Themes include war, conflict resolution, human rights, economic development, political philosophy, ethnic violence, interreligious dialogue, and more. The content of this refereed journal must meet standards of general scholarship. The journal has been published since , and is available in both print and electronic form. International Journal on World Peace.
Cite this Item. In , at least 2, minors were being held in Rwandan detention centres as genocide suspects ReliefWeb Further compounding the problem is the fact that many secondary schools in Rwanda refuse to accept former child soldiers for enrolment.
With no alternatives left, these children often decide to return to military service. The latest figures indicate that anywhere between 14, and 18, children are recruited into the armed forces every year Taylor As in the case of Angola, the crisis is spreading to neighbouring countries and having devastating implications for the region. Graphic media images of traumatised youth with amputated limbs have brought much international attention to the problem of child soldiers in Sierra Leone in recent years.
Current estimates are difficult to calculate since the problem is so widespread. While one report states that over 3, child soldiers are currently living in the bush with the RUF, a Civil Defence Forces commander claims that he has the same number of youth stationed in a single district in the eastern part of the country ReliefWeb Interestingly, Sierra Leone has an extremely high number of young females in the armed forces and militia groups.
It is estimated that a third of all underage soldiers are girls ReliefWeb Many former child soldiers are left homeless, sick, poverty-stricken, and incapacitated due to the brutality they suffered in combat. Since the outbreak of civil war in Sudan nearly two decades ago, the use of child soldiers has been a common practice among government armed forces in the north, the SPLA in the south, and a host of militia groups throughout the country.
Some groups have become somewhat dependent upon recruiting children for military service due to a lack of adult volunteers. The relentless fighting has resulted in the massacre of thousands of children in combat and has caused many to flee to nearby Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya. Finally, both government forces and insurgent groups engage in the practice of abducting children and selling them into slavery to generate income for the purchase of weapons Zihindula This figure is somewhat startling since the group is estimated to number around 12, Some reports indicate that LRA members commit heinous atrocities through an initiation ritual in which children are forced to gang up and kill other children with clubs, rocks, and pieces of firewood Taylor As previously mentioned, the group is known to have training camps for these abducted children in southern Sudan.
The LRA, however, is not the only organisation guilty of using child soldiers in combat. The ADF has also engaged in kidnapping young individuals from local schools and communities, especially in the south-western part of the country.
For instance, on 19 February , the group abducted 30 girls and three boys from a secondary school outside Fort Portal ReliefWeb Finally, the effects of the crisis in Uganda do not seem to differ drastically from those of other African nations that have been plagued with the same problem. The international community has made several attempts in recent years to alleviate the problem of child soldiers on the African continent. Numerous global and regional conferences have been held with the intention of initiating concrete measures that would discourage the use of children in combat.
In , the Security Council of the United Nations even passed a resolution condemning the practice. Unfortunately, these well-intentioned efforts have had limited success and the recruitment of underage soldiers continues to pose a major challenge to the political, economic, and social development of many African countries.
Let us briefly examine some of these most recent initiatives. In April , over representatives from more than 50 nations worldwide met for a four-day conference in Maputo, Mozambique, to address the problem of child soldiers on the African continent. The African Conference on the Use of Children as Soldiers opened with a report prepared by The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, which examined the legislation and practices in each African country by both governmental forces and non-state actors.
Those attending the Conference were given the chance to respond to the report and submit comments on the situation in their own particular country and how it could be improved. Throughout the four-day period, several group sessions were held that addressed important issues related to the crisis. Some of the topics included prevention of child recruitment, demobilisation and re-integration of child soldiers, preventing child recruitment by non-governmental armed groups, and legal and political aspects of the use of child soldiers American Friends Service Committee Furthermore, the document demands:.
Overall, the Conference and its resulting Declaration were a success and an extremely important step in fostering international co-operation to address the issue of child soldiers on the African continent. On 25 August , the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution , which condemned the use of child soldiers by any nation.
Preceding the adoption of the agreement, over 48 speakers gave testimony to the Security Council, voicing their concerns and opinions about the problem worldwide during an all-day debate. Fred Beyendeza from Uganda stated before the Council:. Nothing could be more painful to my country than the systematic abduction, torture, detention, enslavement, mutilation and killing of its children, as has been happening for 12 long years in northern and western Uganda.
Terrorist groups often target defenceless women and children between 11 and 16 years of age, at times abducting younger ones of 5 to 9 years, often after massacring their parents and relatives.
Violations against children should be classified as crimes against humanity. United Nations Press Release My country was one of the many that had faced the problem of children in armed conflict for several years. Efforts by the Angolan Government to protect the children caught in the vicious circle and to alleviate their suffering had been consistently hindered by the actions of the bandits that continued to pursue the war in Angola as a means to reach their goals.
There is little doubt that the personal testimonies of these and other individuals from warn-torn countries helped to influence the Security Council to take concrete steps to alleviate the crisis and unanimously adopt Resolution Resolution is an important global effort to protect the rights of children in many ways.
Not only does it address the problem of recruiting youth for military service, it also focuses on many aspects involving their safety, security and well being in internal conflicts and interstate wars. For instance, Article Ten urges all participants in armed conflicts to:. Take special measures to protect children, in particular girls, from rape and other forms of sexual abuse and gender-based violence in situations of armed conflict and to take into account the special needs of the girl child throughout armed conflicts and their aftermath, including in the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
United Nations Security Council Resolution It strongly urges the international community to restrict or limit small arms transfers to countries in which the problem of child soldiers is particularly acute or has the potential of becoming so in the future. Even though the overall effectiveness of Resolution has yet to be determined, it is, nevertheless, an important step in the right direction by the international community to end the use of children in combat.
This document was an early effort by the international community to protect and preserve the fundamental humanitarian rights of all children, including the right to life, adequate health care, and freedom of expression, conscience and religion.
As the problem of using child soldiers in combat began to attract worldwide attention and condemnation, this Resolution alone was no longer adequate. Although this agreement was ratified and opened for signature on 25 May , it is still not yet in force. As of December , 74 nations had signed the Protocol and only three had ratified it Commission on Human Rights Amongst those who have not is the United States.
Current U. This conflict of interest has caused the U. Without U. A number of international conferences have been held in recent years to address the problem of child soldiers in both Africa and around the world. Representatives from across the globe have attended these forums in order to bring unique perspectives and suggestions on how to alleviate the crisis. These gatherings have varied in size and scope.
On other occasions, small non-governmental organisations NGOs have been the main sponsors. This week-long event was attended by a wide array of delegates and representatives from over 50 countries around the world. At first they were excited. I felt I could protect myself. But the boys soon found themselves thrown into frontline combat. A dozen former child soldiers interviewed in Pibor by the Guardian described the fear, confusion and shock of their first experience of war.
Many spoke of dreaming of their own deaths, or those of close friends and relatives. The battles between the rebels and the government were chaotic, with ambushes, clashes in deep undergrowth, terrific noise and often heavy casualties. Only the most rudimentary medical facilities existed. Others — even those who could have been saved by anyone with a basic knowledge of battlefield medicine and some proper dressings — died.
Baba, now 15, describes a clash with government forces. Everyone was firing … I was very afraid. The first time I fired my gun I shot off all my ammunition in one go. The soldiers were attacking our rear areas and people were being killed all around. People were running everywhere, falling down. I fell down too. So did my brother. But he did not get up … We covered his body with leaves and left him there. I think of his face every day.
He was my best friend. We did everything together. Lischer recognises two main patterns by which children are recruited in refugee and IDP camps: the militarisation path and the insecurity path. As visualised above, both the militarisation path and the insecurity path are actively used in refugee camps to recruit new child soldiers.
The presence of non-civilian militants among refugees can lead to refugee militarisation, and subsequently to the recruitment of child soldiers. Insecure camps, on the other hand, pave the path for the abduction of refugee children by militant groups, while the insecurity path over time leaves room for potential child soldier recruiters to infiltrate the camps and indoctrinate children and adolescents. Due to this realisation, non-governmental organisation workers and volunteers often try to protect refugee and IDP camps by their mere physical presence, trying to deter recruiters:.
In , riots in a camp for internally displaced persons in Darfur, Sudan, forced the evacuation of aid workers and journalists from the camp. The only security force consisted of a handful of unarmed African Union soldiers. Such situations leave children particularly vulnerable to abduction and recruitment, since many children in these camps lack family protection or support by relatives. Now the question is whether we will commit ourselves to the protection of our most precious heritage, our children.
In sum, the recruitment of child soldiers is more complex than it initially appears. Each individual child has a different life story and upbringing, as well as individual reasons to either try to stay away from armed forces and groups or to join them — if they have not already been forced to join the ranks. For some children, joining a guerrilla movement might be the most attractive alternative to stay alive, given the social, structural and political conditions.
In other words, the universal condemnation of the recruitment of child soldiers needs to take the issue of alternatives into consideration. What if the alternative is worse than becoming a child soldier? If the recruitment and re-recruitment of children as soldiers is to be prevented, then the economic, social and individual environment of potential recruits must be taken into account.
Finally, the reintegration of former child soldiers should aim at preventing further recruitment. It makes no sense to simply let it happen and then provide aid after the damage has occurred. In addition to the idea that successful reintegration can serve as a recruitment prevention strategy itself, other strategies should also be employed.
There are other strategies that must be combined to have an effect on the recruiters of child soldiers. Whether this progress continues or not will also depend on the assistance provided to disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration.
The recruiters of child soldiers should be held accountable by international as well as national agencies. Dealing with the highly complex issue of recruitment and the reintegration of child soldiers — and, possibly, even the future prevention of their employment — is a very challenging problem with significant consequences and impacts. But, Dallaire reminds us to remain indefatigably positive and steadfast in our quest to end the recruitment of child soldiers:.
So what if it takes forty or fifty years to end the use of the child soldier […]? It will have been worth it for the betterment of humanity and the protection of our youth. Please note: This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.
By Anne-Lynn Dudenhoefer.
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