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13 June 2008
Former Child Soldier, Psychologist Discuss Child Soldiers
Ask America webchat transcript, June 12
Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier from Sierra Leone and author of the memoir A Long Way Gone, and Michael Wessells, a psychologist and professor and author of the book Child Soldiers: From Violence to Protection, discussed child soldiers around the world in an Ask America webchat June 12.
Following is the transcript:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of International Information Programs
Ask America Webchat Transcript
Child Soldiers Around the World
Guest: Ishmael Beah & Michael Wessells
Date: June 12, 2008
Time: 10:00 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT)
Webchat Moderator: Welcome to our discussion. We are taking your questions now. The live chat will take place today starting at 1400 GMT. Ask your questions below.
We'll be getting started shortly. Thank you for your questions.
Michael Wessells: I'm a psychologist who works with child soldiers worldwide on issues of reintegration. I work with many girl soldiers as well as boys. I'm also a member of the Paris Principles Steering Group which sets the global technical standards on how to reintegrate child soldiers. I'm passionate that we have to end this horrible exploitation of children.
Ishmael Beah: I am delighted to be a part of this conversation. My advocacy work is to continue educating and engaging the international public on the use of children in war, and more importantly, to put a human face to this experience so that it isn’t as distant as some would like to believe. I also want to make sure that people see that children can recover from this experiences, and that this possibility, though a long term process and difficult, that it is real.
I am currently in the process of forming an association of young men and women who as children had been used in war in various capacities but now doing remarkable things. I want to show the diversity of the success of the work to rehabilitate children coming from wars all around the world.
Webchat Moderator: We are now going to be taking your questions. One at a time.
Question [durlanacperica]: Can the children, who spend several pre-puberty and adolescent years fighting in a war formation, socialize AT ALL?
Answer [Ishmael Beah]: Yes, they can with the right care and support. It is a difficult and long term process but possible. It requires commitment and perseverance, not only during rehabilitation but post rehabilitation. And each child recovers differently. I used to be one of those children. With all honesty, there are some children who take longer to recover, and some it is difficult to say
Answer [Michael Wessells]: The brief answer is "yes." The vast majority of formerly recruited children are able to successfully reintegrate into civilian life, but they need particular supports to do this. Most children need education, mentoring, livelihood support, health, and psychosocial support. They may also need help in reconciling with their communities and dealing with issues of 'spiritual contamination' if they're in a society that is spiritually grounded. There's very little truth to the idea that formerly recruited children are somehow a 'Lost Generation' and beyond repair.
Q [durlanacperica]: Can such children accept peace conventions, petty injustices, feeling of helplessness in the devastated country…?
A [Ishmael Beah]: It all depends on what happens in the post conflict period, whether there is a truth commission, local healing methods, and opportunities for the children to do something else with their lives. Socializing the children requires a strong community (society) involvement, as the community too needs to heal and learn to accept the children again. This gets rid of stigma and brings about a holistic healing for the society not just the children.
A [Michael Wessells]: Many children come out of armed forces and groups with behavior issues such as aggression. Yet with support they can turn the corner and become citizens in civilian life. They can also become some of the best peacebuilders--Ishmael is a living example of this.
Q [Kuba]: Dr. Wessells, you are researching affect of girls in warfare. Is this problem widespread? Ishmael, did you encounter girl soldiers in your homeland?
A [Michael Wessells]: Yes, the problem of girls' recruitment is widespread, as girls make up 40% of the recruited children in some armed groups. Often the girls are used as porters, domestics, and sex slaves, and sometimes they are combatants and even commanders--it varies greatly according to the context.
The problems faced by girls are different from those of boys as many become pregnant and give birth, and many experience extreme reproductive health issues, STIs, and much greater amounts of stigma than do boys. In Angola, the stigma was so great that the girls chose not to identify themselves, and people believed for a time there were no girl soldiers even though research by CCF has indicated there were nearly 10,000 girls recruited. They had been specifically recruited to do things such as carry heavy loads long distances quietly to escape enemy detection. The problems faced by girls don't end with the signing of a peace accord--they are typically discriminated against and left out of formal processes of disarmament, demobilize…
A [Michael Wessells]: Looks like my answer got cut off, so now I continue: The girls are typically left out of formal processes of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. Yet the girls have enormous resilience and with community support can become good mothers and citizens. In current participatory action research with girl mothers in Sierra Leone and Liberia, the girls are very active in becoming effective citizens--the key message as Ishmael says is gaining community support and helping girls construct positive roles and find a place in their villages or living area.
A [Ishmael Beah]: Yes, there were lots of girls who fought and were exposed to the same things as the boys. I chose not to write about them because it isn't my experience and they have a double suffering if you will. They do not only fight but serve the supportive roles of cooking, carrying food, and sexually abused by groups. Sri Lanka has one of the largest numbers of girls used as soldiers. I believe that the image of a child soldier that has been portrayed internationally has been the boy with the AK-47, there are also girls, and their recovery is even more difficult as some become mothers during the war. And sadly, they are usually they last to be released from fighting forces.
In Sierra Leone, my country, we had a big problem of not dealing with the girls at the end of the war. There is also a strong stigma in communities about girls who have been sex slaves so they often won't come to seek help to avoid that stigma.
A [Michael Wessells]: Ishmael, I'm really pleased you mention this problem of stigma since it's profound and fundamentally greater for formerly recruited girls than for boys. This means that reintegration programs have to be tailored to fit the distinctive needs of girls.
Q [Kuba]: Ishmael, truly an honour. You are now truly "A Long Way Gone" from your homeland. How did you adjust to US life?
A [Ishmael Beah]: Thank you. I am still adjusting! It took a lot of time to learn to live in a different culture and things were quite overwhelming. I just had a really great family here that allowed me the time to rest, have a home and feely unconditionally loved again. I am still learning to adjust to the winter particularly. I know it will come every year so there is nothing I can do about it.
Q [Wil]: Where does the problem exist mostly today?
A [Michael Wessells]: Several of you have asked the same question in different ways. Currently, large numbers of child soldiers are used in countries such as DRC, Darfur, Chad, Sri Lanka, Colombia, and Myanmar, which is the single largest recruiter. There are many more countries that recruit--a good source is the website of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (http://www.child-soldiers.org/home).
Many countries are susceptible to use of child soldiers--any country that has large numbers of unemployed, poorly educated youth who spend most time idling and feeling disenfranchised are at risk. Any country that has an active armed conflict can expect that troop hungry commanders will use children to fill their ranks. And sadly, even highly developed countries such as the U.S. and U.K. continue to recruit children, though they stay within the limits of international law.
A [Michael Wessells]: I also wanted to add that in countries where there is a conflict and people see themselves as fighting a struggle of liberation from oppression, there is a tendency for teenagers to find meaning in the struggle and turn to violence as a means of achieving political objectives they believe they could not achieve in other ways. We see this in Occupied Territories of Palestine, Sri Lanka, and in Iraq, where significant numbers of children choose to fight in order to achieve what they see as liberation from external domination.
Webchat Moderator: We're still taking your questions. Please be patient as our guests review and respond to them.
Q [Waterfall]: For Ishmael Beah - You a person who has come to believe strongly in non-violence. Yet, do you think that there are situations in which war and violence may be necessary?
A [Ishmael Beah]: War always has a devastating effect, psychologically and physically on the human being involved, whether the war is necessary or not. With that said, I believe that some wars are necessary, if all diplomatic means have been exhausted and the purpose is to protect human life and human dignity and rights.
A [Michael Wessells]: Views on this complex issue vary greatly, and it's very difficult to find easy answers to such questions. A great deal depends on context. My personal view is that the vast majority of wars are preventable. I am a strong proponent of nonviolence and do not see the use of military approaches as ethically appropriate or effective in a large number of situations. Often, the use of violence creates more problems than it solves.
At the same time, there may be cases where violence seems necessary. If Hitler were invading the U.S., it would be hard at that point for me to say fighting is unnecessary. Yet the key point is that even the rise of Hitler was preventable if we think back to bad decisions at the time of the Treaty of Versailles and events before that leading up to World War I. My hope is we can focus on prevention of war and violence to a far greater extent than we do as a nation or as a global community.
Q [Anne Wiater]: First of all I'd like to say I think you are an inspiration to young people around the world. My question: I ready you were trying to form a group of former child soldiers who would go on speaking tours and try to help other former child soldiers. Has that happened yet?
A [Ishmael Beah]: Thank You Anne Wiater. The Association of Former Children Affected by War is still in its formation. I have Emmanuel jal from Sudan, China keitesi from Uganda, and others on board now and we are just trying to form our mission and statement and launch it at some point. You will hear of it.
Q [si]: what works UNICEF & CCF do for children in war?
A [Michael Wessells]: Addressing child soldiering requires collaboration between UN agencies, NGOs, and many stakeholders. UNICEF has taken a lead role in developing guidelines for the prevention of child recruitment and also for the reintegration of former child soldiers. They also work in many countries to secure the release of recruited children and to see they receive appropriate support. Often, UNICEF plays a key role in organizing children's reintegration in particular countries. But UNICEF doesn't actually implement programs in villages and communities. Here it turns to partners such as Christian Children's Fund and other NGOs.
CCF is very active in working with communities to accept home formerly recruited children and to develop holistic, culturally grounded supports of the kind I mentioned above. The things that work vary by context but it all begins with community mobilization, engaging local resources such as religious leaders, influential women and men, youth groups, local healers and others. It requires helping children find a role and a place in the community and to be contributing citizens. CCF finds in its work that the best approach includes youth participation--reintegration programs are more effective when they are guided by the voice, perspectives, and priorities defined by young people themselves.
A [Ishmael Beah]: From a personal experience, UNICEF (in addition to having its own programmes) funds, partners and collaborate with local initiatives and other NGOs to form rehabilitation centers, schools, health Issues relating to children and women coming from wars etc. UNICEF also goes into the bush and engage with commanders to convince them to release children from their ranks. There is also an advocacy side of things which is to continue raising international attention to the situation and showing the need and importance of taking care of the most vulnerable members of any human society, Children.
Webchat Moderator: We are just about out of time for today's webchat. The following will be our last question. We hope you will understand that our speakers made an attempt to answer as many questions as possible during the 60 minutes we had for today's chat.
Q [Wil]: Mr. Beah, thank you and also Mr. Wessells. Mr. Beah, you are one very fortunate person and it is probably a miracle you have come to be where you are. Do you have a hope for an end to children soldiers?
Michael Wessells: Ishmael show amazing resilience and is an inspiration to all of us. Many formerly recruited children can turn the corner and find a place in civilian life if they receive support. But this requires funding and international will. I'm hopeful we can address is issue by collaborative advocacy with governments. I'm also hopeful that if we strengthen the International Criminal Court and prosecute the recruiters of children, we can deter recruiters. But we also have to prevent armed conflicts because in a very real sense the war comes to the children through attacks on their villages. We need a strong, global program to support youth peace building in order to address this problem. I'm hopeful that if we each define our role and do our part, we can find ways to prevent this scourge of exploiting children.
Ishmael Beah: It has been wonderfully to have this forum with all of you. Thank you for your time and curiosities about this issue. Regarding the last question, I do have hope that the use of children in warfare will end. The work towards that is a difficult one, as there are many facets to make this happen. From NGOs, Government, those affected and those not, international law to hold people accountable for using children, and those that sell small arms in conflict zones. And more importantly, a preventive measure which is to get to the root causes of these wars. I believe it will end, I was in it and I am no longer there. I have hope as I cannot afford anything else. The alternative of giving up is worse.
Webchat Moderator: We wish to thank Ishmael Beah and Dr. Michael Wessells for joining us today. A transcript of today's webchat will be published to our Ask America homepage (http://www.america.gov/multimedia/askamerica.html) within one business day.
(Guest speakers are chosen for their expertise and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of State.)
(end transcript)
