Two members of the Children and Armed Conflict Unit visited Kosovo between 24 August and 3 September 1998, under the auspices of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), to assess the situation, to determine the needs of children and the extent to which those needs were being met by the humanitarian agencies. During our time there we visitied some 27 national and international aid agencies and spent 4 days interviewing children and their families to ascertain their views, feelings and experiences. A version of this article appeared in the October 1998 edition of childRIGHT, a Journal of law and policy published by the Children's Legal Centre.  A follow up visit to Kosovo is planned. To read the full text report click here.

The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children: A Report on the civil war in Kosovo.

By Nathalie Man and Carolyn Hamilton, The Children and Armed Conflict Unit

Background to the conflict

The conflict in Kosovo is a result of the explosion of smouldering ethnic tensions that have their roots in its dual identity as both the heartland of the medieval Serbian kingdom and of the Albanian national revival. From 1974 to 1989, Kosovo was an autonomous province under Albanian leadership. However, after it lost autonomous status in 1989, the Albanian population (which constitutes 90% of Kosovo’s total population) were faced with severe repression of their human rights.Thousands of Albanian employees in senior and managerial positions were dismissed from their jobs, and the judiciary came under the complete domination of the Serbs. Albanian children were removed from government schools, after a decision that all schools would teach in the Serbian language, and a parallel Albanian education system developed, dependent entirely on non-government funding.

At the present time, the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA), which has the support of a large part of the Albanian population, is fighting for independence. It is facing attack from the Serbian army, as well as from the Serbian police force, who are only distinguished from the military by their blue uniforms.

Initially, the Serbian authorities made an effort to separate the KLA from the Albanian civilian population but, as the conflict has progressed, its efforts to do so have been abandoned, and civilians are now being routinely and indiscriminately targeted. Crops, livestock, homes, schools and health clinics have all been deliberately destroyed in the fighting.

One consequence of this, is that the conflict has produced large numbers of ‘internally displaced persons’ (IDPs) who have fled their homes in search of safety. At the end of August most agencies estimated the number of IDPs to be around 250,000, although some estimates suggest that the real figure could be as much as twice this amount. According to figures produced by agencies working in Kosovo, anywhere between 55% and 65% of the IDP population consists of children. The numbers of IDPs has increased significantly since the end of August and is likely to rise still further, unless the shelling and burning of villages ends and the conflict is prevented from spreading to new fronts. As the fighting in Kosovo continues, more villages are being terrorised and, consequently, more families displaced. Many of those who have already been forced to flee have moved up to six times. Some commentators believe that at least 25% of the total population have left their homes since the fighting began.

The Unit has been closely monitoring reports on this conflict since its outset, and continues to do so. During our visit we were able to gather information in various ways: by visiting the agencies working in the field and discussing their programmes, needs, problems and plans for the future; talking to journalists reporting on the conflict; visiting displaced families; and by accompanying a convoy to a distribution point in the centre of the country. The study of Kosovo has provided an invaluable insight into the different effects that armed conflict can have on civilian children, and the various measures necessary if their plight is to be alleviated and their rights better protected.

Housing and Shelter

The terror campaign against villages has meant that many families have been forced to flee their homes, and seek ‘safer’ accommodation. The luckiest have been housed by family or friends, others have been accommodated in unfinished and dangerous buildings without windows or doors, water or electricity. The most unfortunate are living outdoors, typically either in woods surrounded by Serbian forces, or in fields and by rivers. The most noticeable characteristic of displaced families was that of shock at what had happened and fear that they would be attacked again.

The number of IDPs has put considerable strain on the resources of international aid agencies operating on the ground. Many of the children fled from their homes with only the summer clothes that they were wearing at the time. Families did not have sufficient warning of the attack to pack essential household items. Thus, aid agencies operating within Kosovo are faced with the task of supplying basic foodstuffs, mattresses and blankets, as well as cooking equipment.

The aid agencies were not sufficiently well-resourced in either money or material terms to meet children’s immediate needs. None of the children that we met had, for example, sufficient bedding. Indeed, frequently three children were sharing a standard mattress with one blanket between them. Neighbours had given clothes, such as jumpers, to the IDP children, but many children had no change of clothes. Aid agencies were struggling to provide younger children with nappies. Food supplies consisted of flour, oil, sugar and salt, and no protein, vegetables or fruit.

Recreation and Stimulation

Not only do IDP children face a lack of food and shelter, but they also have to contend with a loss of their social life and play. We did not see one toy, paper, crayons or any reading materials at any of the houses that we visited. The smaller children that we saw were lacking stimulation, and were extremely lethargic and listless. The older children were tearful and strained. It is difficult for families living under these conditions to give much attention to their children. Parents are depressed, some are sick and traumatised, and many, especially the men, are demoralised. Mothers spend a great deal of their time providing for the most basic needs of their families: cooking food, collecting water, and keeping their children, clothes and accommodation as clean as possible.

Older children faced different problems. Those we spoke to saw the loss of their friends as particularly significant and felt that they had no-one to play of socialise with. Their ability to meet other young people in a similar situation was limited and many felt isolated. Parents were unwilling to allow children to leave the house, especially when the police presence was high. Social or community centres where young people could meet are non-existent.

Health

The health of the displaced population , and of children especially, is a matter of the gravest concern. In particular, where IDP families are living outside, in forests and on the hills, surrounded by the Serbian police and military, aid agencies have difficulty obtaining access. This was particularly serious for women giving birth under these conditions. Both they and their newborns are deprived of the benefits of medical care and there were a number of reports of deaths as a result.

Approach of the Aid Agencies

The agencies working in the field have had to respond swiftly to a complex emergency. It was clear that in formulating plans, their attention was focused on provision of shelter, food and health to families as a whole. Although 55% to 65% of the population are children, humanitarian agencies do not, as a general rule, regard children as a specific group with their own vulnerablities and needs: material assistance programmes are not aimed directly at children, but rather at standard families, leaving many children’s needs unmet.

The response of the aid agencies, quite rightly, has up to now been focused on the right to life and survival. It would, however, be a great mistake to concentrate purely on these rights other than in the shortest term, and ignore the other rights owing to children found in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Further aid needs to be targeted and programmed with the whole of the convention on mind. This is, at present, absent in the programmes being operated.

Only two food aid programmes covering a small number of children, provided specific food, in the form of high protein biscuits. All other food programmes delivered food aid to ‘families’. However, children have different nutritional needs to adults, which need to be recognised and specifically addressed.

Health care programmes were aimed at the provision of emergency health care, which extended only to primary health care. There was virtually no resource allocation to secondary health care, depriving many seriously ill children of needed services.

Programmes paid insufficient attention to the right to education. Education equips children with survival skills, develops reasoning, promotes self-esteem, provides information and, above all, provides a sense of normality in a child’s life. The loss of education is not easily made up again. None of the programmes operated or planned by the agencies specifically focused on the provision of some form of educational activity. Such provision would end the isolation of many children and give them an opportunity for stimulation and activity in an otherwise unstructured life.

Children of 14 years and over tended to be ignored and were generally no longer treated as children, with special needs, by the agencies. Yet this is an extremely vulnerable group. The impact of conflict, and the loss and social dislocation suffered by teenagers, may be greater than that suffered by small children. A teenager’s social community is extremely important, so too is their right to education and work. Agencies need to ensure that these children either have access to secondary education or economic activity, and some possibility of social activity, perhaps through the establishment of youth groups. Services need to be aimed at this group to ensure that their need for continuing social and educational development is not completely neglected.

There has been little recognition of the dangers of the non-stimulation on the child’s long term development, and the importance of the right to play. Only UNICEF and OXFAM were developing programmes that would allow small children to participate in play activities at the time of our visit, but, due to financial stringency, the numbers covered by these projects were small.

Conclusion

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the lead agency in Kosovo with the duty of co-ordinating relief efforts. There was not, however, a co-ordinator of children’s services, and few of the agencies were aware of each other’s programmes. Much time and energy, as well as cost, would be saved by the appointment of a children’s co-ordinator in all complex emergencies. The co-ordinator would need to be able to act independently, but should be funded by the lead agency and be accountable to that agency. The co-ordinator would act as an information centre-point and ensure adequate coverage of children’s needs and no duplication of effort,.

All programme planners in a complex emergency should take children’s rights as their guiding principle, The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child must be the yardstick against which all programmes operated by international agencies and NGOs are measured, and all should be planned with the Convention in mind. Agencies need to appreciate that children’s rights are indivisible and that the non-implementation of those rights has a long-term impact on children.

Finally, we would like to see the international community redefine ‘protection’ to include real protection of children from harm. The ability of agencies to offer protection in an internal armed conflict is, at present, limited to legal protection. UNHCR, the lead co-ordinating agency, has a very limited mandate. If an internally displaced person wished to return home, UNHCR would seek to uphold their right to return. It will try to ensure that humanitarian agencies obtain access to internally displaced populations. But the agency has no power and no mandate to ‘protect’ in the general meaning of the term. It cannot stop children’s houses being burned, a child from being injured as a result of shelling, a child’s father being separated from the family, or the fact that a child has no access to food, health care, education or shelter. These children must rely on their home state to uphold their rights.

The point of humanitarian law, in the form of the Geneva Convention and human rights law, is to protect the individual from the repressive state. There is little point in a ‘human rights industry’, and in international agreement on human rights and humanitarian norms, if at the same time, the international community stands idly by while the state violates every provision of the applicable conventions. What is needed is the development of mechanisms that allow action to protect a civilian population when violations start, rather than waiting until the violations are so gross that the international community is pushed, by public pressure, into taking action. The development of that mechanism will be a challenge to the human rights community, but without it the notion of protection and rights for children is a meaningless notion.