Everyone - adults, teens, and even children - experiences stress at times. Stress can be beneficial by helping people develop the skills they need to cope with and adapt to new and potentially threatening situations throughout life. However, the beneficial aspects of stress diminish when it is severe enough to overwhelm a person's ability to cope effectively. The following list are examples of how stress can occur.
War
Poverty
Racism
Natural disaster
Isolation
Hunger
Noise
Chaos
Disease
Environmental pollution
Violence
Of this list, I am blessed and fortunate to say that I have not yet experienced any of the following encounters previously listed, but I have known a few people who have been in situations of such as a child. This particular young lady I know grew up in violence. She grew up in a family of Mother, Father, two brothers and one younger sister. Not only did this young lady experience violence, but her mother and siblings as well. Her father was a large man, who would get intoxicated just about every night. This man, as she explained to me, is as hateful as they come. He made most of the money in the household so he felt like he controlled everyone in the home. When this young lady would try to do homework in another room because he was always so boisterous, he would try to make her come out because he figured that she was running the electric bill up. He would come in the room, snatch her homework, tear it up, and then slap her in the face with the book. He has kicked his daughter on many occasions, very violent and abusive towards his wife, and has even shot at all of them. Every story that she has shared with me, I consider life threatening and so saddening. For years, she and the rest of her family have been the blame for his problems. She has been beaten with cooking skillets and pans and much more. When I did ask her how did the family cope, she explained that they had to do whatever their father said do and keep quiet. She experienced loss of appetite, difficulty concentrating, very sad and depressed. She explained that the mother and her children wanted to leave, but were very short on money and plus her mother had a nervous breakdown shortly after the birth of her youngest daughter. They had no place to go, or other family to run to. When she got of age, she decided to move out to try to forget some of the horrible memories and move past those experiences.
In Afghanistan and a few other countries, child victims of prostitution and sexual exploitation are common. In times of armed conflict, poverty, hunger and desperation may force women and girls into prostitution, obliging them to offer sex for food or shelter, for safe conduct through the war zone or to obtain papers for themselves and their families. Sexual exploitation has a devastating impact on physical and emotional development. Unwanted and unsafe sex can lead to unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. Some of the adolescent girls suffer in silence after the trauma of sexual exploitation, fearing reprisals from those who attacked them or rejection by their families. They feel a sense of personal humiliation and anguish which causes many of them to withdraw into a shell of pain and denial.
There are a few programs created for seeking justice for victims of war crimes. The widespread practice of rape must be ended and its perpetrators prosecuted. In the case of the gravest abuses, international tribunals have been established to punish perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. But in order to fulfil their objectives, the tribunals need greater financial support and more determined political backing. The tribunals established to try accused war criminals in the former Yugoslavia have indicted only eight people on specific charges of rape and assault, despite estimates of up to 20,000 victims. This limited result underscores the difficulties in applying international human rights and humanitarian law to rape, difficulties that are reflected in both the codification and the interpretation of national, and even international, law.
Truth commissions are another important vehicle that can document the incidence and extent of human rights abuses against women and children in conflict situations, expose wrongdoing and reinforce personal accountability. National Truth Commissions have been established in a number of countries, such as Argentina, Burundi, El Salvador, South Africa, Uganda and Viet Nam. For victims of human rights abuses during conflict situations, they seek to facilitate healing, reconciliation and the reconstruction of affected families, communities and nations. The Commissions also reassert the fundamental importance and respect for the sanctity of human life and establish the ethical, moral, legal and political accountability of leaders and civil society.
Here are some recommendations for action:
* All humanitarian responses in conflict situations must emphasize the special reproductive needs of women and girls, including access to family planning services, care during pregnancy as a result of rape, sexual mutilation, childbirth at an early age or infection with sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. Equally important are the psychosocial needs of mothers who have been subjected to gender-based violence and who need help in order to foster the conditions necessary for the healthy development of their children.
* All military personnel, including peace-keeping personnel, should receive, as part of their training, instruction on their responsibilities towards civilian communities and particularly towards women and children.
*Clear and easily accessible systems should be established for reporting on sexual abuse within both military and civilian populations. The treatment of rape as a war crime must be clarified, pursued within military and civilian populations and punished accordingly. Appropriate legal and rehabilitative remedies must be made available to reflect the nature of the crime and its harm.
* Refugee and displaced persons camps should be designed to improve security for women and girls. Women should also be involved in all aspects of camp administration but especially in organizing distribution and security systems. Increased numbers of female personnel should be deployed to the field as protection officers and counsellors.
* In every conflict, support programmes should be established for victims of sexual abuse and gender-based violence. These should offer confidential counselling on a wide range of issues, including the rights of victims. Such programmes should also provide educational activities and skills training.
The imagination, ideals and energies of youth are vital for the continuing development of the societies in which they live. All cultures recognize adolescence as a highly significant period in which young people learn future roles and incorporate the values and norms of their societies. Adolescents face particular problems during periods of armed conflicts. They are at a time of life when they are undergoing many physical and emotional changes. Yet during or after wars, youth seldom receive any special attention or assistance. At this very moment, they are working toward resolutions. When will all the chaos end?
References
http://www.un.org/rights/concerns.htm
