Aljazeera.net
In the midst of war, Syrian children have been destined to suffer the woes of war, being exposed to psychological and physical torture for reasons related to the parties of military conflict. The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented at least 7457 children had been subjected to torture at the regime detention centers.
The specter of the five-year war loomed large over the country and casted its heavy shadow on civilians, mostly children who were badly affected, which in turn has caused long-term social and psychological problems in all aspects of their lives.
Thousands of displaced children both inside Syria and in the neighboring countries have witnessed and visualized the war, memories of murder and destruction have been imprinted in their minds. This war caused them psychological problems due to the scenes of constant shelling, the displacement from their homes, schools and the loss of their loved ones.
A report issued by UNICEF, in March confirmed that eighty-four million children, (which is up to 80 % of the children) have suffered from the conflict in Syria; both who stayed inside the country or became refugees in the neighboring countries. UNICEF also indicated that about 2 million Syrian children are in an urgent need for support at the psychological level.
Psychologists highlighted the main implications of war on the Syrian children by constant fear, acute emotional disorders, and severe depression.
Lost Memory
A state of amnesia has been observed by Al Jazeera net on a nine year old child, "Mohammad", from the suburbs of Aleppo, due to the shelling on their house and the dreadful scene of his mother's corpse a few months ago. All of aforementioned atrocities had led to the loss of his memory and causing him aphasia. A psychological-support therapist and advisor, "Makarem Alfathi", says: “the child Mohamad has lost his ability to read and write and even the simplest mental processes and the ability to recall the names of his family members. He is also having panic attacks accompanied with intense crying spells, insomnia and nightmares”.
Fathi adds that "efforts are being made to provide psychological support to Muhammad, but the odds of success for such a case are governed by the time factor and it is impossible to predict the outcome”. Alfathi concludes that Muhammed's situation is one of the thousands and perhaps tens of thousands of cases that suffer from the inability of learning and going to school due to shelling and the accompanying trauma."
Torture of children
The director of Syrian Human Rights, " Fadel Abdul Ghani" says: “Torture was systematically practiced against children inside detention centers, without any shred of decency from the regime, they even didn’t distinguish whether the tortured were children or of other age groups”.
He also added in his speech to Aljazerra net,” the main drivers for the government forces to detain children represented in taking revenge of their relatives, some of which for sectarian and regional reasons, which turned children into an instrument to put pressure on the armed opposition factions for exchanging detainees.
Regarding the forms of torture practiced against children, "Mr. Al Ghani" pointed out that "corporal punishment, plucking out of nails, hair shaving, and whipping their skin with plastic pipes and electric wires are all ways used by the regime to torture the detained children. Not to mention the deprivation of families, medical care and adequate food."
In turn, "Asima Murshed", another psychologist considered that “torturing children has catastrophic effects resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder (P.T.S.D), which is accompanied by situations of anxiety, fear, sleep disorders, and reduction in academic attainment and bedwetting, along with the prevalence of aggressive behavior on the child subjected to torture”.
