6-03-08, 9:46 am

The danger which threatens Iraq's childhood, in its present and future, has become greater than ever before. The devastation inflicted on children by the wars and militarization of society by the dictatorship, was further aggravated by occupation. As a result of war and terrorism, in addition to the intensified struggle among the forces fighting over power and wealth, the suffering of children has been exacerbated on all levels.

International and Iraqi humanitarian organizations, as well as surveys, have confirmed the terrible scale of this tragedy, and that the conditions of children in Iraq are going from bad to worse. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Children Affairs in war zones has declared that 'the situation of children in Iraq is intolerable.' She also pointed to the drop in the proportion of children enrolled in school from 80% in 2005 to 53% at present. UNICEF has stressed that 83% of children join schools, but only 30% of them have actually attended. The number of those who have not attended school is close to one million because of deteriorating security conditions in most regions of Iraq, as well as the poverty experienced by more social strata. Poverty has forced families to make their children leave school and seek food in waste dumps, work as street vendors or turn into beggars. Children toiling to earn a living has become a commonplace scene in the streets of Iraq. Under these tragic conditions, children are subjected to murder, kidnapping and rape, in addition to being exploited in acts of terrorism.

As 100 Iraqi women are widowed every day, 400 children become orphans every day according to unofficial statistics. Other figures also indicate the existence of five million orphans in Iraq, who are left with no relatives to look after them. This situation has aggravated the difficulties of providing support for these children. In addition, malnutrition is widespread among Iraqi children. According to UNICEF, 'one child in five who are below 5-years-old suffer from illnesses caused by malnutrition ... Vaccination of children has been hampered due to the deteriorating security situation.'

Iraq today has the highest rate of children mortality in the world. According to a survey conducted by a professor in the College of Medicine /University of Diyala, there were 58.9 deaths of children per thousand births in 2005. The number of deaths of children under the age of 23 months was one child for every thousand births in 2005.

UNICEF has also warned of the danger of the scarcity of potable water that threaten to cause higher rates of children mortality due to diarrhoea and cholera. Children of families that were forcibly displaced, whose number is estimated at more than half a million, suffer difficulties of living in tents, or in exile, and are deprived of basic human rights.

In the midst of the despair that hangs over people's lives, and the magnitude of disaster suffered by the society and children in particular, thousands of them have turned into street children and become addicts of drugs that have become widely smuggled or cultivated since the occupation of our country.

The overall tragic situation of children in Iraq makes them among the most miserable children in the world. Despite this, they have not yet found their place on the agenda and priorities of the Iraqi government.

As we draw the attention of the Iraqi Parliament and the Government to this picture of the plight of Iraqi children, we demand that both shoulder their responsibility in protecting the children of Iraq and rescuing them from this bitter reality, in order to save our country's present and future. We call upon the Iraqi Parliament and the Government to:

* Carry out their commitments under international agreements and covenants relating to the protection of children and their rights, and to develop effective monitoring mechanisms to ensure this in collaboration with civil society organizations. * Activate the law of compulsory education, ensure that children are enrolled in school, and overcome any obstacles through developing a support system for the children of poor families and those with limited income. * Prevent child labour and exploitation. * Provide free school meals for children in Iraq. * Provide protection for schools and prevent using them as sanctuary by terrorist groups and militias, or as target for their operations. * Improve and develop educational curricula to lay the foundations of respect for human rights, rejecting violence and discrimination between citizens, and respecting others' opinions. * Improve and renovate school buildings, and build new schools to accommodate students, * Care for the health of children and health aspects of the Iraqi family, and to assist humanitarian organizations to carry out their work in this respect. * Provide the prerequisites of decent living for the displaced people and their speedy return to their homes, and the return of their children to school. * Provide safe and humane refuge for orphans and children with special needs. * Prosecute and punish criminals who exploit children for inhumane purposes.



1June2008

Iraqi Women's League / Coordination Committee abroad