June 26: International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
Dr. Joanna Santa Barbara spoke on helping children affected by war, terrorism and torture. She stated that when dealing with war, terrorism and torture, we're dealing with pathologies of one kind of power - the power to harm people. Whenever power is unequal, there is a danger of harm and violence. This can be direct, structural or cultural.
For the purposes of this discussion, Dr. Santa Barbara addressed work done on behalf of children, in part affected by war, terrorism and torture.
While some organizations such as Amnesty International and CCVT may at times focus exclusively on one of the modalities (cataloguing, pointing out, healing), it is also important to look at all the modalities, to push upstream, particularly in regards to prevention and maintenance. Dr. Santa Barbara points out that human propensities not only include compassion and caring, but also the reality that we want our own way, we use power to get it, including the power to harm, and we devalue and dehumanize others. Therefore, maintenance tasks need to be part of socialization for everyone.
Describing the "Culture of Peace" as conceived by Nobel Laureates and UNESCO, we should:
- Respect life
- Practice active non-violence
- Share
- Respect diversity
- Protect the planet
- Cooperate to help the community, especially women
What happens to children who are exposed to war, terrorism and torture?
Dr. Santa Barbara used a study of one population - children in Gaza - to illustrate. She found this study useful because it used the same epidemiological methods as an Ontario child mental health study. This study found that 20% of Ontario children have clinical symptoms of depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), anxiety and conduct disorders. In Gaza, however, the children suffer from mental health problems twice as much as Ontario children:
- 43% have clinically diagnosable problems in this area
- The prevalence is particularly high in the 6-11 year old range - 51%. Their impairment is in proportion to their exposure to bad events.
- With Post Traumatic symptoms, there is a lifetime prevalence of 9% in Canada, whereas in the 12-16 year old range, 7 out of 8 children have post traumatic symptoms, 8% of which are disabling.
What ways are there of addressing these issues that not only point out what's wrong, and heal, but also push forward to prevention and maintenance? Citing work done in Afghanistan, Dr. Santa Barbara described the creation of 16 stories that address issues of mental health and which also build in ideas of peacebuilding. Some of the themes deal with nightmares, post traumatic memories, dealing with a depressed father, while others deal with peace themes such as boys learning to avoid recruitment as child soldiers, non violent conflict resolution and how reconciliation happens. This project created puppets to animate these stories and in finishing her presentation, Dr. Santa Barbara modeled a story about reconciliation between 2 children in the course of flight and life as refugees to illustrate this technique.
