Iraqi children's rights: building a system under fire

Abstract

War violates every human right of children. In recent years, the lives of Iraqi children and the livelihoods of their families have become precarious. Conflict has split the communities where they live and taken the lives of hundreds of their friends and family members. The literature focuses on the negative effects of armed conflict on Iraqi children, and the steps that need to be taken to ameliorate their condition by adapting evidence based but culturally sensitive measures. A comprehensive solution to child protection problems clearly will take time. The primary need for the protection of Iraqi children is an end to conflict. Family and educational order and social stability are central to efforts to achieve progress in child protection. Solutions to armed conflict and its aftermath work best when they are responsive to local cultural practices and beliefs, and are drawn from an understanding of child development. Child safety, security and well-being should be in the forefront of the national agenda to ensure a more positive future both economically and socially to achieve a healthier Iraq.

Keywords:

• child
• culture
• Iraq
• protection
• war

Introduction

Armed conflict resulting in massive levels of destruction places a population at risk of physical, human, moral and cultural damage1. Children, the most vulnerable group, may not only be killed and injured in large numbers but countless others are likely to grow up materially and emotionally deprived. They are moreover harmed by the destruction of the social structures that give meaning to psychological and cultural life such as their communities and families. They are exposed to multiple forms of abuse, including being recruited or used by armed forces or groups, trafficked, placed in conflict with the law, made to engage in dangerous labour, left to live or work on the streets and subjected to under-nourishment and under-stimulation academically2.

War violates every human right of the children, including their right to live, to be with their families and communities, to be healthy, to develop their personalities and to be nurtured and protected3. The disruption of social networks and primary relationships that support the normal development of children's physical, emotional, moral, cognitive and social development for the duration of lengthy conflicts can have profoundly negative consequences on children. The entire fabric of their personal world – their homes, schools, health systems and religious institutions – may be placed in extreme crisis and jeopardy by war and armed conflict4.

Recognition of the rights of children necessitates comprehensive attention to a host of factors affecting their well-being and survival across the domains of health including mental health, education, economic resources and protection from all forms of exploitation, including economic and sexual forms, abuse and neglect and separation from their parents against their will5,6.

Iraq has played a long and unique role in the history and development of human civilization including being a key site for the establishment of the first cities where humans invented writing, theoretical and applied science, and where irrigated agriculture first developed7. Iraq has taken on an iconic meaning both in human development and human destruction. It is the location of the wonder of the ancient world, Babylon, the site of the first universities and precursor of the European Renaissance, but is now a crucible in the ‘War on Terror’ and the ‘Clash of Civilizations’8. Truly Iraq is a place of severe, heart-searching trial for its inhabitants, especially the children. In the last 30 years, Iraq has moved from an aspiring middle ranking economy with one of the best health services in the region9 to a damaged and all but failed state, where the majority of people do not have access to basic needs like sanitation, clean water and a safe food distribution system. Half of the population faces absolute poverty and more than 50% are without work10. It is also currently confronting dangerous militias and military insurgency that has led to a breakdown of law and order which is having a significant impact on the health of the Iraqi people11. The number of refugees and displaced persons is now massive by any modern standards12. An estimated four million Iraqis, half of them children, are internally displaced or have crossed to neighbouring countries. This has placed immense strain on already stretched humanitarian resources, hampering access to and delivery of essential services13,14. The prevailing security situation makes obtaining information on violations against children increasingly difficult. Most of the available information is extracted from a wide range of different sources but can rarely be sufficiently verified15,16.

The number of children killed due to current violence is unknown but it is estimated that some hundred thousand have been killed or injured17. Trauma, vicarious trauma and deprivation dominate the daily reality of some l5 million Iraqi children who compose half of Iraq's population18. The conflict is having a particularly profound impact on their physical and psychosocial well-being. They are disproportionately affected by the lack of security, uncertain protection and a lack of basic services. Malnutrition, dropping out of school and suffering religious and political persecution, detention and torture are the documented results of such continuing traumas16,19–24 .

The statistics on human development for Iraqi children in recent years before the current wars were amongst the best in the Middle East, with progressive legislation pertaining to children's education and rights to healthcare and social assistance25. A Child Welfare Commission, composed of governmental and NGO representatives, was established in 1982. The Commission was responsible for creating child protection policies, coordinating and monitoring activities and adopting legal resolutions. Child-care facilities, including juvenile welfare institutions, orphanages and centres for the care of mothers, children and disabled persons, were to be supervised and funded by the state26.

Iraq's basic services infrastructure has faltered and child protective mechanisms have deteriorated over a decade of sanctions, isolation from the international community, three wars and ongoing violence. The situation is also devastated by poor community awareness and the flight of Iraqi professionals and aid agencies to neighbouring countries27.

Co-ordinated and effective interventions are critical for relief efforts to be successful in addressing the health needs of children in situations of armed conflict, population displacement, and/or food insecurity. Much of the literature details the burden of disease and the causes of morbidity and mortality; few intervention studies have been published. The most frequently used guidelines are designed for use in stable situations, and are often not adapted to the different types of healthcare workers who provide basic care in complex emergencies28.

Objectives

Whatever the causes of modern-day brutality towards Iraqi children, the time has come to call a halt. The present study exposes the extent of the problem and proposes many practical ways to pull back from the brink. Key features of positive intervention include the identification of the needs of children and improvement of the guidelines for their care, and adoption of locally and culturally sensitive measures for the care of Iraqi children. There should also be parallel efforts for long-term legislation concerning children's rights in Iraq. The principle objective of the study is to provide critical information for policy-makers and programme managers working to improve the health and development of Iraqi children about the nature and location of possible interventions to protect children from the ongoing violence, and the actions necessary at both state and community levels now and in the future.

Method

The literature review focused on child protection strategies in situations of armed conflicts and similar complex emergencies. Our summary is not intended to be an exhaustive review of this large body of literature. Priority was given to an overview of Iraqi laws and policies regarding children, and of welfare and child protection policies in some other similar situations.

General guidelines

Even given the realities of the available human, material and legislative resources, and while the conflicts and violence continue, some measures could be put into practice as small early steps to protect children. A comprehensive solution to child protection problems clearly will take time and will require long-term efforts29. The primary need in Iraqi child protection is an end to the conflict. Family and educational order and social stability are central to efforts to achieve progress in child protection21. Children's needs are universal: nutritious food, adequate healthcare, a decent education, shelter and a secure and loving family. Solutions to armed conflict and its aftermath work best when they are based on local cultural practices and beliefs, and are drawn from an understanding of child development4. For example, child protection priorities in Iraq may be based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs rather than a rights-based approach. Maslow's concept is that ‘higher needs in the hierarchy only come into focus once all the needs that are lower down in the pyramid are mainly or entirely satisfied’25.

Intervention efforts to increase child protection in Iraq should stress the reinforcement of available preventive measures and the relevance and adequacy of existing standards. Moreover, implementing updated and evidence-based practices to improve the protection programmes for Iraqi children are feasible. Priority concerns requiring attention may include the following:

	The promotion of physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of children;
	The promotion of high quality and free access education for all Iraqi children;
	Action to stop physical abuse, gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and torture in families and communities;
	The protection and care of children at particular risk, for example, children with learning disabilities, special needs and orphans, child labourers, children in conflict with the law. Protection of children with high intellectual ability and children with special talents should also be considered;
	Action is needed to prevent the recruitment of Iraqi children into insurgent and militia groups or any armed group;
	The protection and care of refugee and internally displaced children;
	The establishment and enforcement of adequate legislation based on international human rights, humanitarian law and specifically on the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the child;
	Strengthening operational monitoring mechanisms at the community level by addressing harmful attitudes, customs and practice;
	Encouraging open discussion of child protection issues that include media and civil society partners, religious organizations, and international child protection organizations;
	Development of an integrated operational framework designed to reach a greater number of affected Iraqi children throughout the country.

The guidelines should focus on the positive roles that government officials, military authorities and legal experts have the responsibility to play to ameliorate and change the conditions that Iraqi children face. The people who are harmed by armed conflict, men, women and children, are key stakeholders in finding solutions to improve the conditions and future of Iraqi children and their voices should be heard in the planning and implementation of intervention programmes. Health, mental health, social and educational professionals at both governmental and non-governmental levels have a leadership role in implementing, coordinating, monitoring and improving these guidelines.

Feasible protective interventions at the present time

Gathering data

In this phase, the priority should be to protect children from violence and exploitation. Monitoring and reporting should be introduced to bring attention to the plight of children in Iraq and to urge an end to the conflict30. Accurate data concerning the count of children who have lost their lives in Iraq is needed. Awareness of child mortality figures in Iraq should be communicated to the international community and may mobilize efforts towards the non-violent resolution of the armed conflict. Publicizing the killing of children by insurgents and attacks on schools and hospitals may embarrass religious elements in Iraq and urge them, at least, to alter their tactics. Support effort to gather data on the number of orphans and the extent of disabilities in Iraq is also needed to publicize the harm caused to children in the war25,31. More research should be encouraged and funded by national and international agencies to gather data on the situation of children in Iraq from a variety of child protection perspectives. Internally displaced children in reasonably safe places and Iraqi refugee children in neighbouring countries are possible arenas for community-based studies. Schools, child institutes and child healthcare clinics should have accurate reporting systems to feed their information into a national data bank system.

Promotion of physical and psychological health of Iraqi children

War and insecurity have a major impact on both physical and mental health32,33. In particular, they may influence the emotional and cognitive development of children34,35.

All actions should be undertaken to decrease rates of infant and child mortality; necessary medical assistance and healthcare, physically and mentally, should be provided to all children to combat disease (for example, immunization) and eliminate malnutrition. Appropriate pre-natal and post-natal healthcare for mothers should be provided (CRC, Article 23 and 24)6.

Healthcare services for children in Iraq are reportedly generally free of charge36, but quality, access and mobilization of those services are questionable. Health facilities, including the mental health services, are under great strain37,38 and require re-resourcing and in many cases, rebuilding.

Creating flexible plans and providing immediate relief based on local knowledge and understanding of previous policies, with simultaneous planning for longer-term needs and capacity-building are key programme elements39. Building new health services for children in Iraq is possible especially in areas with reasonable security but mobilization of good quality services in areas of need such as camps for internally displaced people (IDP) and remoter rural areas, is essential.

Encouraging medical, other health and allied discipline professionals, and medical students to take part in efforts to promote Iraqi child health is essential. The State could step in to improve salaries and work conditions and offer other incentives. Raising standards of care may be achieved through appropriate regulatory systems, basic education and continuing professional development for doctors, health workers, psychologists, social workers, teachers and legal specialities, and co-operation with professional independent organizations to complement any area of deficiency.

Education

Education for children must be a priority in all reconstruction40. Interventions to restore Iraqis' learning environments to help children continue their education despite the ongoing violence and insecurity are essential.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) addresses the right of the child to education based on a principle of equal opportunity and asserts that education should be directed to the ‘development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential’ and the ‘preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin’ (CRC, 1989, Articles 28 and 29)6.

Education can help in recovery and reintegration of children which affects the success of the whole of society in returning to a more peaceful path3. Education is free for children at state schools in Iraq. However Iraq's education system is suffering because of acute insecurity. Learning impediments are largely attributable to the current climate of fear. Schools are regularly closed as teachers and pupils are too fearful to attend. High drop out rates and flight of school teachers are well recognized negative impacts of the violence in Iraq18,41–43 .

Actions to facilitate the reconstruction and development of educational opportunities for Iraqi children include:

	Rebuilding the existing educational institutes, and providing them with all necessary educational materials;
	Planning and establishing schools in areas of need and in reasonably safe locations;
	Prohibiting the use of schools and other educational institutes for the promotion of ethnic or political conflict;
	Doing everything possible to protect schools and other educational institutes from being targeted by military, or any other armed groups;
	Mobilizing and facilitating the learning needs of the children who are internally displaced in camps, with a minimum of bureaucracy;
	Making the ages and interests of children the priority for promoting school attendance, not the issuing of certificates;
	Improving the capability of educational professionals by intensive training courses to cover issues such as learning techniques, the prohibition of corporal punishment, awareness of children's rights, early detection of health and mental health difficulties and joint work with families to improve the child's learning potential;
	School teachers need to be aware of their own attitudes and not be involved in or encourage children to hate others as part of the general ethnic and political conflict. This can create a malignant social climate and needs to be neutralized through clear understanding of the issues by both teachers and families.

High risk groups and vulnerable children

An additional price is being paid during the armed conflict in Iraq by children with disabilities and those who are orphans. Other problems include an increase in the economic exploitation of children as a result of the war in terms of child labour, children living unsupported on the streets, children begging and children in conflict with the law44,45. Iraq is a source for women and girls to be trafficked internally and to other countries for sexual exploitation. There is evidence of an increase in the number of commercial sex workers46. A major priority is to ensure that these most vulnerable children receive treatment in line with international human rights law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989, Articles 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36)6.

Actions to facilitate the protection of high risk groups and vulnerable children include:

	Reinforce community-based rapid response mechanisms for the prevention of and response to sexual violence and identify and provide an appropriate response including medical and psychosocial support for the social reintegration of women and children subjected to sexual violence;
	Reunite street children with families (where possible) and ensure their enrolment in schools through support of state agencies (for example, ministries of social affairs and labour, human rights and education) in partnership with the available national and international non-governmental organizations. Supplement in kind payments to widows, orphans and their families who are an essential responsibility of the government;
	Organize a multi-stakeholder consultation to set out prevention and support strategies for Iraq's detained children and children at risk of detention, to ensure juvenile justice is in line with international standards;
	Support and aid building, rebuilding and developing education centres for children with disabilities, daycare centres and psychosocial support of traumatized children, including orphanages. Seek to extend fostering and adoption services for family placements;
	Conduct Mine Risk Education (MRE) activities for people in mined areas across Iraq, via schools and other community structures. Design and disseminate MRE materials (T-shirts, leaflets, posters etc.) and provide direct MRE sessions to affected communities through joint work from both state and professional international NGOs;
	Set up a child helpline (supporting families, providing education and awareness, guiding street and homeless children, highlighting child labour);
	Protection and special care for gifted and talented children by providing enrichment opportunities for learning.

Refugees and internally displaced children

Armed conflict has always caused population movements47. Wherever it occurs, displacement has a profound physical, emotional and developmental impact on children and increases their vulnerability. An estimated two million Iraqi children have been displaced or fled outside the country since 2006. The vast majority are unable to return home27,48. By the end of 2007, approximately 75,000 children and their families were living in temporary shelters. Iraqi refugees in neighbouring countries are experiencing very few or no legal rights and extreme economic hardship13. An essential goal of relief programmes must be to provide assistance to families to prevent separations, or to identify a child as an unaccompanied minor and to ensure their survival and protection in accordance with the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, l989, Article 22)6.

	Families should be documented, traced, and, whenever possible, reunited;
	Procedures must be set up to prevent further separation and to provide each unaccompanied child with continuous alternative care. Alternative care is most appropriately found with the extended family, but when this is not possible, it can come from neighbours, friends or other substitute (foster) families.
	During any necessary evacuation, whole families should move together, and if this is not possible, children should at least move with their primary care-givers and siblings. Great care should also be taken to ensure that any evacuation is properly documented, and that arrangements are made for the effective reception and care for children and for maintaining contact with other family members, as well as for early reunification;
	Camps for refugees or the internally displaced should be places of safety, offering protection and assistance. However, often, there is a picture of former social divisions and power struggles, high levels of violence, alcohol and substance abuse, overcrowding, family quarrels and sexual assault, in addition to high morbidity and mortality rates due to infectious diseases and malnutrition4;
	Even when internally displaced families are housed with relatives or friends, they may not be secure, due to the limited resources to be shared. There are often problems in accessing health and education services. Even if schools exist, the children may not be able to enrol because they lack proper documentation or cannot afford the fees demanded by state or school managers. These problems should be addressed;
	The statelessness of refugee children is a barrier to service access as they may have difficulty in proving their identity and nationality. These issues of asylum and the right to identity and nationality should be addressed;
	In accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and UNHCR guidelines, children should be fully involved in decisions about their future. Long-term solutions for refugees involve voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement into new national communities. Whichever is chosen, procedures should be expeditious and carried out in the best interests of the child (CRC, l989, Article 22)6;
	The available Iraqi professionals who had fled the country should be integrated into established medical, psychosocial and educational centres;
	Education should be provided for IDP and refugees based on age and the child's best interests and not on documentary certification;
	Education and health services for children in neighboring countries and areas of needs should be funded by the Iraqi government. It is important that educational institutes in Iraq recognize the schooling children have undertaken in the country of asylum;
	Psychosocial support should be made available to IDP and refugee children and families. Partnership between the Iraqi state agencies, host countries, local and international organizations may assist with efforts to enrol children in school and in accessing healthcare and by providing psychosocial and financial support to families so they can afford school bills and healthcare when needed. Much of this support is necessary so that resentment by local populations against migrant Iraqis does not increase their psychological trauma.

Child recruitment into armed groups

One of the most alarming trends in armed conflict is the participation of children in military and paramilitary operations49. Reports indicate that insurgent groups and militias are increasingly involving minors in Iraq, including orphans and children of insurgents, in armed operations including the use of children in car bombing16,19,22. Children who were recruited have been deprived of many of the normal opportunities for physical, emotional and intellectual development50. Reintegration programmes must re-establish contact with the family and the community. For some children, a transitional period of collective care may be necessary. Effective social reintegration depends upon support from families and communities. There is a need to help them find alternative non-violent causes and ideas to which they may aspire.

Action steps to address the needs of children who are at risk for recruitment into armed groups include:

	Explore ways to advocate and facilitate the release and reintegration of children who remain associated with armed groups or detained by military forces;
	Future recruitment of children can be minimized if local communities are aware of national and international laws governing the age of recruitment and if they are sufficiently organized and determined. Armed opposition groups are less amenable to external or formal pressure than government-sponsored armies. Even with such groups, however, government and international organizations can exert influence, aimed at eradicating the use of children under the age of 18 years in the armed forces;
	There is a need to promote healthier role models for disaffected youth such as athletes, footballers, film and TV personalities and historical figures;
	The media should be encouraged to expose the use of children in military activities and the need for demobilization, and adherence to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
	There is an urgent need for the international community to support programmes, including advocacy and social service programmes. Such measures must address the family's economic security and include educational, life-skills and vocational opportunities;
	Insurgents have not shown respect for the Geneva Conventions in their strategy in Iraq and have targeted hospitals and schools as well as using children as shields51. Documentation of children being harmed doing the work for armed groups should be widely publicized, in the hope that insurgents might be made sensitive to the plight of children.

Enjoyment and children's play

In Iraq it has become a normal childhood experience that adults are planting bombs out in the street to kill people while children are playing in the next room. It is a fundamental right of the child to have rest and leisure, and to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the child's age. Healthy development is based upon the free participation in cultural life and the arts. Appropriate and equal opportunities to participate in cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity are recognized as a child's right by the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 3l)6.

Actions to facilitate the rights of Iraqi children to enjoyment and children's play include:

	Regulations should be implemented by the Iraqi government to ensure children's free access to public transport and entertainment facilities;
	Efforts should be made for the organization of locally appropriate opportunities for active play, stimulation and socialization. These may help to mitigate the negative psychosocial impact of crisis situations;
	Activities should be tailored to the children's age, gender and culture. Known games, songs and dances and home-made toys should be used since these are most practical in an emergency;
	Activities should be facilitated for young children that promote social community-building and non-violence in violence-affected communities;
	Children with special needs should be included in care activities, games and social support at the community level.

Functions performed by the mass media

The plight of children in Iraq should be widely published to ensure more awareness and to guide solutions in both the short- and long-term. Action steps that may facilitate the role of the media in improving the conditions of Iraqi children include:

	Information about child protection legislative issues should be made available for families, schools, professionals and politicians;
	The role of religious communities in protecting children in situations of armed conflict should be addressed;
	The media should ensure that the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health through dissemination, production of information, material and children's books of social and cultural benefit to the child at levels appropriate to their age, for example, using comics and cartoons, child-oriented TV and video games.

Child protection in the long-term

In times of stability and security, the main goal is ensuring a protective environment by providing essential services for recovery and reintegration, and building the capacity of families and communities52.

The task of reconstructing war-torn societies is a huge one that must take place not only at the physical, economic, cultural and political, but also at the psychosocial level. Reconstruction must relate to the child, the family, the community and the country. Programmes designed during reconstruction can lay the foundations for child protection and strengthen social infrastructures, particularly in relation to health and education.

The consequences of violence and conflict in Iraq may need long-term work. The long-term objectives may be based on the actions during the acute phase. However, planning is likely to be more stable if supported by law to reunite families, to serve the needs of IDPs and refugees, to meet the needs of traumatized individuals, and to provide services for vulnerable children and their families.

The laws in Iraq affecting children continue to be valid since their adoption in the 1980s26 but are difficult to navigate and are not in complete harmony with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and international standards. Creating a separate Child Protection Act might fill in the gaps. Making adjustments to other legislation relating to children according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in keeping with experiences from other Arab countries are vital steps.

The universal principles affirmed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child should guide the efforts of all countries that have signed the Convention. The aftermath of the war should focus on passing legislation that pertains to child rehabilitation and reintegration, such as the right to treatment for injuries and services for the disabled. Mental health provisions should also be prioritized given children's loss of family members and exposure to traumatic events. Children who have been recruited by the militias and insurgents should have special rehabilitation programmes.

An Iraqi Child Protection Act should ensure that children are brought up in a protective and healthy environment focused on the best interests of the child. Bodies designed to implement the Act should utilize the services of a wide range of state and community agencies. Child professionals in health, education and law enforcement should have special reporting requirements regarding the neglect, abuse and exploitation of children.

Efforts to prevent violence, abuse and exploitation of children should be included in an Iraqi Children's Act. Investigation of complaints of abuse and exploitation of children should be carried out by trained social workers acting in cooperation with police officers.

Interventions should include economic and counselling assistance and placement in alternative care. The recovery of children who have been injured, traumatized, separated from their families and displaced by the war is of paramount importance. Children's needs for mental health services, assisted education, and services for persons with disabilities should be provided for in a Child Protection Act. Other issues including provisions for children of divorced parents should be undertaken, including the child's right to maintain contact with both parents, by specialized mediation services.

Corporal punishment and sexual harassment should be prohibited. Measures should be taken to prevent sexual exploitation of children. Victims should not be criminalized.

To develop human capacity, doctors and other healthcare providers are being trained on how to rehabilitate children suffering from trauma. Massive training should be provided to teachers, and community members about strategies for dealing with children in difficulties. Training should be provided for Iraqi health and education professionals abroad about domestic violence, special education and child protection and child protection programmes from other countries. Initiation training and experienced exchange opportunities should be planned.

More child and family services should be developed based on updated intervention measures. Community-based services through primary care should unite child institutes and orphanages, and centres for children with disabilities and special needs should be expanded. Help line services should be available and easily accessed by children and families.

Limitations

The challenge is to turn good intentions into real change for children. The main limitation is the lack of resources including data to inform action. The situation of children in Iraq is not adequately monitored due to the security situation there. Conducting field research is a matter of great risk. Other obstacles include funding difficulties and the low priority given to these issues in the political visions of both the state and communities.

Conclusions

Iraqi children's lives and their families' livelihoods are precarious. Conflict has split the children's communities and taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of their friends and family members. Economic hardship and the flight of millions from their homes dominate the picture in Iraq. Efforts to protect the children of Iraq are constrained by violence, insecurity and the absence of social services and professionals. Few hard statistics are available on the prevalence of abuse against children. It is very difficult to collect and report scientific research findings.

Nevertheless, careful steps forward to protect Iraqi children are urgently needed, and must be focused on ensuring the basic needs of security, food, healthcare, education and psychosocial integration and support. Child safety, security and well-being should be in the forefront of the national agenda, to ensure a more positive future, economically and socially, for a healthier Iraq.

The plight of children in Iraq must urgently be brought to the foreground of public consciousness by increased monitoring and reporting of the circumstances facing Iraqi children. This will further document the current devastating implications of the war for Iraq's future.

Saving the future of Iraq by protecting its children is the responsibility of occupying forces, insurgents, politicians of all parties, the Iraqi government and the international community. By increasing accountability and attention to the harm done to children in Iraq, chaotic circumstances may slowly be replaced by a more protective environment. That should be in harmony with international humanitarian laws and children's human rights. The future of Iraq depends on the health of its children.

Notes on contributors

Abdul Kareem AlObaidi is Chairman of the Iraqi Association for Child Mental Health, Behman Hospital, Cairo, Egypt.

Linda R. Jeffrey is Professor of Psychology at Rowan University, New Jersey, USA.

Leslie Scarth is a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist (retired), Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

Ghazwan Albadawi is a consultant paediatrician and Lecturer at AlMustansyria Medical Faculty, Baghdad, Iraq.

Acknowledgements

Dr. AlObaidi would like to acknowledge the support of the International Institute for Education Scholar Rescue Fund/Iraqi project, USA.