Building a protective environment for Iraq's children
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© UNICEF/HQ07-0743/Noorani
Salah Selme walks his five-year-old son to a UNICEF-supported early childhood development center at a camp for Iraqi refugees, near the Syrian village of Al Hol. Some 45 families live in the camp, which was first established to house refugees escaping the 1991 Gulf War. It reopened in 2005 amid escalating violence. Children attend school in the nearby village while their parents cultivate essential crops.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (July 6, 2008) — Few reliable statistics exist on abuse and exploitation of children in Iraq. Local monitoring networks are often inadequate and social work systems have been eroded by conflict. And yet Iraq's children are increasingly vulnerable.
The social upheavals brought on by three wars, internal strife and 13 years of economic sanctions have left many of Iraq's young people without the basic tools and opportunities to develop into well-adjusted adults. In many parts of the country, children have been stripped of their protective environment—a family's love and care, rule of law and access to essential services such as school.
Children live with the constant threat of violence and instability in their immediate communities. Far too many have seen violence first hand and lost parents or family members. Some estimates show that up to 70,000 women may have been widowed by violence since 2003, some of them mothers.
This climate of uncertainty is hurting children psychologically and socially, affecting their concentration at school, their ability to trust others and to develop effective conflict resolution skills. Parents and caregivers—who are themselves affected by stress and violence—are less able to deliver care for children in need of support. As a result, more children risk falling into dangerous and abusive situations, including work on the streets, conflict with the law and even recruitment into Iraq's militia groups.
Priority issues for children in Iraq
© UNICEF/HQ99-0632/Pirozzi
A woman health worker checks the blood pressure of Hamida Kadhum, 22, who is pregnant, sitting with her three-month-old son at Al-Zahra'a Primary Health Care Center in Baghdad. UNICEF supplies oral rehydration salts (ORS), drugs and equipment to the center. Despite the country's economic problems, large families are still common in Iraq. Hamida already has four children.
Iraq's children urgently need more care and protection, as well as greater commitment by adults to shield them from the worst impact of conflict.
- Death, displacement and orphanhood
Children continue to be killed and injured by violence in Iraq. Tens of thousands of children have lost a parent to violence, over 800,000 have been internally displaced and children in over 4,000 communities are at constant risk from landmines and unexploded ordnances. Children need better psychosocial care and social protections to keep them from exploitation and help them cope with the stress of their environment. - Children in conflict with the law
Iraq's rate of child detentions has risen since 2006. Children detained by Iraq's Multi-National Forces may be detained for up to one year without trial. Overcrowding and mistreatment has been reported by children in Iraqi detention centers. Reports of use of children by armed groups in the country have also risen during this period, although no confirmed numbers are available. - Lack of national social welfare capacity
In the last 20-25 years, there has been little development in the field of social work, including child protection, in Iraq. The exodus of many Iraqi professionals has further depleted the sector at a time when children need it most.
UNICEF in action
© UNICEF/HQ03-0486/Noorani
Three boys hold up slates with slogans and pictures in a class in the Medina Al-Mudon primary school in the Al-Hurria neighborhood in Baghdad. The text reads “Long live our country. Long live Iraq. Long live the people.” The slate and other materials being used by the children are from a UNICEF-supplied School-in-a-Box kit. The kits, each of which contains sufficient basic materials for 1 teacher and 80 students, are being distributed for use by up to 100,000 children throughout the country.
UNICEF is working to rebuild the protective environment for Iraq's most vulnerable children and women—both by helping Iraq's government to improve national capacity and legal protections, and by providing safe havens for those most at risk of abuse and exploitation. Working through local partners, UNICEF programs provide children with access to "child-friendly spaces", psychosocial support for children affected by conflict, family re-integration projects for children in institutions and extensive Mine Risk Education campaigns.
UNICEF also advocates for respect for international law on protection due children in conflict zones, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF programs support young people to make their voices heard and participate actively in important policy decisions about their lives and future.
UNICEF's achievements for Iraqi children include:
- Reuniting street children with their families
The UNICEF-supported "Family Reintegration" project established six childcare centers in Baghdad in close collaboration with the Government of Iraq and an NGO partner. Since 2005, these centers reunited over 300 children deprived of caregivers—including street children and orphans—with families and communities. - Advocacy for children in detention
UNICEF is working with Iraq's government to ensure detained children are treated in line with international standards and to support the safe reintegration of children back into their communities. - Recovery for survivors of gender-based violence
UNICEF's emergency program is working with victims of gender-based violence to provide special counseling and care, as well as safe spaces to recover and heal. - Protecting children from landmines
Alongside the National Mine Action Authority, UNICEF has supported a successful Mine Risk Education program in Iraq that has educated over 300,000 children, youth and community members about the risk of landmines, and safe behavior in relation to landmines. - Child drop-in centers
UNICEF has helped to support community centers for vulnerable young people through four Drop-In Centers benefiting an estimated 2,500 children. - Building social worker skills
UNICEF has helped to train some 500 social workers on child rights-based approaches since 2004.
© UNICEF/HQ03-0052/Noorani
A boy is vaccinated against polio, part of a door-to-door campaign against the disease, in the Al-Khamayal neighborhood in Saddam City, a section of Baghdad. There have been no new cases of polio in Iraq since 1999.
UNICEF has been on the ground in Iraq since 1983, working to bring children and women the essentials of a better life. Today, programs supported by UNICEF are reaching millions of children with a package of critical care—improving basic health services, promoting a quality education, rebuilding water and sanitation systems and protecting children from abuse, violence and exploitation.
Even in the most challenging conditions, Iraq's children can still count on UNICEF to deliver for them.
