Violence Leaves Terrible Legacy on Iraqi Children

Children in Iraq suffer psychologically from a fear of violence.

ByABC News
January 8, 2009, 12:11 AM

BAGHDAD, Dec. 21, 2007— -- Children have long been the cruellest victims of war, and the situation in Iraq is no different.

Acute malnutrition among young children here has nearly doubled since the U.S.-led invasion began in 2003, according to UNICEF and other aid agencies.

And while the statistical haze that enshrouds civilian casualties continues, no one is sure how many children have been killed or maimed since the war began.

But while the physical scars of the conflict are all too visible inside Iraq's morgues and hospitals, psychologists and foreign aid organizations, working inside the country, warn that the emotional turmoil experienced by young people here is going largely unmonitored and untreated.

A study published earlier this year by the Association of Iraqi Psychologists estimated that the violence has affected millions of children, raising serious concerns for future generations. The study urged the international community to help establish child psychology units and mental health programs.

"Children in Iraq are seriously suffering, psychologically, with all the insecurity, and with the fear of kidnapping and explosions," the report says. "In some cases, they're found to be suffering extreme stress."

The toll that the war has had on a generation of young children is often hard to quantify, mental health experts say. But examples of just how the violence is playing out are evident in many Baghdad neighborhoods.

A year ago, when sectarian violence in the capital was at its peak, 11-year-old Haider found his father's headless body near the family's home in Sadr City, a violent Shiite-populated area in northeastern Baghdad. He was murdered by Sunni insurgents who terrorized the neighborhood, says Haider's mother, Suham Kadhum.

The killing had a profound effect on Haider, with weeks going by after his father's death, before he'd mix with other neighborhood kids and go to school.

"I can't go to school," Haider told ABC News at the time. "I just can't."