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March 11, 2006
The impact of war on women and children
As an Iranian witness and civilian victim of the bloody war between Iran and Iraq in 80s and as a Peace advocator, during these days of Iranian nuclear spotlight and a possibility of another war in my region, I try to learn more about the impact of war on human health and environment.
It is easy to stay at home, turn on the news and listen and see the toll of death in Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan.. After a while according to the Psychological Defence Mechanisms in which operate on an unconscious level, our mind automatically delete these awful news. Repression is the primary ego defense that makes all other psychological defensiveness possible. It prevents anxiety-provoking thoughts from entering consciousness.
Repression helps us cope with everyday problems. It can act in response to conflict and pain of one's past.
However, repressed memories do not disappear. Repression can drain creative energy, create a stiffness of character and may lead to more serious psychological problems.
It is shameful that most of us forget the pain of people in the wars; women and children have been the primary victims of all of wars in the world.
Lucinda Marshall in a report Published on Sunday, December 18, 2004 by CommonDreams.org says:
It is one of the unspoken facts of militarism that women often become the spoils of war, their deaths are considered collateral damage and their bodies are frequently used as battlegrounds and as commodities that can be traded.
"Women and girls are not just killed, they are raped, sexually attacked, mutilated and humiliated. Custom, culture and religion have built an image of women as bearing the 'honour' of their communities. Disparaging a woman's sexuality and destroying her physical integrity have become a means by which to terrorize, demean and 'defeat' entire communities, as well as to punish, intimidate and humiliate women," according to Irene Khan of Amnesty International.
Sexual violence as a tool of war has left hundreds of thousands of women raped, brutalized, impregnated and infected with HIV/AIDS. And hundreds of thousands of women are trafficked annually for forced labor and sexual slavery. Much of this trafficking is to service western troops in brothels near military bases. Even women serving in the military are subjected to sexual violence. U.S. servicewomen have reported hundreds of assaults in military academies and while serving on active duty. The perpetrators of these assaults have rarely been prosecuted or punished.
The impact of war on children is also profound. In the last decade, two million of our children have been killed in wars and conflicts. 4.5 million children have been disabled and 12 million have been left homeless. Today there are 300,000 child soldiers, including many girls who are forced to 'service' the troops.
Posted by Syamak Moattari at March 11, 2006 10:58 AM
