April 14, 2003

The use of minors in armed conflict has been a case for concern for years. Despite ratification of international conventions and protocols to contain the practice, the number of children in active combat around the world is as frightening as the experiences of those forcefully abducted to fight. Efforts to re-integrate former child soldiers into society hardly bear fruits, reports Geoffrey H. Kaiza.

With new lightweight weapons that are easy to fire, children are today more easily armed and recruited in active combat.

UNICEF statistics indicate that there are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers, including girls, in some 30 countries around the world.

In the past two decades, child soldiers have played roles in countries such as Angola, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Congo, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Iran, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Somalia and Uganda.

Since 1990, as many as 10,000 children, some as young as eight years, boys and girls alike, have been abducted from their homes and schools in northern Uganda, and forced to join the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

LRA abductions are an outstanding example of deliberate targeting of children, in war situations. The lives of these children are at absolute disposal of the rebel commanders. They are tied together and forced to carry heavy loads, without food or water, in the rebel camps.

Those who protest or who cannot keep up to demands are killed. Many die along the way from fatigue and illness. Boys and girls are forced to beat and hack to death other captive children who are caught trying to escape.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1998, recruitment of children has increased.

An official communiqui aired on DRC national radio on August 7, the same year, called for children and youth aged between 12 and 20 years to enrol with the armed forces, in response to insurgency.

In addition to Kinshasa, DRC capital, recruitment reportedly took place at an airport in Mbuji-mayi and Kamina towns in central and southern parts of the country respectively, and Manono in Katanga Province.

A Forces Armies Congolaise (FAC) or Armed Forces of Congo commander in Kinshasa, who had carried out an informal survey of troops stationed there in November, 2000, found that one out of every fourteen FAC soldiers was under the age of 13.

In the same way, rebel groups in DRC have recruited children, whom they refer to as Kadogo (little ones), to support their military campaign against Kabila government. Some are aged only seven years.

In mid 1998, the national television featured a parade of what the government claimed were 5,900 FAC child soldiers in Mbuji-Mayi.

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which entered into force in November 1999, prohibits recruitment or direct participation in hostilities, of anyone under the age of 18 (Article 22).

The widespread availability of modern lightweight weapons enables children to became efficient killers in combat. Child soldiers are often used for special tasks, such as to commit atrocities against their own families and communities.

"I would like to give you a message. Please do your best to tell all the world what is happening to us children, so that other children don't have to pass through this violence," states a 15 year-old girl in Global Report 2001. She is a former abductee of Uganda's LRA

The report states that the problem is most critical in Africa and Asia, though children are also employed as soldiers by governments and armed groups in many countries in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East.

Observers say armed groups use children because they are easier to condition into fearless killing machines. In addition, they are often less demanding soldiers.

They are cheaper to keep as they eat less. They are also easier to manipulate. Some are sent into battle, high on drugs to give them courage.

In training, children undergo a brutal initiation, mostly involving killing or maiming those among them who either attempt to flee or are just not able to cope.

The West African nation of Liberia is still picking up the pieces after a brutal 7 year civil war, which left 150,000 people dead and displaced almost half the population.

It is estimated that 20 percent of the combatants in Liberia's civil war were children. They were among the most brutal fighters. Many of them killed, raped, tortured and even practised cannibalism.

The international labour Organisation (ILO) has defined child soldiering as one of the worst forms of child labour (ILO Convention 182, Article 3).

On 25 May 2000, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus, an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

The Optional Protocol came into force on 12 February 2002, and has to date been signed by 101 states and ratified by 22.

Article 32, of the Convention requires states to protect children from "any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education."

According to observers, military service jeopardises the health and safety of the children. Training can lead to death, injury and trauma, particularly during live-ammunition exercises and physical endurance programs.

Power relationships in the military camp makes young recruits particularly vulnerable to bullying, harassment, abuse and sometimes even rape.

A number of programmes for rehabilitation of child soldiers exist across Africa, such as in Mozambique, Angola and Somalia. However, it is not an easy process. The children have been brutalised and have carried out killings.

It is difficult for them to be re-integrated into society. "When I get older, I will organise a gang and seek my father's revenge." says Asif (12), a Sierra Leone ex-army soldier. This defines the picture.

All Africa News Agency