Psychological Effects of War on Orphans: Why must World Day of War Orphans be held?
War, in itself, has always been considered a “necessary evil” in order to protect national sentiments. However, in the World War 2, the civilian casualties, added with the deliberate genocide of an ethnic group by a political party that came to power to form an authoritarian government enforced by the apathy of fellow citizens that sold out their neighbours – crumbled an entire nation in the eyes of the world, and exposed the brutality of radical eugenics mixed with fanatical patriotism.
In this tug-of-war between basic humanity and apathy for life, those that were hurt the most, were children. These children either lost their parents to war, were abandoned while relocating from war-torn areas, or were produced by illegal liaisons of their mothers with soldiers – be they forced or consensual encounters.
War has never given anyone peace – it always takes. Thus, it has taken the childhood of these War Orphans, who have no identity, no sense of belonging anywhere. Sometimes they are so young that they have no name.
Even after the World Wars ended, nations that are still ravaged by AIDS epidemics and military invasions produce a large number of orphans, who are considered “valuable” by governments, in order to indoctrinate these children with nationalism and appropriate religious sentiments – giving them an identity that makes these children no less than patriotic pawns, child-soldiers who are made to fight tooth-and-nail and continue living a life of depravity, never knowing who they are nor being allowed to live a dignified life. These tactics were criticised by Children’s Rights Activists, psychologists etc. who worried about the moral and psychological repercussions this would place upon the children as they grew up.
The World Day of War Orphans was initiated by SOS Enfants en Detresses that is held on 6th January, each year. This organisation focuses on providing basic education, medical help as well as food and water resources for orphans of underprivileged countries in Africa.
While we know that World War 2 left over 500,000 orphans in Europe – with many probably unaccounted for. In today’s world, in Afghanistan there are over 2 million orphans living on the streets – and this is after 30 years of war.
The psychological trauma they go through is something that no child should ever have the burden of bearing. These children suffer from PTSD, nervous breakdowns, sexual, emotional and physical trauma, coupled with a loss of a sense of identity. There is also the added stigma added to refugees that are taken into foreign countries from countries ravaged by war. Since all of these children cannot grow up to gain citizenship, they end up in a life of prostitution or military service, where they run the risk of losing their lives to STDs or war, again.
The World Day of War Orphans is necessary, as it puts the plight of these children on the forefront of all issues, even if it’s just for one day and forces the International Community to look at their lives and to come up with solutions in order to aid them in living normal lives.
Apart from fighting for these childrens’ futures and ensuring they live healthy, long lives – we must fight against the societal normalisation of both poverty and war as a “necessary evil”, for it is the very real lives of the innocent citizens and communities that are lost as “collateral damage” over a blind usage of political power that leaves not just the soldiers with lasting psychological and physical damage, but the very people they claim to fight for, to protect.
References:
http://www.earthtimes.org/health/world-day-war-orphans/2259/
http://www.earthtimes.org/health/world-day-war-orphans/2259/