Street children, gathered volontarily by Russian officers, follow a unofficial rehabilitation
programme which includes military training. |
Jo
Becker of Human Rights Watch, one of the authors of a seminal report on child soldiers,
explains why their rehabilitation is crucial to building peace. The best programmes
judiciously combine modern child psychology with traditional rituals
How many child soldiers are there?
More than 300,000 children under 18 are fighting as soldiers with government armed
forces and rebel groups in 41 countries worldwide. Additionally, thousands of under-18s
stand ready for combat in 87 countries. While most child soldiers are 15 to 18, the
youngest age recorded is seven.
Are children recruited because there is a shortage of adult soldiers? Or is this
a more deadly form of child labour?
The more protracted the conflict, the more likely children will participate. Children
are cheap, more gullible, and easier to condition into fearless killing and unthinking
obedience than adults are. We’ve heard stories of children who have rushed into gunfire,
not realizing that the bullets could kill them. During the border war with Eritrea
in 1999-2000, Ethiopian government forces reportedly press-ganged [forcibly recruited]
thousands of students from marketplaces and villages, some of whom were used in human
wave attacks across minefields.
What pushes children into combat?
Many who have experienced or witnessed abuse by state authorities join to feel secure
or to protect and feed their families, which rarely works. Ethnic and indigenous
children are often targeted, as in Guatemala during the civil war. They are also
trafficked across borders–children from Rwanda and Uganda have fought in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, while Pakistani children have been used in Afghanistan.
The rebel Tamil Tigers group has used girls as suicide bombers in Sri Lanka because
they are less likely to arouse suspicion. Do you know of any similar examples of
female recruitment?
Significantly more boys are recruited, but in some conflicts, as many as a third
of the child soldiers are girls. They have been abducted in large numbers in northern
Uganda and Sierra Leone by resistance groups and used for combat duties and as sexual
slaves. They were also used in El Salvador during the civil war.
What is the impact of soldiering on children? Besides the obvious physical risk,
do they ever get over the psychological trauma?
The impact is dramatic. I’ve spoken to former child soldiers who have flashbacks
and nightmares about their combat experiences, and get nervous simply being approached
from behind. They are always on the alert, ready for an attack. Children have been
through years of military experience, but don’t know how to read and write, and have
no skills that can be used in a civilian economy.
What can be done to ensure that these children aren’t written off even though
they are generally illiterate and have no job skills?
If they have support and are given a second chance at education or vocational training,
they can become very successful members of society. It’s important to have long-term
programmes in place. In Liberia, there was a very rapid demobilization of child soldiers
followed by very few rehabilitation programmes, so many children ended up being re-recruited
or joined criminal gangs. In other places like Angola or Sierra Leone, conflicts
erupt again.
Ongoing programmes have worked well in Mozambique and in northern Uganda. The best
ones involve the community and combine modern psychology and child development with
traditional custom and ritual. This could involve the use of cleansing rituals to
help children feel that they are putting their war experiences behind them. In Mozambique
and Sierra Leone, children visited families of individuals they had harmed or killed
and contributed labour or built schools as restitution. Donors are committing more
resources to this critical area of peace-building, but a more consistent commitment
is needed if this problem is to be effectively addressed.
Global Report on Child Soldiers, 2001.
www.child-soldiers.org |
