Wednesday, July 18, 2007
WHY do we keep forgetting that, horrific though the ever-increasing death count in war-torn regions such as Iraq, it is the undead that deserves our biggest concern?
Every few days, the media would tell us with admirable regularity that this many number of US troops have died in Iraq, or that many number of people have been killed on the streets following this or that bomb explosion, and we would seethe with anger at the injustices and the violations of human rights. Circulated pictures of bloodied faces and torn limbs would inflame our anger further, and we would join those denouncing the US-led invasion and continued occupation that have spawned and fueled incessant inter-Iraqi violence.
We have therefore been distracted from the fact that, sad though it was, the dead is no longer suffering at least not to our human knowledge. We pray for the dead, and ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be gentle towards them in the other world. It is those who are still alive and suffering, especially children, who should be the focus of our concern and work.
On Monday, AFP reported from Geneva that conditions for children in Iraq have deteriorated sharply in recent years as their humanitarian plight has fallen largely into neglect. Dan Toole, acting deputy executive director of the UN Children's Fund (Unicef), said after being asked for a comparison with the situation under Saddam Hussein's regime, "I have no doubt whatsoever that the condition today is much worse.
"Children who have had to flee Iraq — and millions have fled — are much worse off than a year ago and they certainly are much worse off than they were three years ago," he added. Toole said there were signs that the health and nutrition of Iraqi children were "changing for the worse", despite recently released two-year-old indicators that had shown signs of an improvement.
The agency's limited access within the country indicated that the number of female-headed households (something that is always associated with poverty) has increased "dramatically" because mostly men have been killed in the violence there, that the women are too frightened to send children to school, and that only two-thirds of Iraqis have access to clean water.
He noted how the world has trained its sight mostly on the political and security situation rather than "on the lives of Iraqis living day in, day out, with deprivation, with lack of food, with lack of medical supplies." Unicef says its aid programmes for children in Iraq have only received about one-third of the funding they need.
How many children are actually suffering from hunger, malnutrition as well as trauma in Iraq? When Unicef raised concerns last month following the discovery and broadcast images of children in a Baghdad orphanage suffering horrific neglect and abuse, the news practically passed us by because some of us thought "oh, one orphanage only." But do we need statistics to condemn the situation? Even one child who suffers because of food and care denied him or her, should sit heavily on our conscience.
Witholding food and health care is amongst the cruellest methods of subjugation, which has been applied by cold-blooded people for centuries. At this age of human rights, however, this should cease immediately, regardless whether it takes place in Iraq or Palestine or elsewhere.
In Palestine, for instance, some 1.5 million people are today facing food shortage due to the unjust embargo that was slapped on the Gaza Strip following Hamas's electoral victory last year, and intensified further after they took control of the strip last month. Hamas leaders have vowed they will not barter political stands for food and aid, stressing that human rights must not be subjected to political extortion.
It is the children of the Palestinians, however, who will eventually suffer the way the children of their brethren in Iraq do. Their growth will be stunted and their psyche scarred despite the fact that children are indeed the innocent in any armed conflict.
Every few days, the media would tell us with admirable regularity that this many number of US troops have died in Iraq, or that many number of people have been killed on the streets following this or that bomb explosion, and we would seethe with anger at the injustices and the violations of human rights. Circulated pictures of bloodied faces and torn limbs would inflame our anger further, and we would join those denouncing the US-led invasion and continued occupation that have spawned and fueled incessant inter-Iraqi violence.
We have therefore been distracted from the fact that, sad though it was, the dead is no longer suffering at least not to our human knowledge. We pray for the dead, and ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be gentle towards them in the other world. It is those who are still alive and suffering, especially children, who should be the focus of our concern and work.
On Monday, AFP reported from Geneva that conditions for children in Iraq have deteriorated sharply in recent years as their humanitarian plight has fallen largely into neglect. Dan Toole, acting deputy executive director of the UN Children's Fund (Unicef), said after being asked for a comparison with the situation under Saddam Hussein's regime, "I have no doubt whatsoever that the condition today is much worse.
"Children who have had to flee Iraq — and millions have fled — are much worse off than a year ago and they certainly are much worse off than they were three years ago," he added. Toole said there were signs that the health and nutrition of Iraqi children were "changing for the worse", despite recently released two-year-old indicators that had shown signs of an improvement.
The agency's limited access within the country indicated that the number of female-headed households (something that is always associated with poverty) has increased "dramatically" because mostly men have been killed in the violence there, that the women are too frightened to send children to school, and that only two-thirds of Iraqis have access to clean water.
He noted how the world has trained its sight mostly on the political and security situation rather than "on the lives of Iraqis living day in, day out, with deprivation, with lack of food, with lack of medical supplies." Unicef says its aid programmes for children in Iraq have only received about one-third of the funding they need.
How many children are actually suffering from hunger, malnutrition as well as trauma in Iraq? When Unicef raised concerns last month following the discovery and broadcast images of children in a Baghdad orphanage suffering horrific neglect and abuse, the news practically passed us by because some of us thought "oh, one orphanage only." But do we need statistics to condemn the situation? Even one child who suffers because of food and care denied him or her, should sit heavily on our conscience.
Witholding food and health care is amongst the cruellest methods of subjugation, which has been applied by cold-blooded people for centuries. At this age of human rights, however, this should cease immediately, regardless whether it takes place in Iraq or Palestine or elsewhere.
In Palestine, for instance, some 1.5 million people are today facing food shortage due to the unjust embargo that was slapped on the Gaza Strip following Hamas's electoral victory last year, and intensified further after they took control of the strip last month. Hamas leaders have vowed they will not barter political stands for food and aid, stressing that human rights must not be subjected to political extortion.
It is the children of the Palestinians, however, who will eventually suffer the way the children of their brethren in Iraq do. Their growth will be stunted and their psyche scarred despite the fact that children are indeed the innocent in any armed conflict.