Mental health crisis among children in Mosul haunted by fear and intense sorrow a year after liberation from ISIS

Iraqi children have nowhere to turn with limited resources and parents suffering from trauma of war

A year since ISIS was expelled from Mosul, the city’s children are living in near constant fear for their lives, and are often reliving memories of devastation, displacement, bombing and extreme violence, a new report from Save the Children reveals.

With hundreds of thousands of children living amidst the rubble, even teenagers said they were too scared to walk alone, be without their parents or go to school – many of which bear the scars of war.

As a result, children are reporting serious emotional problems, depression, extreme anxiety and have been pushed to breaking point, as found in Save the Children’s Picking Up the Pieces: Rebuilding the lives of Mosul’s children after years of conflict and violence report.

The lack of safety many girls and boys continue to feel is likely behind their inability to heal and is a key driving force for their worries. More than 80 per cent of adolescents surveyed said they did not feel safe walking alone and almost half did not feel safe away from their parents.

Save the Children Canada’s President and CEO, Bill Chambers, was in Iraq earlier this year and witnessed the effects of war on children firsthand.

“The reality on the ground is that the children of Mosul are living in immense grief, loss and fear of the future.”

“Unless children’s sense of safety is re-established, and parents are given support to help themselves and their families, children will remain distressed, leaving them at serious risk of further and long-lasting mental health issues,” said Chambers.

Save the Children is calling on Canada and other members of the international community to put the wellbeing of children at the heart of planning for post-conflict Iraq by stepping up funding for mental health and psychosocial programming, particularly for girls and boys, whose unique needs must be taken into account.

Save the Children’s report finds:

• Almost half of children surveyed felt grief all or a lot of the time.
• Fewer than one in 10 children could think of something happy in their lives.
• Girls and boys reported noticeably different coping strategies, with girls more likely to withdraw from others and stay alone; and boys more often played games and spent time on their phones.

“These children have seen their schools transformed into battlegrounds and their friends killed in classrooms,” said Chambers. “School is no longer seen as a protective environment for children and it’s hard for them to feel safe in the classroom, and therefore, to learn and thrive.”

“It is imperative that urgent action is taken to ensure girls and boys alike have equal access to essential services, can feel safe to walk around, play outside and go to school. The future of Iraq and security of the region depends on the development of its children into healthy, secure adults,” added Chambers.

As a leader in gender responsive humanitarian assistance, Canada must ensure its funding to response and recovery efforts includes support to gender and age appropriate mental health and psychosocial initiatives. This support must be a key aspect of emergency response as well as recovery and reconstruction efforts going forward. This year funding from the UN humanitarian appeal for Iraq for mental health programs for children stands at just 7 per cent of what was requested. [1]

The Government of Iraq should also draft a national policy on mental health for children and families affected by conflict.

ENDS

For interview requests please call 647-973-1185 or email mhabib@savethechildren.ca

B-roll, photos and case studies are available here: https://www.contenthubsavethechildren.org/Package/2O4C2S2MXF7J

*** Notes to editors ***

The report is based on a survey of more than 250 children and caregivers from West Mosul. The children were aged 13 to 17.

Questionnaires were conducted with children and parents who experienced life under ISIS and the displacement and violence that followed the retaking of the city, first-hand.

Save the Children has been working in Iraq since 1991. We work across the country to provide a broad range of services – from health, sanitation and psychosocial support to education and child protection.  

*Indicates the names have been changed

[1] The figure 7 per cent funding for children’s mental health is based on Save the Children’s analysis using the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) financial tracking system data (accessed on 01/07/2018). The Iraq appeal in total is 57 per cent funded https://ftsbeta.unocha.org/.