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Children in the ranks
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Sadly wars have been a staple of life since the beginning, they are the battles for freedom, the rise against oppression, but wars are also the force the enslaves and oppresses. Armed conflict has increased in scope an intensity, and the rise one has also seen the continual use of child soldiers, children have recruited for battle in countries such as; Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand and Uganda. According to UNICEF estimates, last year alone some 250,000 children served as soldiers, however other NGO's, such as HRW report figures as high as 300,000. Child soldiers continue to be used in Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, the Central African Republic (CAR), Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, the Philippines, Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Uganda.
While the numbers of child soldiers remain high, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers issued a report, the 2008 Child Soldiers Global Report, which stated that the number of conflicts in which child soldiers were used dramatically decreased from 27 countries using child soldiers to 17, over the previous 4 years. However while the report may highlight the decrease of child soldiers it is no time for rejoice, as children continue to be used as the pawns of war. Children are the largest victims of war in any conflict, however when children pick up arms, they become the collateral of war, forever scared by the images of war and abuse. As well children in many non-conflict countries remain in danger of being drawn into conflict, as the fragility of many states continues to place children at high risk of recruitment and abduction. One reason for the continued use and vitality of children in times of conflict is the impunity that remains for those who use children as combatants and sex slaves. In addition what has often been forgotten in reporting, and thus reintegration, is use of girls as child combatants, cooks, porters and sex slaves, as does the report highlight that reintegration programs for former child soldiers are highly lacking, as children are continually left out of the demobilization and reintegration programs.
In a sense 2008 was the year of the Child Soldier, as laws and policies were put on the forefront, as on October 3, 2008, President Bush signed the Child Soldiers Accountability Act into law. The Act “makes it a federal crime to recruit knowingly or to use soldiers under the age of 15 and permits the United States to prosecute any individual on US soil for the offense, even if the children were recruited or served as soldiers outside the United States.” Under the law the criminalization of the recruitment and, or, use of child soldiers allows the US the ability to arrest and prosecute, as well as deny entry into the country, or to deport individuals who are engaged in such activities. The law, while long over due is a start to putting the much needed pressure on some 30 countries that are now in violation of the act. However the law while a great step in ending the long running impunity of such crimes against children, is only one step on a long road to end the lingering suffering and instability that the use of children as weapons of war has caused. One can only hope that the new US law will now be put into action off the paper and congressional floor.
Earlier that year in a release issued on January 29, 2008, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged that he United Nations impose sanctions against those countries that partake in the use of child soldiers. Ban's statement was largely related to the Children and armed conflict Report of the Secretary-General, which had been issued one month earlier on, December 27, 2007, as the it's recommendations included;
“…that the Security Council give equal weight to all categories of grave violations, including not only the recruitment and use of children, but also the killing and maiming of children, rape and other grave sexual violence, abductions, attacks against schools or hospitals and denial of humanitarian access to children.”
Ban also asked the Council to refer violations against children in armed conflict to the International Criminal Court (ICC). in order to set “precedent” in an effort to put and end to the impunity of such unspeakable crimes against children. The ICC currently has arrest warrants issued for five senior heads of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), including LRA leader, Joseph Kony. However the issuance of such warrants has caused great debate on weather they cause more harm than good, as discussed in the following Foreign Policy Association article.
Therefore while laws, and the enforcement of such laws are greatly needed, one cannot fail to miss the individual needs of the child soldier in this fight. Sadly rehablitation and reintegration programs for child soldiers are far too few, and the ones operating are overstretched and underresources. Therefore we must also look to provide sustainable programs which also work for demobilization and to reintegrate former child soldiers. A former child soldier's life is not returned to them once the gun is removed from their hand, we must ensure that they are not forgotten. Former child soldiers remain at risk for further violations, such as physical, mental and sexual abuse, they are also at high risk for HIV/AIDS, and are also at risk to become abusers themselves. As a global community we must act to ensure that not only prevention plans, laws and disarmament policies are put into place, but that adequate and extensive rehabilitation of former child soldiers is given top priority.
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