HUMAN RIGHTS | Defending human dignity
01 August 2008
Children and Armed Conflict
Key Facts and Issues
The following is excerpted from the Child Soldiers Global Report 2004, issued by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
The majority of the world's child soldiers are involved in a variety of armed political groups. These include government-backed paramilitary groups, militias, and self-defense units operating with government support in many conflict zones. Others include armed groups opposed to central government rule; groups composed of ethnic, religious, and other minorities; and clan-based or factional groups fighting governments and each other to defend territory and resources.
The use of children in hostilities by official government armed forces has declined since 2001 but continues in some countries. Government forces also continue to use children informally as spies and messengers and to run errands, exposing them to injury and death, as well as reprisals by opposing forces. Some government forces target children for suspected membership in armed political groups. Such children have been arrested, detained, tortured, and killed.
Many child soldiers are between 14 and 18 years old and enlist voluntarily. However, research shows that such adolescents see few alternatives to involvement in armed conflict. War itself, lack of education or work, and a desire to escape domestic servitude, violence, or sexual exploitation are among the factors involved. Many also join to avenge violence inflicted on family members during armed conflict.
Forcible recruitment and abductions continue unabated in some countries. Children as young as nine years old have been abducted.
Demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration (DDR) programs specifically aimed at child soldiers have been established in many countries, both during and after armed conflict. Such programs have assisted former child soldiers to acquire new skills and return to their communities. However, the programs lack funds and adequate resources. Sustained long-term investment is needed if they are to be effective.
Despite growing recognition of girls' involvement in armed conflict, girls are often deliberately or inadvertently excluded from DDR programs. Girl soldiers are frequently subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as being involved in combat and other roles. In some cases they are stigmatized by their home communities when they return. DDR programs should be sensitively constructed and designed to respond to the needs of girl soldiers.
A series of international legal mechanisms provide for the protection of children from involvement in armed conflict. They include the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which prohibits the direct use of children under the age of 18 in hostilities, the compulsory recruitment of under-18s by governments, and any recruitment of under-18s by nongovernment armed groups. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court defines the recruitment of children under age 15 as a war crime and provides for the prosecution and punishment of offenders. International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 182 defines the forced or compulsory recruitment of any person under age 18 for use in armed conflict as one of the worst forms of child labor.
The U.N. Security Council has repeatedly called for action to stop the use of child soldiers. Proposed measures include dialogue with parties to armed conflict aimed at the immediate demobilization of children, and sanctions on those who continue to use children in hostilities.
Despite near-universal condemnation of child soldiering and a solid legal and policy framework, lack of political will is an obstacle to achieving concrete improvements and effective child protection on the ground.
Source: The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
Note: The full Child Soldiers Global Report 2004, issued on November 17, 2004, may be accessed via the World Wide Web at http://www.child-soldiers.org/resources/global-reports. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers was formed in May 1998 by leading international human rights and humanitarian organizations. The coalition's member organizations include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation Terre des Hommes, the International Save the Children Alliance, the Jesuit Refugee Service, the Quaker United Nations Office-Geneva, and World Vision International.
From the May 2005 edition of eJournal USA
