Articles

Children in times of violence

Opinion | Articles | Felix Jajo | 02-Jun-2023

“If there is no more war, then I want to go to Imphal”, responded my seven year old son, when my wife asked him, if they should go back to Imphal. Due to the unprecedented violence that erupted in Manipur on 3^rd May, 2023, the Department of Education, Manipur has declared a summer vacation for all the schools in Manipur from 4^th – 31^st May 2023.

The kids are now enjoying their early & extended vacation. They were preparing for the first terminal exam, which was supposed to start on 8^th May 2023 and was looking forward to summer vacation after that.

To the same question above, my second son responded, “Mummy, did they destroyed all our house & belongings?”

These two sentences kept haunting me for some time now and made me think of the consequences of the conflicts and violence on the children. When the incident started on 3^rd May, my wife and two sons aged 7 & 5 yrs respectively, were all alone in the house in Imphal. Unfortunately, I am posted outside the State, and I could not be with them to comfort and secure them at this crucial time. My children witnessed the burning of houses, destroying of houses, banging of electric posts, shouting & screaming of mobs using loudspeakers etc. which happened hardly 500 metres away. For the next 4 days, they had witnessed enough of this and have registered deeply in their minds. On 7^th May, when the violence had calmed down a bit in the Imphal valley, my family managed to get out of valley to the village to breathe the fresh air and have fresh mind. Fortunately, since we don’t belong to either of the communities in conflicts at present, no untoward incidents happened to us. But the impact is felt by all, irrespective of the communities.

However, thousands of children are affected by the communal violence on both sides. It is so disheartening to see the children aged below 10yrs huddled together with their parents in the relief camps. Some of them, still in infants stages being nursed by their mothers. Growing up in these camps with no or limited basic facilities, away from the comfort of their homes is unimaginable for the children. They lost their freedom to run around and play as they wished, they lost their freedom to demand for food or snacks to their parents whenever they want to and above all, seeing their homes destroyed & being burnt down by the fiery mob and some who came running towards them to kill or hurt them. Oh! what a sight & experience it must have been for these children. Some of the children must have lost either or both parents or someone near and dear to them. For them, it is not just incidents of violence but a real war, which they had seen only on movies so far.

These children will grow up with scars of fears and traumatized by the incidents they have witnessed with their own eyes. The impacts on them can be multifold, ranging from feelings of revenge, hatred and despair to long-term psychological distress. They can experience physical as well as mental stress displaying symptoms like sleeplessness, nightmares, fear of loud sounds and gathering of mob etc. The sight of armies & police all around is going to affect them hard too as well. It is going to be difficult to convince the children that the armies & police are here to protect the people.

After two weeks of stay in the village, my family came back to Imphal, and my younger son said something very disturbing. He said, “Mummy, you told that there is no more war, but there are so many armies and police. We cannot go out of our house and we are not allowed to speak loudly”. (The curfew is imposed in Imphal as I write this piece.)

The pandemic had affected the schooling of the children for two years, and the trauma of Covid just barely over now, and the recent violence has and is going to affect the school going children once again. The Govt. of Manipur has declared summer vacation till 31^st May, but I am not expecting the schools to reopen sooner, due to the continuance of violence in and around the Imphal Valley and the outskirts. With many children from the communities directly affected by violence, still in relief camps, their books and belongings all destroyed or burnt, and above all, traumatized by the violence, it is not going to be an easy task, to bring them back to schools. Many will be forced to drop out of schools and we don’t know if they will ever come back to schools again. Teachers posted in different areas, other than their own communities, too have left the respective places of postings. There will be shortages of teachers due to forced absenteeism in many schools as well, not only in districts directly affected by violence but across the State.

Article 6 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) states that every child has inherent right to life, survival and development.

Article 32 (Child labour) states that the government should protect children from engaging in dangerous work and protect the right to education and right to play.

Article 39 (Rehabilitation of child victims) states, Children who have been neglected, abused or exploited should receive special help to physically and psychologically recover and reintegrate into society.

India has ratified the UNCRC since Dec 11, 1992 (UNCRC was adopted in 1989), and is bound to protect of rights of the children. However, many child rights experts are of the view that even today the ineffective implementation of the laws, schemes and policies still continues in our society. It is therefore necessary for the Govt., especially Manipur in this context to set up expert committees to look into the present situation and device methods and ways to provide physical & psychological support to the children and reintegrate them into the society, thereby facilitating them to reach their full potential. The Civil Society Organisations, NGOs and Child Rights activists will play a pivotal role and should be part of the Governments’ effort to bring about effective changes in the aftermath of the violence.

We hope and pray that peace and normalcy returns sooner, though life will never be the same again.

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(The Author is a Programme Manager with NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS), Views expressed are personal).

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