Young casualties of war
170 000 ROHINGYA CHILDREN SUFFER FROM MENTAL TRAUMA Myanmar army, Buddhist mobs engaged in ethnic cleansing.
The disturbing drawings of homes engulfed in flames and stick men hanging from trees that are produced by Rohingya children in Bangladesh’s overcrowded refugee camps are slowly giving way to the flowers and sunny days that psychologists expect from healthy youngsters.
But the prospect of returning to Rakhine, where the Myanmar army and Buddhist mobs orchestrated a campaign of ethnic cleansing, could reverse the healing and damage children forever, say experts.
“My friends were slaughtered by the military and Buddhists when we were trying to escape. There were dead bodies everywhere,” said 12-year-old Sadiya in a trembling voice, wiping away tears with her headscarf.
“If we go back now, they will kill all of us. I don’t think we will ever go back. I don’t want to.”
Sadiya is one of the 690 000 Rohingya who have pressed into Bangladesh since last August. Two-thirds are children.
Thousands arrived alone, many carrying with them a handful of pitiful possessions and graphic stories of seeing their families murdered and their villages burned in an orgy of communal violence.
The United Nations estimates 170 000 children are suffering from some form of mental trauma, having witnessed rape and torture. For months, they have lived in the camps that have spread from the riverine border, where desperate conditions have steadily improved.
After months of global pressure on Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar reached an agreement on November 23 with Bangladesh to take back refugees.
The returns were supposed to start this week, but were suddenly shelved, with both sides blaming the other for a lack of preparation.
Aid agencies and experts say that is actually a good thing.
“We know the children that are already traumatised and need expert care will be even more traumatised if they are forced to go back,” Unicef deputy executive director Justin Forsyth said in the Balukhali refugee camp.
“Nightmares, wetting their beds, self-harming. These are things children begin to do in extreme situations. I mean children shaking with fear because they don’t know whether they’ll see the same type of violence happening again.”
The small army of psychologists working in the camps say repatriation could cause the Rohingya children long-term damage, just as they are coming to terms with the relative stability of their new lives.
A handful of child-safe zones have sprung up across the camps, offering a respite from the drudgery of survival, where youngsters can play, draw, sing, act and read in safety.
Little is known about what preparations the Myanmar authorities are making. – AFP