They may be required to participate in harrowing training or initiation ceremonies, to undergo hazardous labour or to engage in combat – with great risk of death, chronic injury and disability. Additionally, average age of children recruited as soldiers appears to be decreasing.
While the United Nations mandate on the prevention of the malpractice of the recruitment and use of child soldiers has increased since 2014, children are still recruited and used as child soldiers. It is of great importance for African Governments to work together to stop wars as a viable solution to ensuring the protection and prevention of recruitment and use of child soldiers. Putting an end to war today preserves the future generation. [28], Burundi: Children as young as 8 years old were regularly recruited into Burundi's army, typically to serve as doria, a term meaning "ear agent" in Kirundi. “In reality, though, IDPs flee because their government cannot or will not protect them”34 – meaning that, in many cases, IDP camps remain almost unprotected, thus turning into major recruitment grounds, infiltrated by fighting forces. [89], The role of international actors has been crucial in protecting children from recruitment into armed forces. War incline inter-generational hatred and fights among generations and creates long lasting violence and long-lasting moral injuries on children and their families. Whether this progress continues or not will also depend on the assistance provided to disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration. “During active hostilities children in the LRA were forced to participate in combat and to carry out raids, kill and mutilate other child soldiers and civilians, and loot and burn houses.”23 Although most parents and family try to hide and protect their children, many of them get taken anyway – as in the case of an adolescent who had been abducted at the age of 16 in Sierra Leone: My Dad and I were planting rice and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) came and captured us. Some children were sent to the Gitagata Re-Education Centre for males below 14 years of age. While “[i]nternational law mandates respect the civilian and humanitarian character of refugee camps and prohibits refugee participation in military activity”,33 the same does not hold true for IDP camps. Child Soldiers in Africa refers to the military use of children under the age of 18 by national armed forces or other armed groups in Africa. Countries with Child Soldiers Central African Republic (CAR): The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) helped release more than 2,800 child soldiers in CAR in 2014. To understand the living situation of many African children, it is essential to recognise the risk involved with a post-conflict society relapsing into conflict. [4] Children from Burundi were also recruited to fight in the conflict within the Democratic Republic of Congo. Within a time span of a decade, according to Paul Collier et al., this risk is as high as 40%7 meaning that many children live in an environment that is constantly under threat of reverting to conflict. Removing children from their homes and separating them from their families makes it easier for armies to be recruit children because it makes them feel like they are part of a family again. [28], Past conflict shows no evidence of using or not using child soldiers. [53], Children have been used in the military for decades in Sudan.
As a result, children have been used as soldiers within Chadian forces as well as other armed groups both within Chad and neighboring Sudan. [62] As a result, there has been an increase in efforts aimed towards assisting children on the mental level, in addition to the efforts aimed towards physical needs. [28], Malawi: There is no use of child soldiers in Malawi. [61] However, the concept of psychological trauma in former and current soldiers is a topic of inquiry that has only recently garnered attention—and the act of socializing children has been identified as a related topic of inquiry. “[T]echnological improvements in small arms now permit these child recruits to be effective participants in warfare,”15 which makes them almost as dangerous and effective as any adult soldier.
[4][5], In 2003, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that up to half of children involved with state armed forces and non-state armed groups worldwide were in Africa. [34], Chad: Governmental turmoil for the past several decades has further increased Chad's susceptibility to armed conflict, reducing the population of war-ready individuals. Push factors include “grievances, repression and discrimination”27 as well as poverty, lack of education and employment, abuse at home or – due to previous conflict – having no home or community at all any more.
cf. [71][72], Primarily, DDR programs (i.e., "Disarmament, Demobilization, Reinsertion and/or Reintegration") facilitate the reintegration of child soldiers. [4] The Ninjas, a branch of Ninja militia actively recruited child soldiers. The Paris Principles, which have been approved by the United Nations General Assembly, define a child associated with an armed force or group as: ...any person below 18 years of age who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes.
[28] The government estimated in 2003 that 10% of the armed fighters had been under 18; however it is suspected that the number is much higher. What’s more, families and communities may be coping with their own challenges and trauma from conflict, and have trouble understanding or accepting children who return home. Many enslaved people are those who make the products we use every day. While living among armed actors, children experience unconscionable forms of violence. This girl was 16 when she managed to exit the armed group that held her in the Central African Republic. It will have been worth it for the betterment of humanity and the protection of our youth.43, Receive latest updates, news and analysis from ACCORD, they are abducted, or conscripted through coercion or severe threats; or, Achvarina, Vera and Reich, Simon (2010) No Place to Hide: Refugees, Displaced Persons, and Child Soldier Recruits. Children become part of an armed force or group for various reasons. Not all recruitment can be said to happen involuntarily. ", "Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) - African Union - Peace and Security Department", "Reintegration of Child Soldiers in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: Challenges and Prospects", "Reintegration of child soldiers in Africa: a case study of Uganda 1986-2008", "Child recruitment by armed forces or armed groups | Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse | UNICEF", "End the Use of Child Soldiers | Cultures of Resistance", "Signatories & Dates of Ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in armed conflict", International Center for Transitional Justice, Uganda, Compiled recent news articles about Uganda, Human Security in Northern Uganda project, Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, "Child recruitment remains 'endemic' in DR Congo, UN says in new report", "Central African Republic: over 6,000 child soldiers may be involved in fighting, UN says", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Child_soldiers_in_Africa&oldid=972525359, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2018, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2018, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. People who are eligible for such programs include people who are associated with armed forces, regardless of gender or age-though specific criteria for eligibility varies from place to place. [90] The Additional Protocols to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, added in 1977, state that 15 is the minimum age for serving in armed forces. [80] Young female recruits, in particular, are often taken in as wives; which has its potential for gender-specific, psychological consequences as well. The Africa Renewal information programme provides up-to-date information and analysis of the major economic and development challenges facing Africa today. African Union-UN mission in Darfur welcomes rebel group order to ban recruitment of child soldiers . The few studies that exist of the impact of combat on abductees are interview-based or medical in nature. Other times, children are given drugs to alter their state of mind to facilitate the way their thoughts are shaped by people in command. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Paris Principles (Free Children from War conference), Optional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rehabilitation and reintegration of child soldiers, Child soldiers in the Central African Republic, Child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, "Fact Sheet: Children Associated with Armed Groups and Forces in Central Africa", "Child Soldiers International Annual Report 2016-2017", "FACTSHEET: How many child soldiers are there in Africa?
[6] In 2004, Child Soldiers International estimated that 100,000 children were being used in this way on the continent;[7] in 2008, an academic estimate put the total at 120,000 children, or 40 percent of the global total of child soldiers. HRW has been creating information databases on recruitment patterns of a number of agencies in these countries.
In most cases, restorative justice efforts involve the displacement of blame from individuals onto the conditions that forced them to enter into combat in the first place (e.g., environments where the lives of family and friends are constantly at-risk of death or harm, and where choosing to engage in military servitude can protect and help sustain the lives of close relatives and friends). Although the spread of light weaponry certainly does play a significant role in the use of child soldiers, it has to be borne in mind that children also participate in conflict without technologically advanced weapons. This approach not only aims at protecting civilians during war but also ensure the protection of children as a critical component to the attainment of peace and security. [8], Overall, incidences of child soldiers appear to be concentrated within Central and North Africa. There seem to be laws protecting children under the pretense that there is a minimum age requirement for military service in Togo (some sources say 18 years of age, while other sources say 20 years of age). Andvig, Jens C. and Gates, Scott (2010) Recruiting Children for Armed Conflict.
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