Predicament of Manipur's children
- Negligence by one side and recruitment by the other -

Amar Yumnam *

In 1996 we had the Graca Machel Report on Impact of Armed Conflict on Children prepared for the United Nations. This report has been the framework of international interventions in child related areas in conflict situations since its publication and appreciation by the General Assembly in one of its resolutions.

The United Nations had completed a global review of progress last year. Now this international concern for children in conflict areas is in addition to the age-old problem of child labour across the globe.

Manipur Joins: The recent unfolding of social events in Manipur have established beyond doubt that the State is no longer left behind even in this aspect as well. Indeed, the capacity of Manipur is such that one would not have to wait for long for any of the negative experiences anywhere in the world to get footholds here.

This is how we have landed our land in the impasse we are in today. All the adults of the State should admit without reservation that they are to blame themselves for all the mess we are in today. The adults are responsible for running the administration of the land. The adults are responsible for framing policies of the land and her people.

School Children stands out in protest against the kidnapping of children by UG on July 21, 2008.

The adults are the ones responsible for the establishment and running of the educational institutes here. The adults are the ones conceptualising, projectising and executing the infrastructure of the land. The adults frame and execute the agriculture sector policies and the related programmes.

Among the adults, it is the male adults who have been more accountable for the mess. The male adults have all along recent history only taken the pleasure of enjoying benefits from the misdeeds, while hardly playing any role in establishing accountability and rectifying the misdeeds.

In contemporary Manipur, we have only seen ample instances of leaving to the responsibility of female adults the needs of social caring. This has made our male adults the masters in irresponsible behaviour, violent opportunists and escapist exploiters.

Now the Children's Turn: This degradation has now started affecting the children as well. This was just waiting to happen anyway.

Particularly after the mid-1970s, we have been forgetting the need for addressing the educational requirements of children. This is why we have seen high drop-out rates as well as widespread declines in the quality of schools all over the State. Unable to cope with the declines and increasingly feeling unsecured about the future of children, we saw the emergence of private sector schools to begin with.

Then came a period when even the private schools failed to deliver on the promises. This was the beginning of the present trend towards an absolutely unequal society. Parents soon started looking for schools outside the State and large scale exodus of students of the school stage education became the order of the day.

Well, the state (read the male adults of the land) did feel it necessary to apply the mind for addressing the issue at the core. We must remember here that all this have been happening in a context of growth collapse here.

Then we have been increasingly seeing in the last few years mobilisation of children and rallying them for mass protests. Here, it would be stretching our mind a little too far if we are ever to imagine the children understanding the causes for which they were holding the rallies.

This very mobilisation of the children for causes not understood by them was done by the male adults of the land. Besides, other male adults did not feel it necessary to articulate against such mobilisation of children.

Now we have reached a stage where the mobilisation of child soldiers as forces in the conflict has become a reality. This is easily explained by the global history of conflict and the social background of the land in the last few years. The conflicts around the world have established the advantages of child soldiers to the parties in the conflict. We have also seen the risks and dangers involved here.

The emergence of child soldiers was only waiting to happen and the conditions have become ripe now. That is why it is happening now.

While the state and non-state parties in the conflict would have arguments of their own, what we should really worry about are the dangerous portents this holds. If the present trend continues and if the global history is any pointer, we are soon going to have suicide bombers in the State.

Children are quite impressionistic and with proper indoctrination, they would be happy to die for the ideals they have been instilled. We only wish that the adults on both sides of the conflict do not start utilising children as suicide bombers as that would be suicidal for the society itself.

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* Amar Yumnam writes regularly for The Sangai Express. The writer can be contacted at yumnam1(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk. This article was webcasted on July 27, 2008.

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