Children In Refugee Camps Research Articles

Performance of pain, performance of beauty

Performance of pain, performance of beauty explores performance projects in war zones using Elaine Scarry's definitions of ‘pain’ and ‘beauty’ as a starting point. The way in which pain constricts the body and the experience that beauty can take a person beyond the body become a contested framework for considering two examples of performance. The first is a mass rally event called Pongu Thamil that has taken place in the war-affected regions of Sri Lanka, and the other is the use of theatre games for children in refugee camps. In both the problematic categories of beauty and pain are used to explore ways of understanding these projects. Does one seek to re-injure the body through displays of pain? Or is this a misreading of the creative, beauty-making acts of this community? Does the other correspond to the structure of beauty outlined by Scarry or can games also re-injure? The discussion seeks to create a complex picture of the relation between the experience of pain, the subsequent expression of pain and acts of creation, to start the process of generating dialogue on the theoretical ideas emerging from a research project exploring performance in places of war.

The Case for Universal Basic Education for the World's Poorest Boys and Girls

ONE OF THE silent killers attacking the developing world is the lack of quality basic education for large numbers of the poorest children in the world's poorest countries--particularly girls. Yet unlike many of the world's most grievous ailments, this is a disease with a known cure. We know what tools are needed and what models are proven to work. We also know that the cost of that cure--perhaps $7.5 billion to $10 billion per year--is minuscule compared with the enormous benefits such education would bring for health, economics, women's empowerment, and basic human dignity. An estimated 110 million children--60% of them girls--between the ages of 6 and 11 will not see the inside of a classroom this year. Another 150 million are likely to drop out before completing primary school. More than half of all girls in sub-Saharan Africa do not complete primary school, and only 17% are enrolled in secondary school. (1) Rates in rural areas are even worse. For instance, a 1996 study in Niger found that only 12% of girls in rural areas were enrolled in primary school, compared with 83% of girls in the capital. (20 The situation can be even worse for vulnerable children. In developing nations, those with disabilities and those affected by AIDS face even greater obstacles to education, while orphaned children are less likely to be enrolled in school than their peers who live with at least one parent. Only 6% of children in refugee camps are enrolled in secondary education, and opportunities for internally displaced children are even more limited. (3) Access is only part of the story. The other crucial factor is quality. As highlighted by Education for All: The Quality Imperative, the 2005 Global Monitoring Report by UNESCO, too many children leave school without mastering a basic set of skills. Ensuring a decent quality of education is an essential component of reform. (4) STRONG EVIDENCE The good news is documented in What Works in Girls' Education, a 2004 Council on Foreign Relations report that I co-authored with Barbara Herz, and is reinforced in a Mother's Day 2005 report by Save the Children: we have extremely strong evidence both on the high returns on girls' education and on what works to get girls in school. (5) What is striking is the breadth of benefits derived from educating girls--not only economic benefits in terms of higher wages, greater agricultural productivity, and faster economic growth, but also health benefits, HIV prevention, and women's empowerment. Two 1999 World Bank studies found that closing the education gender gap in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa would have led to faster economic growth between 1960 and 1992, while increasing the share of women with a secondary education can yield growth in per-capita income. (6) Another 63-country study attributed 43% of the decline in malnutrition achieved between 1970 and 1995 to more productive farming as a result of increased female education. (7) Even more impressive are the gains to health that come from educating girls. An extra year of female education can reduce infant mortality by 5% to 10%. (8) In Africa, children of mothers who receive five years of primary education are 40% less likely to die before age 5 than are children of uneducated mothers. (9) Across both Africa and Southeast Asia, mothers who have a basic education are 50% more likely than uneducated mothers to immunize their children. (10) Education has also proven to be one of the most powerful tools to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. A recent study in rural Uganda found that, in comparison with young people with no education, those with some secondary education were three times less likely to be HIV*positive, and those with some primary schooling were about half as likely to be HIV-positive. (11) In Kenya, a study of 17-year-old girls found that those in secondary school were almost four times as likely to be sexually inactive as those who had dropped out after primary school. …

Suicidal feelings run high among mothers in refugee camps: a cross-sectional survey.

To study levels of mental distress in a sample of Afghan mothers caring for children in two refugee camps in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. Cross-sectional survey of 297 consecutive mothers with young children, attending primary care centres, using a psychiatric screening instrument, the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). One hundred and six (36%) of women in the sample screened positive for a common mental disorder. Ninety-six (91%) of those screening positive had had suicidal thoughts in the previous month, and nine (8%) rated suicidal feeling as their topmost concern. There is a high prevalence and severity of mental distress in Afghan mothers caring for young children in refugee camps. This may have serious long-term effects on the psychological and physical development of their children.

The Psychological Impact of War and the Refugee Situation on South Sudanese Children in Refugee Camps in Northern Uganda: An Exploratory Study

This paper presents the results of an exploratory study on the psychosocial effects of the war situation and subsequent flight on South Sudanese children who were compared to a group of Ugandan children who did not have these experiences of war and flight. In addition to the independent variables such as sociodemographic variables and traumatic events and daily life stress, the dependent variable psychological consequences--according to parents and children themselves--as well as the influence of the mediating factors of social support and coping behaviour are presented. Results showed that Sudanese refugee children had experienced significantly more traumatic events and suffered more daily hassles than the Ugandese comparison group. They were less satisfied with the social support they received. At the same time, they used more coping modes. Compared to Ugandan children, the Sudanese reported significantly more PTSD-like complaints, behavioural problems, and depressive symptoms.

A Profile of the Stonethrowers

The high level of political consciousness among young Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza-currently manifested through their central role in the uprising-is inextricably linked to life under occupation. Like young Palestinians in other parts of the Arab world, Palestinians from the refugee camps will tell you the name of the village they are from, despite the fact that that particular village was destroyed when Israel was established, nearly forty years ago. Palestinian children often learn the names of PLO leaders before they learn to read and write. They can explain the difference between Zionism and Judaism and are able to make a strong argument against any political solution involving Jordan's King Hussein. But unlike children in refugee camps elsewhere, children born in refugee camps under occupation drink their mothers' milk while their camp is under curfew; they wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of rubber bullets and rumors of a possible settler attack. As they grow up, they quickly learn the political lesson of the occupation. Soldiers, batons, tear gas, rubber bullets, arrests, torture, curfews, closure of camp entrances, administrative detention, and town arrests are all prominent entries in the refugee camps' daily dictionary.