Iraqi children face poverty, violence, exploitation
Iraq's children are the victims of widespread poverty, political dysfunction and sectarian violence.
“He asks about his mother and his father and says that he wants to go to school. He still has not learned that his parents are gone, which would inevitably cause him an unhealable open wound.” This is how a grandfather described the situation of his grandson who is in the hospital after having lost his immediate family except for his younger sister in one of the blasts that rocked Baghdad in October 2013.
After more than 10 years of continuous terrorism in Iraq, it is nearly impossible to count the number of children with a similar story. A search on YouTube reveals hundreds of videos of children who have lost their loved ones, screaming in pain and crying out in bitterness as a result of the misery they are living in a country where childhood is desecrated. Terrorist groups in Iraq have not excluded children, as numerous attacks have targeted places where children are likely to be present. This was the case in the attack that targeted an elementary school in one of the villages in northwestern Iraq on Oct. 6. This attack claimed the lives of more than a dozen children, while 44 were injured by the blast caused by two car bombs.
Child victims are not restricted to those killed in bombings or those who have lost their parents; there are other types of threats facing the children of Iraq. They are the primary target of criminal gangs that kidnap children to obtain a ransom from their parents. These children are often killed when their parents are unable to provide the required amounts or due to the kidnappers’ fear of being caught by the police. This is in addition to the increased cases of child rape in Iraq, where in most cases victims are killed after enduring brutal sexual violation. What is even more disturbing is that the child victims in some cases of rape and murder are around the age of five.
In addition to this, there are an increasing number of homeless children in Iraq. According to statistics, one out of every eight Iraqi children is displaced. They are usually exploited and sent to beg in the streets or to work under harsh conditions and sometimes even used as prostitutes. They are often exposed to physical or sexual abuse, and cases have been reported where they have been exploited to carry out terrorist acts. When children involved in terrorist acts are arrested, Iraqi law does not take into consideration their special situation. They are punished with sentences similar to those passed on adults, which often entail many years of imprisonment.
