Original scientific paper
Children in Exile
Pavao Jonjić
; Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Article 6 of the International Convention on the Rights of Children states that the signing states shall recognize the right of every child to life, and oblige themselves to guarantee to the fullest the subsistence and development of children. At present, due to the war, children in Croatia. are facing death and misfortune of their close-ones, the loss of friends, the impossibility of attending school, etc. The world experienced by the child in wartime is impoverished in one very important dimension: the dimension he/she creates in play and in contacts with friends. The war brings him/her only fear and uncertainty. If we accept the thesis that the “home setting” and a “familiar milieu” is important for the child's psychological and social being, it is difficult whether or not any, even a “friendly inclined environment”, could compensate for the child the loss of a home, and fully eliminate his/her existential fear and feelings of deprivation. The identity of the child in the war in Croatia is being undermined on two sides: on the one hand by the destruction of his/her home and family (the basic node of identification), on the other – by pressure due to national identification and the destruction of national identity (the group identity node).
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
127430
URI
Publication date:
10.12.1991.
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