By Agus Miswanto
A. INTRODUCTION
Global politic significantly determines situation and condition in the world today. Cases occurring in certain areas of the world are not only caused by the single factor from local actors, but also dominantly influenced by global interest. Many wars and arm conflicts in the world, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, relate bindingly to the US policies. It means that policies such as economy or politics are released by the super power country, like the US will affect others globally.
Global politics played by the US vis-a-vis the children’s rights is very interesting discourse. Since declining of human right condition of children, especially in Iraq, is directly relating to and depending on the global politics of the US (IRIN Report, 2004). Therefore this paper will find out the effect of the US occupation on children rights in Iraq.
B. GLOBAL POLITICS OF US AND CHILDREN’ RIGHT
The US propaganda on the war in Iraq was always concerning to human right issues and mass destructive weapon belonging to Saddam Husein government. The issues were falsehood and fabricated to make legitimized action against Iraq. Meyssan in his article ‘Five Years of Preparations: The Secret Planning of Iraq’s Colonization’, said: “Actually, there were no weapons of mass destruction to confiscate in Iraq; overthrowing a tyrant to colonize a country is not a liberating mission and the world was not in danger”, (Meyssan, 2005). Even, Freeman said that “the 2003 war in Iraq might be said cited as an example of the use of human rights to legitimate political expansionism”, (Freeman, 2008). The fabricating falsehood facts by the US government were deliberately to ease the capture of the international support, especially from the main allies like Britain, Germany, and France.
However, the motivation of the US occupation in Iraq is to win secret agenda, especially economic interest of neo liberal, (Juhazs, 2007). It is clear that the war operation had been prepared for five years before implemented’, said Meyssan. According to Meyssan (2005) that Bush family and their supporters from economic and military empire were to attain certain objectives from overthrowing of Saddam Hussein, especially to control access to oil resources. In this case that Harvey’s The New Imperialism analysis on Imperialism based in the US hegemony is accounted. Harvey said that accumulation by dispossession is characteristic of the US neo-liberal. In Hout term, It was …”an attempt to essentially ‘roll back the clock’ to an earlier time of imperialist plundering of the planet, its peoples and its resources or accumulation by dispossession”, (Hout, 2009).
To win behind agenda such as economic or politics, it seems making deaf and blind of the US government toward provision of human rights standard. The US uses human right issues to beat and defeat its enemies, although the US itself always distorts the real fact and manipulates it. The US always blames other counties as evil axis plundering and violating human rights, but at the same time the US government use force and violent politic to the rest country affecting vulnerable people, like children and women.
Children are mostly victims from any kind of destructive policies, like war, arm conflict, and occupation. The children are mostly ignorant and absent in consideration of any action by policy makers like US government. Although it is definitely clear that the Convention on the Rights of the Children asserts in article 3: “In all actions concerning children … the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration”, on behalf of its own interests and agendas, the US government ignored the provision of the children’s right.
C. EFFECT OF THE US OCCUPATION ON THE IRAQI CHILDREN
The US occupation in Iraq has definitely affected children in worst condition and situation. They live under pressure of the US army and lack of security, food, electricity, education and freedom. Even they have to experience death vulnerable because of bomb blasting or gun shooting whenever and wherever. The US occupation has made disastrous of Iraqis children in anyways. Based on a study by the UN ILCS, it was found that life condition in Iraq has declined significantly since U.S occupation took place in the country. The majority of Iraqi children have suffered the result of this humanitarian tragedy, (Hassan, 2005).
According to UNICEF that children rights are divided into three categories: provision /Survival and development rights , Protection rights , and Participation rights .
1. Provision/Survival and development rights
The provision or survival and development rights means that children have rights to get adequate food, shelter, clean water, education, health care, leisure and recreation, and also information about their rights. These rights require not only the existence of the means to fulfill the rights but also access to them. The Convention on the rights of the children article 6, 24 and 27, asserts respectively: “… every child has the inherent right to life … survival and development ...”; “All children have the right to the highest attainable standard of health … primary health care … nutritious foods and clean drinking-water”; “Every child has the right to a standard of living adequate for physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development”, (UNICEF)
During the US occupation in Iraq, most of Iraqis children could not go to school. Hassan in his article ‘Living Conditions in Iraq: A Criminal Tragedy’ said that the rate of literacy of youngsters, between the ages of 15 and 24, is just 74 per cent, is lower than that for those 25-34. It is indicating that the younger generation experienced education backward comparing to the elders. Even over 70 per cent, males are going to work to support their families and have neglected their education at all, (Hassan, 2005).It was contrary with the condition before occupation. Based on the UNICEF report, in 2003, that the education in Iraq was high and good standard which staffed by the best educators. Then, the enrolment for children was over 100% Gross Enrolment Rate for primary schooling and high levels of literacy. Even prior to 1990s, Iraqis government had a successful program to eradicate illiteracy among Iraqi men and women.
Moreover, in the health cases, majority of Iraqis children under occupation severed any kind of diseases because of lacking of health facilities. A number of thousands of children since the attending of the occupation in March 2003 have not got vaccinations, and routine immunization in the country. Destroyed health facilities were no possibility to restore vaccines, besides inadequate supply of medicine occurred there. Then Iraqi children of the ages between the ages of six months and 5 years experienced worst malnutrition. It increased from 4% before the invasion to 7.7% since the US invasion of Iraq. It means that Iraqi children were living much better by 3.7% under the regime of Saddam Hussein than under the US imperialism, (Hassan, 2005).
2. Protection Rights
Children have rights to get protection from any kind of torture, attack, violation affecting injury, death and psychological disaster as long as they grow up. It is asserted clearly in the Convention on the Rights of the Children article 6, 16, 19, and 37 respectively, “… every child has the inherent right to life … survival and development ….”; “No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy … nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation”; “Children must be protected from … injury or abuse … , while in the care of parents … or any other person….”; “No child should be subjected to torture or … degrading treatment [nor be] deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully ...”, (UNICEF)
As long as the US occupation in Iraq, most of children had never gotten protection their rights. Even they became victims, severed several diseases, wound, death, and physical disability. One study shows that U.S. Army forces in Iraq have killed more than 100,000 civilians between March 2003 and October 2004, the great majority of them are women and children. Even it excludes Fallujah, the highest death toll areas in Iraq. According to the UN ILCS study reveals that the number of 24,000 Iraqis, 12 per cent of them children under the age of 18 years old, died as a result of the U.S invasion in the first year of occupation, (Hassan, 2005).
3. Participation Rights
Before occupation, children in Iraq were active in many activities like in schools, sport club, and organizations, but after occupation all activities that they have before were close to them. They cannot participate freely in such activities again as before, because major Iraqi children today have lived their whole lives under sanctions and war. They only can move and play in limited areas, since they fear randomly worst incident that sometime happen, like bomb blasting and gun shooting. Since there is no guarantee in their out activities, they prefer to live in home with their family. They have no chance to play and even participate in certain organisation with their friends and fellows.
In article 15 and 16 of the Convention on the rights of the children, it is clearly said that ...”Children have the right to meet together and to join groups and organizations ...”; “Children have a right to privacy. The law should protect them from attacks against their way of life, their good name, their families and their homes” (UNICEF).
D. CONCLUSION
The global politics especially played by the US government determine adequately the condition of human rights globally. The expansive imperialist state like the US always deteriorates human rights condition in everywhere. The US government justified any action with fraud and falsehood, like mass destructive weapon of the Iraqi government. Therefore the US government actually does not have respect toward human right provision; the US government only wants to attain its own interest goals especially economic and politic of neoliberal.
The US-occupation in Iraq has violated the Iraqi children rights. The Iraqi children do not have Survival and development rights, protection rights and freedom of participation in many aspects. They are hopeless, since their future has been plundered by the occupation and invasion. Therefore the US government has responsibility to relieve and guarantee them in getting better condition. In Handbook For Parliamentarians N° 7 detailed that the Fourth Geneva Convention enforced obligation rights of children in occupied areas, such as “the occupying forces must take steps in cooperation with the local and national authorities to protect the identity and family relations of children and give an adequate effort of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children”, (UNICEF, 2004)
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