Children: The forgotten victims of the planet's savage wars

Santi W.E. Soekanto, Journalist, Jakarta

Tiwi is a three-year-old girl, however she is so undernourished that she weighs far less than most two-year-olds. She has not yet learned to speak and has not yet walked, much less run around like other toddlers. She also suffers from shortness of breath and when she cries her face turns blue due to lack of oxygen. Her mother is concerned about Tiwi's health but is also very confused.

"I have taken her to a shaman, I have taken her to a midwife for some treatment, but she remains like this," the mother of four said in front of her hut in a small fishing village called Labuan, in Poso subdistrict, Central Sulawesi. Directly across from the small cluster of huts is a school building that was severely damaged in the Christian-Muslim conflict of the recent past and now is unused.

The only teacher that used to work there was a Christian who fled the Muslim enclave out of fear, leaving some 100 school-age children behind who now have nothing better to do than play in the ocean.

Tiwi's older brother suffers from acute pains whenever he passes water. "I don't know what to do. His penis is swollen," his mother said. "No, I have never taken any of my children to the hospital. Do you think I should?"

A difficult question to answer because at the time of the interview late last year, the only health facility available was Poso Hospital in Poso town, 30 minutes away by car. That is if a car was available, because since the violence erupted in December 1998 a long trail of destruction was created, and the district has been almost deserted and not many public buses are seen around Poso. Besides, anyone from Labuan wishing to enter Poso would have to go through some enemy-controlled areas. Sniper attacks are not uncommon.

Security was not the only problem, physician Surya Wahyuman pointed out. He said there were only four doctors in Poso, all of them general practitioners, because all of the specialists that used to work there have gone. One of the four doctors was away on a study leave in Yogyakarta, and another was at a conference in Jakarta, leaving only two doctors to serve 20,000 residents and refugees in Poso town.

One doctor for 10,000 people. Luckily there were 10 paramedics to help treat thousands of refugees entitled to free medical service, as long as they could produce official letters testifying to their status as internally displaced people.

"We try to meet their needs for health care by providing free and mobile medical services to the refugee barracks in Poso town, Poso coastal areas, and Tojo sub-district," Surya said. The small team treats up to 160 people during every trip to the refugee camps.

"We find mostly cases of malaria -- what do you expect, when so many people have lost their houses and sleep outdoors. We also have plenty of cases of typhoid fever, respiratory tract infections and diarrhea."

Those illnesses are at least treatable, Surya said. Death, however, is final and thousands have died in this communal conflict in Poso which appears only as a speck on the country's map.

At least Tiwi was still alive despite her poor health.

Increasingly, however, we are getting used to a picture that shouldn't be here in the first place: That of child victims of armed conflicts in the country perpetrated by adults. Gone are the days of chivalry when parties involved in war guaranteed the safety of women and children.

Today, more and more children are becoming victims of armed conflict. They are maimed, tortured, raped, killed, or conscripted into becoming child soldiers.

During the United Nations Special Session on Children in May in New York, Jose from East Timor, Eliza from Bosnia Herzegovina, Wilmot from Liberia and Ismael from Sierra Leone stood before some 60 heads of state and delegates. The former child soldiers and victims of war testified to the horror and violence they have had to witness and endure.

Some 300,000 children in some 30 conflicts are fighting in armies and rebel movements, the UN estimates. The Special Session went on to issue pledges to protect children from HIV/AIDS, war, poverty and exploitation and to educate all children.

There should not be any more boys like Syarif, a seven-year- old who was captured by enemy forces during an attack on his village at the height of the Christian-Muslim conflict in North Maluku. He was kept for two years in the enemy village, and was returned only after tough negotiations. His foster mother said she had to pay Rp 500,000 for the release of the boy.

Just because the media no longer reports unrest does not mean that there are no more children suffering from war in North Maluku and elsewhere.