The Frontier Post
October 25, 2000
By Arshad Mahmood
When ever war broke out in any part of the world it affected the children the most.
During the last decade, two million children worldwide have been killed as a
result of war, four to five million children have been disabled, 12 million
have been left homeless, more than one million orphaned or separated from
their parents, and approximately ten 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 draught 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 ten 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.
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. The situation of education is also worse, many schools have been destroyed or lost teachers due to Islamisation of education by the Taliban regime, as before Taliban's rule 70 per cent of teachers in Kabul were female.
Because of which boy schools are facing high shortage of teachers now. On the other hand those children who are living as refugees with their parents in different parts of Pakistan are also deprived of adequate schooling.
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, which is leading to a poor quality of education. These schools are housed in very dilapidated buildings.
In Peshawar recently several children lost their lives because of collapse
of a school building. After the incident many Afghan schools were closed by the government due to
safety reasons but the question is what would be the future of those
children getting education from those schools.