the Children revealed that in 2020 about 337 million children were living in areas controlled by armed groups or government forces that recruit children, and this number is three times what it was in 1990.
The United Nations estimates, during the past 40 years, that more than two million children were killed in wars, four to five million children were exposed to physical injuries or permanent disabilities, and 12 million children were expelled from their homes.
In Danger
The organization's report also pointed out that in 2021, about 426 million children lived in conflict areas, of whom about 200 million were in areas of conflict and violent clashes, an increase of 20 percent over the figures for the year 2020.
The report showed that this increase is caused by the violence in Mozambique, the negative impacts of climate change, and the conflicts in Yemen, Nigeria, Congo, and Afghanistan, which are suffering from food crises.
According to the report, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Iraq, Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Central Africa, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen are the most dangerous countries for children to live in.
Since 2010, the number of children in conflict areas has increased by 34 percent, and crimes against children by 170 percent, according to the same report.
The report pointed out that 99 percent of children in Syria live in areas affected by the clashes.
It explained that Somalia is the country where children in the areas of conflict are most exposed to sexual exploitation, while Nigeria is the country where children are forced to join armed groups.
Grave Violations
In 1982, the United Nations declared the fourth of June every year as the International Day for Innocent Children Victims of Aggression in Conflict Zones, for the sake of Palestinian and Lebanese children victims of Israeli aggression.
According to the official website of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), thousands of children in various areas of conflict and clashes around the world have been severely affected and paid a heavy price.
The website indicates that there have been 266,000 grave violations against children in more than 30 conflicts in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America over the past 16 years.
It is noteworthy that more than 28,500 children have lost their lives or had physical disabilities in Afghanistan since 2005, as Afghan children are the most vulnerable to death or physical disabilities in conflict areas.
He explains that about 10,000 children have been killed or physically disabled in Yemen since the clashes escalated in March 2015.
The Ukrainian President's Child Rights and Rehabilitation Officer, Daria Hermacichuk, announced that 243 children had been killed and 446 others injured in Ukraine since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war on February 24.
She added that children in the cities of Donetsk, Kyiv, and Kharkiv, are among the most affected by the war.
The United Nations announced that about two-thirds of Ukraine's 7.5 million children have been forced to leave their homes and cities because of the war.
The future of millions of children living in countries affected by armed conflict is at risk, UNICEF said in a report issued in 2018. It emphasized that the warring parties continue to commit grave violations against children and world leaders fail to hold perpetrators to account.
Children living in countries at war have been directly attacked, used as human shields, killed, maimed, and recruited into the fighting. Rape, forced marriage, and kidnapping have become familiar tactics in conflicts, from Syria to Yemen, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Nigeria, South Sudan, and Myanmar.
Long-Term Impact
In an interview with Al-Estiklal, the researcher in psychology at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul said: "The exposure of children to attacks in conflict areas has psychological effects in the long run. Children are the most vulnerable group, they are vulnerable to all kinds of exploitation in conflicts and wars, where the law that deters criminals is absent and the language of force prevails.”
She added: “The direct psychological effects of children's exposure to violence are many and varied. The children are unable to adapt and deal with exceptional circumstances, because they have not yet developed the mental and psychological capabilities necessary to overcome crises and their effects, which causes bad health consequences, including delayed growth in its various forms of development such as movement, language, and social abilities, in addition to behavioral and emotional problems.”
The researcher explained: “What is noticeable, according to our follow-up to the case of many children who fled wars and settled in Turkey, is their psychological suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. A disorder traditionally defined as a condition associated with soldiers struggling to deal with their experiences of the horrors of war, it is a mental health condition and a type of anxiety disorder caused by a traumatic event, in which the person either experienced or witnessed the event.”
PTSD Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, and intense anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event, according to the American Psychiatric Association.
For children of 6 years of age and younger, signs and symptoms may also include a re-enactment of the traumatic event or aspects of the event through play and frightening dreams that may or may not include aspects of the traumatic event.
PTSD symptoms can vary in severity over time, and a person may have more symptoms when they are generally stressed, or when they encounter something reminiscent of what the person has been through.
