Dumped in a cramped cell where
corpses continued to be beaten and were left to decompose into maggots—this is
the reality that 15 year old Moussa has been forced to live through. He was
arrested by the police and imprisoned for 22 days; during that time, he
witnessed children dying. He also recalls being imprisoned with hundreds of
other children, some of them as young as nine or ten years old. Moussa was
beaten up every day, and was tortured with electric shock as well. He was
eventually thrown out of prison, and carried out on a blanket, unable to move.
Moussa was stopped by a passerby who looked at his ID and then took him to his
village. He managed to reunite with his family, who helped him go to the
hospital. He still has scars on his back, chest, and feet, and continues to
suffer back pain as well. Moussa is now at Za’atari refugee camp, located in
Jordan.
Moussa’s appalling story shows
just how senseless the political violence in Syria has become, and how there is
no longer any regard for human life, even for children. Stories like that of
Moussa are unfortunately all too common, which begs the question of why the
people who are committing these crimes against ordinary Syrians, particularly
against children, have not been held to account for their actions. Save the
Children, a U.K. charity that helps children in Third World countries, has
documented strong evidence of children being victimized by politically
motivated violence in a 50 page report released on Tuesday, September 25, 2012,
titled: “Untold Atrocities: The Stories of Syria’s Children.” It contains
several interviews with Syrian refugees who describe witnessing various types
of torture against children, and many cases of the interviewees experiencing systematic
abuse themselves. All of the interviews in the report took place at Za’atari
refugee camp, Jordan. The report can be found at the following link:
Nabil, a father, also notes how
the political crisis in Syria has left children deliberately exposed to
violence. He recalls that in Saydeh, a Syrian village, children have been used
as human shields. He remembers seeing children being strapped to tanks by their
torsos, feet, and hands on two tanks that broke into the village. Nobody was
able to stop the tanks or fight back because the children bound to the tanks
would have gotten killed. Nabil also describes how his own children have been
traumatized by the civil war—his 10 year old son Ala’a has started sleepwalking
and crying all the time without giving a reason why. Nabil’s other child has
started stuttering.
Nabil’s disturbing testimony
illustrates that the political violence in Syria has stooped to new lows with
the chilling and cowardly acts of abusing children for political interests. The
use of children as human shields is a particularly horrendous crime, showing that
nobody has been spared when it comes to the civil war in Syria. Nabil’s
experiences in witnessing his own children become psychologically damaged
because of the political crisis are alarming as well, and show that the
violence in Syria is not only harming children physically, but emotionally as
well. Given the current situation in Syria, the future outcomes of the emotional
healing process for Nabil’s children look uncertain—if they heal at all.
Mohamad, aged 24, makes similar
observations about children being tortured in Syria. He notes that in his own
town, almost 200 children had been killed in a massacre—and it received no
media coverage, generating no outrage. Mohamad had also been put in jail for
three months and 20 days. While he was in prison, he had been tortured with
electric shock. He had also witnessed children who were in the same jail as him
being tortured with electric shock by the guards. Children had electricity
applied on their genitals, backs, legs, and hands. The torture did not end there.
Mohamad remembers even more
disturbing accounts of children being abused in prison, describing how the
guards would also beat the children until they bled. Many children had died
from the beatings. The guards would also tie the children’s hands together so
tightly that the children would make pleas for their hands to be loosened. The
guards would bind the children’s hands even tighter, causing the veins in their
wrists to start bleeding. Many children had also died from this torture. The few
children who were released were still injured from the abuse they faced in
jail. The guards would also take children as young as 12 and leave them in
isolation rooms, where it was dark and they were abandoned by themselves.
Mohamad states that children have also been forced to become soldiers, as there
are no longer enough men who can fight. Some children are forced to guard the
borders with guns, while others are used as human shields for the armed men.
Mohamad’s observations raise
several unsettling questions. First, the mainstream media’s failure to cover a
massacre where almost 200 children were killed shows that it is complicit in
continuing the oppression of Syrians, particularly Syrian children, by turning
a blind eye to their suffering. The lack of media exposure of such a serious
crime has prevented awareness from being raised about the political situation
in Syria among the general public, hiding key information that would help
provide a better understanding of what is happening in Syria. The fact that the
lack of media coverage has led to no outrage is also sickening, creating a
disturbing situation where people cannot speak out against the human rights
abuses taking place in Syria because they are not being exposed to it through
the mainstream media in the first place.
Second, Mohamad’s experiences in
jail and his testimony of how he saw children abused while imprisoned also show
that the violence committed against Syrian children is widespread and
calculated. It reveals, once again, that Syrian children are not immune from
politically motivated violence, and that nobody is safe from abuse. The acts of
using children as human shields and soldiers also illustrate that children’s
rights in Syria have been treated with blatant disregard. The use of child soldiers
has not only destroyed a sense of well-being for the children who are
involved—it will continue to perpetuate the cycle of political violence in
Syria, creating further instability. These child soldiers will internalize the
tactics of repression, creating an entire generation of children who will become
desensitized into accepting violence as a way of life. As Syrian children
continue to be manipulated for political interests, it is clear that the
effects from being mistreated will last a long time, and a positive future
remains an unlikely outcome.
Wael, 16 years old, echoes Nabil’s
thoughts about the psychological toll that the political crisis in Syria has
taken on himself and others. He recalled being arrested and being put in a
small cell with hundreds of other prisoners, where there was no toilet, only a
hole in the floor. He remembers a six year old boy named Ala’a who was arrested
because his parents were considered a political threat. Ala’a’s father was
threatened with his child’s death unless he surrendered. Ala’a was starved for
three days and would faint constantly. He was beaten on a regular basis as
well. Wael recounts watching him die after only three days. He also remembers
children from his own village becoming mute because of observing constant
violence. He notes that the civil war has caused him to lose faith in humanity,
and his once optimistic personality has now dissolved. Wael is now suicidal
because of the Syrian conflict.
Wael’s heartbreaking observations
and experiences show how much psychological damage is being committed against
Syrian children from such senseless and cruel political violence. The fact that
his hopes for the future have been shattered by the Syrian civil war is quite
telling of just how sadistic the violence in Syria is. The fact that Wael is
now suicidal because of his experiences also shows that people are not only
having their sense of safety threatened on a regular basis—their will to live
is also being destroyed, as a direct result of the relentless violence. This
psychological damage will create severe complications for the future of Wael
and others affected like him, and the road to recovery will be long and
difficult—if it takes place at all. Wael’s account of seeing children go mute
as a direct result of being exposed to constant violence also confirm the
negative psychological impact that the Syrian political crisis is having on
civilians, particularly on children.
Save the Children is working
diligently to help Syria’s children. To learn more about the situation in Syria
on YouTube, please watch “Stop the Crimes Against Syria’s Children,” which can
be found at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsjL3PLHQi8.
To donate to Save the Children, please visit http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/syriagive.
To help Save the Children force the UN to take action on the Syrian political
crisis, please sign their petition at http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/syriaact.
To raise awareness on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #savesyriaschildren. The
world has remained silent on Syria’s political issues for far too long. Let’s
help Syrians rebuild their futures, and force politicians to step up and
finally do something about Syria.
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