Children

Chad has agreed to release all former child combatants held in detention, while armed rebel groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) have also committed to freeing any children in their ranks, a top United Nations envoy announced June 2
after a six day trip to the two countries. In Chad the Government has agreed to let UN agencies visit army camps and training centers to verify the releases and identify children, Coomaraswamy told reporters in New York, after completing her visit. A Government task force on reintegration of children will also be created. (UN News Service)

“I have been given assurances that parties involved in conflict have agreed to free children in both countries,” the UN’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy said in a statement.

Coomaraswamy also noted that despite this there still have not been any commitments made non-government armed groups, who continue to “recruit a great many children.”  Coomaraswamy, also stated that the UN was looking to get to the root of the issue of child soldiers in various countries where child soldiers are recruited.  An estimated 300,000 or more child soldiers are actively fighting in at least 30 countries around the world, according to both Amnesty International and UNICEF.


For more information see:
Early to War: Child Soldiers in the Chad Conflict (July 2007) - A 46-page report documenting how the Chadian army, its allied paramilitary militias and rebel forces have used and recruited child soldiers in both northern Chad and along the eastern border with Sudan’s Darfur region. The report is based on interviews with senior officers in the Chadian military as well as current child soldiers themselves.

From April 2004 and October 2007 child soldiers participated in armed conflict in Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, the DRC, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand and Uganda.

The report also highlights the often forgotten 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.

According to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers in the 2008 Child Soldiers Global Report the number of conflicts that use child soldiers has dramatically decreased from 27 countries using child soldiers to 17 in the last 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.

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.

Please see my previous post on Child Soldiers for more information and details on many of the current conflicts.

“Timoun se riches malere,” say Hatians: “Children are the riches of the poor.” (Skinner, pg.30)

Spring has begun to fill the air, the trees have begun to blossom and the city is a buzz with renewed energy. However there is a darker side to everyday life for many, and tonight a light in the darkness was lit for them. Amid the sound of espresso machines steaming and after work chatter at DC literary hot spot, Bus Boy’s and Poets, there was another buzz in the air…the buzz of freedom!

There are some 27 million people enslaved in the world today…men, women and children seen as nothing more than disposable people. People whose lives are sold for costs of unprecedented lows, often nothing more than a cup of coffee. However tonight one could witness the drive and passion of two men who have stepped forward to answer the call of freedom for each and every one.

“Like plastic pens or paper cups, slaves and potential slaves are so numerous that they can simply be used up and thrown away.” (Bales, pg. 14)

Two men, one goal, separate paths! Both Bales and Skinner have seen the horrors of slavery first hand, and both have witnessed the strength of the surviver. It is this pain and heart that has driven both Kevin Bales and Ben Skinner to dedicate their lives to the fight to end slavery. Skinner literally takes you ‘Face-To-Face With Modern-Day Slavery”, in his writing you can hear the slave holders, feel the suffering of the children, smell the stench of slavery and the distant air of freedom. Bales then takes you into the plan, the plan on ‘How We Free Today’s Slaves’, his passion has taken him to do what no one dared. Bales has molded his undoubted authority and berth of knowledge into a formidable plan to rid the world of this plague. In both books you will find the face of slavery, a human face…a mother, a father, a child; you will hear the voices of suffering, strength, courage and hope.

“You are now about halfway to Delmas, and slaves are everywhere. Assuming this is your first trip to Haiti you won’t be able to identify them….Some are as young as three or four years old, but they will always be the small ones, even if they’re older….” (Skinner, pg. 5-6)

Both books are a must read and once you pick them up you wont be able to put them down without becoming an abolitionist. They say that the pen is mightier than the sword, and it is unmistakably true with both Ending Slavery and A Crime So Monstrous. However what makes both of these more than just a book is the men behind them…true heroes who have risked their lives to bring the plight of the enslaved worldwide to light.

Our children are not disposable…let us not see the children of tomorrow enslaved! Read, learn, fight and let us end slavery once and for all!

Dear Abolitionists,

Please join the fight against slavery and Stop Modern Slavery for an anti-slavery author talk and book signing on March 26th at Busboys and Poets, in Washington, DC.

Featuring:
Ben Skinner, A Crime So Monstrous. Ben is a journalist who traveled the world to document slavery, meeting slaves, slaveholders, traffickers and liberators. His book is a thought-provoking and deeply moving investigation of slavery today, and an in-depth look at the United States’ response to this global problem.

Kevin Bales, Ending Slavery: How We Free Today’s Slaves. Kevin is the world’s leading expert on modern slavery, President of Free the Slaves and a fellow DC Stop Modern Slavery member. Kevin has researched slavery for over 13 years and has written extensively on the subject, including Pulitzer Prize nominated Disposable People in 1999. In this book, he outlines the first comprehensive plan for ending slavery, Forever!

With photos by Kay Chernush, who was commissioned by the US Dept. of State to photo-document slavery around the world.

For more information e-mail organizers@stopmodernslavey.org.

Authorities in the Republic of Congo have lifted a temporary ban imposed four months ago following the arrest on 25 October 2007 in neighboring Chad of members of a French NGO who were charged with abducting 103 children.

Nutrition experts say governments are not investing enough to prevent and treat malnutrition in women and children in poor countries. “The amount donors have given to combating malnutrition is lamentable,” Saul Morris, one of the authors of a series of reports on child survival published recently by The Lancet medical journal.

In Egypt a drive to boost girls’ education, the drive is sponsored by the government and the UN. The goal is to build over 1,000 “girl-friendly” schools in seven provinces, as there due to the low attendence of girls. Many girls do not attend school due to the proximity of schools, poverty, child labor, gender inequality, and early marriage.

In Sudan around 650,000 or half of all children in Darfur do not receive an education, despite efforts by various organizations to provide schooling in camps and towns across the western Sudanese region, according to Save the Children.

In Chad many young people desperately seeking sex education. Some of the young people who seek help at the Youth Information and Orientation Centre for Reproductive Health (CIOJ) in N’Djamena, capital of Chad, do not understand how they became pregnant or contracted a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Workers at the center blame the high levels of ignorance on the failure of parents to talk to their children about sex.

Burundi’s teachers are calling for more HIV/AIDS education in schools, to ensure that older primary school pupils and secondary school students, many of whom are sexually active, are properly equipped with the facts about the pandemic. Ernest Mberamiheto, deputy minister in charge of primary and secondary education, said government studies in 2004 revealed that 23 percent of school children had had sexual intercourse by the age of 14.

In the Niger Delta there is no lack of youth ready to join militias. And while many young boys want out of the fight disarment will still leave wages twice or three times less, leaving many feeling that the life of a militant is the only hope for economic stability.

Israel sentences man for “honor” killing of sister, the court handed down a 16-year prison sentence Tuesday against a man accused of participating in the killing of his sister, after women in the family stepped forward to testify against the suspect. The sister was the eighth female family member to be killed in recent years, but this was the first conviction in any of the cases. She was 18 at the time, and was the eighth female member of the Abu Ghanem clan to have been killed in seven years

Meningitis is spreading across the region with the death toll reaching 422 since the beginning of 2008 yet, contrary to several recent reports, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said the figures are lower than previous years and that West Africa is well-prepared to contain the disease. Low cost meningitis vaccine developed, which has proven to be highly effective in trials in West Africa, and will be introduced in 2009.

South African schools are the most dangerous in the world, and if the issue is not addressed it will stunt children’s education and jeopardize the future development of the country, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). However experts warn that safety is part of a more complex problem.

Sri Lanka has been engaged in a civil war for 25 years, causing displacement, death, and poverty, and while many have longed for peace it appears it now one step farther away, as on January 16, 2008 the Sri Lankan government ended a 2002 ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Since calling off the ceasefire agreement dozens of innocent civilians, many children have become the targets of hostility. Currently their are some quarter of a million people displaced, a large majority of whom are children, left without their basic fundamental rights to education, healthcare and nutrition.

The escalating war takes toll on children, as more are killed and injured in attacks attributable to the Tamil Tigers, and fighting with government forces. Many of those injured or killed have been children on their way home from school. The result of the attacks have left massive disruption to education as parents flee their homes in search of safety to escape the bombing attacks. Since the beginning of 2008 at least 21 child deaths have been reported in assaults blamed on the Tamil Tigers and government forces in the northern and southern parts of the island.

“Both the Sri Lanka government and the LTTE are failing to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law and are killing civilians on an increasingly regular basis. With no perpetrators brought to justice a climate of impunity is becoming entrenched: unless these patterns are reversed the future appears bleak” said Tim Parritt, deputy program director for Amnesty International Asia-Pacific.

Additionally the use of claymore mines, a landmine type of explosive mostly hidden underground; explodes when stepped on or driven over, has escalated in the past three years have been used to indiscriminately target civilians, including children. On 29 January,2008 20 people, including 11 children, were killed as the school bus, which travels each day on the same route, was hit by a mine explosion (Claymore mines used to lethal effect). According to recent reports from Amnesty International, government forces are preparing to launch major offensives against the Tigers in the northern parts of the island, which will further intensify the violence.

Sadly`the lives of children are not only being destroyed by attacks and the crossfire of forces, but also by their recruitment as child soldiers. Countless thousands of child soldiers have been forcibly recruited by Tamil Tiger rebels during the 25 year conflict, some 3,516 during the period of the 2002 ceasefire with the government (UNICEF/HWR). The agency states that this figure represents only a portion of the total number of children recruited. Just this week youths with LTTE links surrender to Security Forces, according to government defense sources at least 44 youths (ages where not stated) surrendered to the Security Forces on Tuesday, February 26th to seek protection from the Human Rights Commission. While the recruitment of children has decreased in recent years, any use of children in combat remains a deplorable act. “Between 1 November 2006 and 31 August 2007, some 262 children were recruited by the LTTE, including 32 who were re-recruited, according to reports received by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). This represents a significant decrease as compared to the previous 12-month period, when 756 children were reportedly recruited, including 97 who were re-recruited (UN).”

The war, which has has left an estimated 70,000 people dead since the beginning of the conflict in 1983, continues to rage and in its wake one finds the innocent and the lost…the children. It is therefore apparent that neither the ceasefire agreement or the actions to call it off have been effective in eliminating abuses of children, and that all parties must be held accountable for their actions in both domestic and international law. As a global community we can no longer watch as decades more children in Sri Lanka are left to know nothing more than violence.

Uganda is Africa’s oldest conflict Since 1987, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has wreaked havoc on the people of northern Uganda, those bearing the brunt of this violence are children. Some 30,000 children have been abducted from their families and used as soldiers or sex slaves, while 12,000 civilians have been killed and 2 million displaced. Girls are often forced to be the ‘wives’ of their commanding officers, only to bare a new generation of child soldiers and sex slaves.

The government thus far has been unable to do much to subdue the LRA, which often uses neighboring Sudan for the launch of their attacks. However progress may be possible as while other talks have failed, the latest talks in Juba, Sudan have now ended with the LRA signing an historic agreement. The agreement, which was signed Monday February 18, 2008, on how to deal with war crimes committed during the 21 year old conflict in northern Uganda.

“We have agreed that severe crimes committed by the LRA during the war will be tried under a special division of the High Court in Uganda,” said government spokesman Capt. Chris Magezi.

Why the sudden change of heart after a year and a half of talks? The agreement will allow the LRA’s ’serious’ crimes to avoid trial at the ICC. As for Joseph Kony, the LRA’s leader and his top two commanders, the ICC issued a statement yesterday declaring that their current ICC indictments would still stand. See more on the situation and earlier talks in my previous post, Child Soldiers in Uganda.

The news of the agreement has left many with mixed feelings of hopefulness and skepticism. Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International felt the agreement was only an unacceptable way around the law, while others such as Human Rights Watch appeared to feel it was a step in the right direction. Regardless in a conflict with such idleness for anything other than violence, all talks and agreements are a step in the right direction.

This week marks Uganda’s Child Soldier Awareness week, so please take this opportunity to learn more about the situation in Uganda and of child soldiers across the globe, of which there are some 300,000. Please see my other postings on child soldiers.

What Can you do?

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.

Contact your Representative about the use of child soldiers, and the the importance of US support in international law and the passing of the aforementioned bills. Show your support for child soldiers and help fund DDR programs, and most of all use your voice to share the plight of child soldiers around the world, and the urgency to end this practice.

Links:
Child Soldiers 1379 Report
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
World Revolution
The Middle East North Africa (MENA) Regional Network to Stop the Use of Children as Soldiers
Stolen Childhood
Children with Guns
War Child
Optional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict
The Child Soldiers Project
USA Support Needed for International Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
Choike - Child Soldiers - In depth Information and Great Links
Human Rights Watch - Child Soldiers
Anna Kari - Has some amazing photos of Ugandan child soldiers
Invisible Children - Documentary about Child Soldiers and Night Commuters in Northern Uganda
NPR - Child Soldiers Fight Forgotten War in Uganda
Uganda Watch Blogspot
Arrest Warrant for Joseph Kony

Suicide bombers have become a mainstay in today’s modern warfare, we have become hardened by their continual actions and rarely does one become shocked to see headlines like, “suicide bomber kills 11″. Modern suicide bombing began in the 1980’s during the Lebanese Civil War, and has since spread to more than 12 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Palestine and Israel, with attacks in some 30 countries. The use of suicide bombers has dramatically increased since its modern beginnings in the 198o’s which saw an average of 4.7 attacks a year to 180 attacks a year in the first half of the 2000’s (The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism Fig. 1, p.128).

While suicide bombing incidents are now steadfastly becoming a weapon of modern warfare, these human bombs are most often not the sound and hungry disciples that their leaders and trainers portray in their rhetoric. Just this month two suicide bombers in Iraq where discovered to be mentally disabled, as following the deadly attack both bombers where revealed to have Downs Syndrome (Blasts in Iraq markets kill 91). Sadly the use of the disabled as suicide bombers is hardly an isolated case. A 2007 study in Afghanistan, found 80% of the suicide attackers had some kind of physical or mental disability (Disabled Often Carry Out Afghan Suicide Missions).

These are not heartless killers, but manipulated people who’s minds and bodies have been enslaved by the terror that is placed upon them over and over by those who see vengeance as a tool which wins battles. This misguided approach to warfare not only hinders the ability to win wars, but leaves countless victims that are manipulated into acts for which they do not understand the extent of their actions. Yes, it is true that many suicide bombers go forth with these acts of a sound mind and their own free will, but we must remember that what makes someone act in such a manner is still based on deception and misconception. However it is not these actors in which sends fear into society the most, it is the acts of mere children.

The use of child suicide bombers appears to be increasing, and while many children are educated and reared into this deadly fate, many are thankfully saved or removed before their actions have deadly consequences. Many have seen the images of infants and toddlers dressed in mock suicide bomber outfits in Palestine, and while they may not commit such acts when they grow-up, their fate is one undoubtedly leaning towards violence.

Many children are being taught the ways of suicide bombing in religious schools, others by their parents or other relatives, however it is the use of religious schools that are on the rise. In Pakistan this has been seen with the use `madrassah’ (seminary schools) as a source point of indoctrinating children into the life and death of a suicide bomber seems to be increasing. Rehma, her husband Shaukat fearfully removed their son Zarak from the seminary, and packed then moved the entire family away after they where shocked at his talk of suicide bombings and paradise (Child suicide bombers “victims of the most brutal exploitation”). In Pakistan the there were 56 suicide attacks in 2007 alone, a number which many fear will only rise in 2008.

The question of weather or not these children are terrorist or victims seems clear to many…they are victims of those who brainwash and lead them to this future less life. It is the cowards who prey on the innocent, never seeming to take action themselves, they just continue to spew this deadly rhetoric and watch as their victims take the lives of other innocent victims, that are the true terrorists.

Please see my previous posts on child suicide bombers here.

February 12 is the annual commemoration day to draw attention to the use of children in armed conflict and war. The Optional Protocol, Article 4, 6.3, adopted by the General Assembly in 2002 stipulates that state parties “shall takes all feasible measures to ensure persons below the age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities and that they are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces…to prohibit and criminalize such practices… and demobilize children within their jurisdiction who have been recruited or used in hostilities, and to provide assistance for their physical/psychological recover and social reintegration.”

In July of 1998, the ICC (International Criminal Court) adopted article 8.2.26—it was not entered into law until July 1, 2002. This law forbids the “conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into the national forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities” and therefore see’s such abuses as a war crime.

UN Security Council Resolution 1612 was passed on July 26, 2005. It is the first comprehensive monitoring and reporting system for enforcing compliance among those groups using child soldiers in armed conflict.

Teen terror suspect argues that current international law regarding to the use of child soldiers, rules out over the the governments efforts to prosecute him as a war criminal. Omar Khadr, was only 15 years old when he was captured and detained by United States military forces in July 2002, for throwing a grenade which fatally wounded a U.S. army sergeant.

Khadr, who is a Canadian citizen, and who’s father was a financial supporter of Osama bin Laden, appeared in court today at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Khadr’s defense lawyers argue that their is not substantial legitimacy of the military commission, which was created by the U.S. Congress in 2006. The defense argues that the commission was never intended for the trial of child soldiers, as it has no provisions for their rehabilitation, despite popular standing for rehabilitation. Additionally the defense team argued that international law specifically prohibits the trial of children as war criminals.

The United States has ratified a U.N. protocol calling for the rehabilitation of child soldiers and has given education support to former child soldiers in Afghanistan. however the International Criminal Court (ICC) has a statute making the conscription, or enlistment, of children or using them to participate actively in hostilities a war crime, however the statute is specific to children under the age of 15.

Regardless of the outcome the case has drawn international attention, and will set precedent for future cases, both within domestic and international courts, as sadly the number of child soldiers, and, or terrorists continues to blight the future.

Please share your thoughts and comments on this story with all our readers!

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