Iraqi children are “prisoners” in their own homes

Muhammad Abdallah, 12, lost his only brother in a shooting incident, and since then his parents are not taking any chances and do not let him out of their house in Baghdad. “My parents don’t allow me to go out, most of my friends have gone abroad, and I was forced to leave school for security reasons,” he said. A Sunni from Baghdad’s Yarmouk District, he is just another victim of the violence, displacement, school closures and poor diet that are taking their toll on children’s physical and mental health— something that could affect the country’s future. “Children have become prisoners of their own families,” said Fua’ad Azize, a psychologist in Baghdad. Read about the situation at IRIN News.