War against terror and its consequenses for migrant and refugee children

"War against terror and its consequenses for migrant and refugee children", by Cécile Rosseau, MD, the Montreal Children's Hospital and the Divsision of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry.

The war on terror: From the hurtful mirror to the complex other

Cécile Rousseau, Ghayda Hassan, Uzma Jamil, Nicolas Moreau

Conflicts are partially transmitted and perpetuated around the images of the enemy. Since 9/11 there has been a shift in the way relations between us and them are being portrayed in the social space. This presentation will merge two different bodies of data to address some of the consequences of terrorism and the war on terror. First we will present the results of an epidemiological survey measuring the changes in perception of discrimination after 9/11 in targeted and non targeted minority communities of Montreal and its relation with the mental health of theses communities.

Second, the analysis from a qualitative study of Pakistani and Bangladeshi families' perception of international events and of their impact on their children will be presented. Fear and avoidance dominate in the parent discourse while anger is generally suppressed. Feelings of helplessness in the parents are associated with a monolithic vision of the ''other'', whereas some sense of agency is related to a more complex perception of the '"other''.

Discussing these and other studies we will argue that the feeling of impending threat and distrust generated by the present international context is affecting most minority-majority relations because of the repercussions of the global situation on the local tensions. In this situation the possibility to foster the awareness and empathy for the ''other'' appears closely linked to the capacity to develop a sense of agency which can channel the strength stemming from the anger and allow a plural identity affirmation. Implications for prevention and intervention will be discussed.