GREATER financial and back up support for communities and families dealing with children who have been traumatised as a result of the Northern conflict has been called for at a special UN backed conference in Belfast.
An estimated 215 children were killed, thousands more were physically and mentally damaged and yet thousands more witnessed harrowing scenes of violence over the past 27 years of the Troubles, the conference heard yesterday.
Mr Diarmuid Kearney of Save the Children in the North told yesterday of how he delivered two of his children to the back entrance of a school in south Belfast, while at the front door a taxi driver was being murdered by paramilitaries.
There had been no subsequent counselling or official assistance for pupils or teachers. "While things have changed, the impact of violence on children has not lessened," Mr Kearney said.
"No one in Northern Ireland under the age of 25 has really known anything but conflict. Despite the current ceasefires, children are still orphans. Their brothers, sisters and friends are still dead," he added.
About 250 people from Ireland, North and South, the Middle East, South Africa, the United States, and Central America attended the conference in Belfast's Europa Hotel, which was organised by Save the Children in conjunction with the United Nations Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children.
Several of the speakers, including Irish and international child psychologists and psychiatrists, spoke of the need for greater financial aid and administrative assistance for groups and families dealing with children traumatised by the violence.
Ms Marie Smyth of the University of Ulster said it was scandalous that communities had to rely on their own resources to try and help these children.
Ms Mary Montague of the Corrymeela Community, asked for the establishment of a centralised resource centre which would advise on funding and support services for concerned groups.
Ms Bernadette McAliskey said that for many years local communities had been providing an informal network of support for people bereaved or physically or mentally injured as a result of the conflict. She proposed an "audit" of all these support services with a view to co ordinating a more structured network.
Dr Patricia Donnelly, a clinical psychologist, said an estimated 10-15 per cent of people who were bereaved or injured as a result of violence, or who witnessed violent acts, suffered long term personal upheaval.
Dr Donnelly, director of clinical professions at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, while acknowledging this suffering, said it was also important to note how resilient many people were in the face of such crises.
Many people enjoyed powerful, natural processes of healing and recovery and it was important that this was not undermined by a climate of dependency.
Dr Eyad el Sarraj, a Palestinian psychiatrist, said experience showed there must be proper concern about young people using violent models for their role playing, even when the conflict has ended. To discourage troubled children from proceeding to perpetrate violence, they must be allowed a stable home environment, he said.
