CHILDREN IN CONFLICT

"Early on when my brothers and I were captured, the LRA explained to us that all five brothers couldn’t serve in the LRA because we would not perform well. So they tied up my two younger brothers and invited us to watch. Then they beat them with sticks until two of them died. They told us it would give us strength to fight. My youngest brother was nine years old."

- Martin, recruited by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda at age twelve[1]

The above tale is, sadly, not an uncommon one. The practice of child soldier use is pervasive throughout many parts of the world; Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Uganda and Nepal have been singled out by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as some of the worst offenders in this realm due to the military and non-state armed group exploitation of children. The heartbreaking tale of the "night commuters," the thousands of children living in Northern Uganda who chose to march into town centers to sleep in the streets and on benches every night in order to avoid abduction and forced conscription by the Lord’s Resistance Army made its way into mainstream media and caught the world’s attention in recent years.

As of June 2008, Somalia, Burundi and Uganda were in the headlines daily for the abuses of children in the context of the use of child soldiers. According to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, the military recruitment of children and their use in conflicts "is a much larger phenomenon that still takes place in one form or another in at least 86 countries and territories worldwide. This includes unlawful recruitment by armed groups, forcible recruitment by government forces, recruitment or use of children by militias or other groups associated with armed forces, their use as spies, as well as legal recruitment into peacetime armies."[2]

Children are sought after as soldiers because they can be easily coerced and trained, they are often too timid to resist orders and do not need to be paid. Because they are not fully developed physically and emotionally, they are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and can be forced to commit acts of violence that they are too young to understand. Once enlisted, child soldiers are horribly abused - they are physically exerted beyond their bodies’ capabilities, they are denied food and water, they are subject to physical and emotional torture, as well as rape and sexual exploitation. They suffer disease, malnutrition and injuries from training and battle.

How and Why Do Children Become Soldiers?

Many factors contribute to the child soldier phenomenon. While most children are abducted and forced into military service or involvement with non-state actors, others "choose" to enlist as an alternative to crushing poverty. The following is a list of a few of the many factors that contribute to this malady.

Lack of education - In many countries around the world, there is no access to free education. School fees and uniforms cost money and in a world where 1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day, often times, there isn’t money for children’s education costs. Children are sometimes easily coerced into joining armed groups as they have very little opportunity that awaits them.
Poverty and the lack of social services - Parents may encourage their children to join the military as it is the only guarantee of food, clothing, shoes and protection in some regions. When education and opportunities for employment are non-existent, life as a soldier becomes the only option for survival.
Ongoing wars - In times of war, a heightened demand for soldiers encourages the exploitation of children. Also, becoming a soldier may be the only option for survival in a war-torn vacuum of family, social and economic structures. Existing laws regarding the use of child soldiers are often not enforced in times of civil unrest.
Displacement - A familiar component of war, displacement similarly is coupled with a lack of social, family and economic structures that protect children and give them an alternative to violence.
Recruitment incentives - In countries with a high demand for soldiers, such as in Burma, recruitment incentives drive others to find new recruits. Children are promised cell phones, cars and money in return for service, when, in reality, they are being bought and sold by military officers.

Worst Offenders

Burma - Children have become a commodity in Burma, bought, sold and trained to kill by both the ruling military junta and by more than 30 non-state armed groups. Because of the pressure to meet recruitment quotas, high desertion rates and low morale, monetary incentives are given to those who find new recruits. Organizations such as the U.S. Campaign for Burma and Human Rights Watch work to raise awareness of these abuses.

Democratic Republic of Congo - Between the years 2003 and 2006, Congolese and international aid workers removed over 30,000 children from military units and armed groups and returned them to civilian life. Between June 2006 and May 2007, 1,400 children were removed from military service in North Kivu alone.[3] The International Rescue Committee is an NGO that has programs to help reintegrate and care for former child soldiers in DRC, Liberia, Uganda, as well as Burundi and Ivory Coast.

Liberia - Years of brutal civil war involved the participation of children in Liberia. According to Human Rights Watch, approximately 15,000 children were used in armed conflict in Liberia between 2000 and 2004. These children suffered horrible abuses - beatings, torture and psychological damage from being forced to kill; girls suffered rape and sexual slavery additionally. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers works to prevent the use and recruitment of child soldiers and assists in demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers.

Uganda - The LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) is notorious for kidnapping children and forcing them into military service. The twenty year conflict forced children into battle, according to the International Crisis Group; the LRA has abducted over 20,000 children to serve as soldiers or sex slaves in Northern Uganda. Resolve Uganda works to raise awareness and advocate on behalf of these children and the Concerned Parents’ Association works to rehabilitate and reintegrate former child soldiers.

Nepal - According to a 2007 Human Rights Watch report, 3,500 to 4,500 Nepali children have been forced into the Maoist forces. Many more children have been forced to runaway from home in order to avoid Maoist recruitment. UNICEF and national child rights NGOs, such as Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN) attend to the needs of these children.

What needs to be done to address this issue?

Enforcement of existing legislation - Enforcement of existing laws and commitments is absolutely paramount. In addition to laws against the use of children in conflict on a country by country basis, the Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits the use of soldiers under the age of 15 and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child raises the age minimum to 18.
Criminal penalties - While it is promising news that Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, leader of the Congolese armed group, the UPC (Union of Congolese Patriots), has been brought to the ICC on charges of human rights violations as well as a handful of Ugandan and DRC war criminals, they are just a few of many who must be brought to justice. While establishing criminal responsibility for the recruitment and use of child soldiers has been a slow process, international standards and domestic accountability must be established in order to halt this practice.
Address poor governance, social inequalities - Poverty is a large contributing factor to the prevalence of child soldiers. Discrimination and inequality continually fuel the epidemic.
Access to education and social services - Many times, children join or are easily coerced into militias and military service due to a lack of alternatives. If universal education were a common practice, children would have the guarantee of an education and hope for the future. Though, even with education, if no employment opportunities exist outside of schooling, children will continue to be at risk for conscription. Also, birth registration is an essential tool to prevent underage recruitment. According to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, inadequate birth registration procedures and low birth registration levels contribute to the prevalence of child soldiers due to an inability to guarantee credible proof of age.
Funding for DDR programming - Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration programs are essential to help child soldiers adjust to life post-conflict and to address the abuses they endured. They provide the former combatants with education and skills and assist them to return home. While the programs have been successful in many countries, they are chronically underfunded.