Child Soldiers

1. Child Soldiers Calvin Epps Rebecca Glass Brett Kier Romina Llona

2. Thesis Children forced to fight in armed conflicts suffer from consequences of trauma, and current measures in place to assist in demobilization are inadequate.

3. What is a Child Soldier? • “A person under the age of 18 who directly or indirectly participates in an armed conflict as part of an armed force or group.”

4. What is a Child Soldier? • Although many children are directly involved as a soldier, others are used in “combat support.” This includes roles as: • Messengers • Spies • Cooks • Mine clearers • Porters • Sexual slaves.

5. Who? • Both boys and girls are subject to child soldiering, although girls are more likely to be used as sexual slaves • Most child soldiers are aged between 14 and 18. • However, many countries recruit children as young as 7 to 9 yrs old.

6. Who? • Most soldiers under 15 are from non-governmental military organizations • “The number of children under the age of 18 who have been coerced or induced to take up arms as child soldiers is generally thought to be in the range of 300,000.” – United Nations • The Average Age in two separate surveys are 12 years old

8. Why Children? • Impressionable • Easy to brainwash • Given drugs • Uneducated • Obedient • No alternatives • No family • Needs protection • Needs money to support themselves or loved ones • Sense of order

9. Why Children? • Singer Reading - Socio-Economic Changes - Technology Developments (small arms cheaper, easier to use, lighter, faster, more available) - New type of warfare (no morals, goal is money Cost effective - children eat less - occupy less space - more are available - don’t have to pay them

10. Ishmael Beah • Youtube clip: Ishmael Beahhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozsOLdgp_y0&feature=related

11. How Are They Acquired? • Rebels (36 Countries – Human Rights Watch) - Abduction/Force - Threatened to cut off limbs - Invisible Children of Uganda - Atrocities against own communities (excommunication) Interview - Gabriel Pech

12. How Are They Acquired? • Governments (17 Gov’ts – HRW) - Recruited lost/poor children (invisible children) - Persuasion (magical powers, brotherhood) - Cultural (juju will protect)

13. How Are They Used? • Males for (in addition to mentioned before) fighting, suicide missions, supplies carriers. • Females for sex, cooking, cleaning, etc. • Training Camps teach duties - ex. Smallest boys closer to the enemy

14. Consequences • “Requiring children to commit heinous acts…alters identity: the children must…look to the commanders for survival” • “Headaches, irritability, tremors, digestive problems, difficulty sleeping”

15. What Has Been Done The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Adopted by Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1990, not entered into force until 1999) The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Adopted in 1998, entered into force in 2002)

16. What Has Been Done The ILO Convention on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (1999) The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Adopted in 2000, came into force in 2002)

17. Example: Cote D’Ivoire • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iQG_MPt2Ao

18. Example: Liberia The typical child soldier in Liberia was a boy in primary school when he joined the faction (s). After spending a considerable time of 3-5 years fighting, he disarmed when he was between the ages of 15 and 17”

19. Issues with Current Programs • Lack of infrastructure in many countries • Cultural Taboos--Girls, especially, are not welcomed back home • NGOs doing a majority of work

20. Solutions • International Community - Bring People (leaders) to ICC - Ex. Situation in DRC. 1st case 2006 (Prosecutervs Thomas LubangaDyilo) - Trade Sanctions - Share traditions/attitudes

21. Solutions • Governments - state to state agreements (US) - Dialogue - Guilty must admit to fault (show commitments, cultural changes) - Protective Legislation/Enforcement - Committee to Watch? Report? - Get rid of small arms - Re-integration

22. Solutions • NGOs - put pressure on governments - Shame practice - Educate people on issue - ex. Human Rights Watch, The Coalition to Stop The Use of Child Soldiers, Amnesty International

23. Solutions • Any Other Suggestions?

24. Picture credits • Slide 3: http://www.foxnews.com/images/180132/0_22_101305_child_soldier3.jpg • Slide 6: http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/crp-map.jpg • Slide 8: http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/human/image/p_survey.jpg

25. Credits • “Beyond Civil Society: Child Soldiers as Citizens in Mozambique” (JSTOR) • UN – http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/soldiers/soldiers.pdf Coalition – http://www.child-soldiers.org/childsoldiers/child-soldiers Human Rights Watch - http://hrw.org/campaigns/crp/fact_sheet.html UNICEF - "Fact Sheet: Child Soldiers," http://www.unicef.org/protection/files/childsoldiers.pdf.) Quaker United Nations Office - Why do adolescents volunteer for armed forces or armed groups? (Rachel Brett) Phillipine Coalition to Stop the Use of Children as Soldiers- Armed or Not, They Are Children: A Primer on the Use of Children as Soldiers in the Philippines Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers - Global Report on Child Soldiers http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/human/child/survey/profile3.html http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/human/child/survey/challenge.html