Beyond The Hunger, Illness, and Cold
Afghan Children Wage Battle With Their Fear
ISLAMABAD / GENEVA / NEW YORK, 16 November
2001 - Dusting off a 1997 study of child trauma in Kabul
and comparing it with the latest anecdotal evidence
emerging from Afghanistan, the United nations Children's
Fund said today there are strong indications that long
after the fighting ends, the nightmare will continue
for Afghan children.
Accounts from Kabul and other parts of
the country affected by recent warfare indicate that
children are experiencing traumatic stress similar to
that found in the UNICEF study in Kabul four years ago
- the last time the city experienced direct conflict.
The findings of the 1997 report clearly
showed that the war trauma experienced by children in
Afghanistan - a country which has been in conflict for
more than 20 years - is chronic, and the psychological
impact is not short-lived. The violence that they have
experienced has been and will continue to be hugely
influential in their emotional development and has dramatically
affected their views of themselves and of their future.
An atmosphere of uncertainty, coupled
with explosions, gunfire and the sight of dead bodies
in the streets are all factors in this trauma. School
teachers in Kabul report that many of their pupils have
been suffering from sleeplessness, nightmares and anxiety.
Problems in concentrating have affected their ability
to study properly at school, their appetite and their
ability to play.
A UNICEF staff member who has spent the
last two months in Kabul said that his grandchildren
were exhibiting classic symptoms of stress-related trauma.
"They cry and wake up at night and refuse to leave
their mother's side, or their grandmother's side. It
has been terrible to watch, because I watched my children
go through the same thing," the staff member, Mr.
Azizi, said.
"Afghan children are experiencing
not only the hardships of physical survival, but the
fear and hardships of emotional trauma," said Carol
Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF. "As we look
ahead to the recovery and rehabilitation of Afghanistan
as a nation, we must work hard on the emotional recovery
and rehabilitation of Afghanistan's children. For Afghanistan
to have a decent future, we must help children leave
their nightmares behind."
The findings of the 1997 UNICEF study
conducted among several hundred children in Kabul offer
a hint of what Afghan children are coping with today.
Nearly 100 per cent of the children witnessed acts of
violence during the fighting, while two-thirds saw dead
bodies or parts of bodies and nearly half saw multiple
people killed in rocket and artillery attacks.
More disturbing were the findings of what
impact these events and others had on the children:
- Ninety per cent said they worried about what would
happen to them in the future.
- Three-quarters reported feeling constant fear,
even when no immediate danger was present.
- Over half said they had difficulty experiencing
feelings of sadness or happiness of any kind.
- Three-quarters of the children believed they
would not live to adulthood.
- And 8 in 10 children reported that they sometimes
or often "feel so sad I can hardly cope with
life."
Prior to September 11, UNICEF sponsored
a number of emotional counselling programs in Afghanistan
to help children who continued to struggle with the
trauma of previous fighting. Re-establishing and expanding
such programs will be a UNICEF priority when Afghanistan
enters is rehabilitation phase.
"Our immediate priority is to
help Afghan children survive this winter,"
said Dr. Eric Laroche, UNICEF Representative for Afghanistan.
"But when the spring comes, they'll need a different
kind of help. We're going to try to be ready to give
it to them."
###
For further information, please contact:Alfred
Ironside, UNICEF Media, New York
e-mail aironside@unicef.org tel: (1-212) 326-7261 ***
Gordon Weiss, UNICEF Media, Islamabad (UNICEF Afghanistan)
tel: (92-300) 856-6235 *** Wivina
Belmonte, UNICEF Media, Geneva e-mail: wbelmonte@unicef.org
tel: (41-22) 909-5509
