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Global
report on child soldiers launched
BY
SALLY ACHARYA
As
many as 300,000 children are being used as soldiers around the world,
according to a worldwide report that had its formal U.S. launch
Nov. 17 at AU’s School of International Service (SIS).
The
SIS lounge was standing-room only for a panel to mark the release
of the “2004 Global Report on Child Soldiers” by the Coalition
to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. The coalition is a group of leading
international human rights and humanitarian organizations whose
members include Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
“Children
are being used in nearly every armed conflict in the world today,”
said panelist Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch. Rebel insurgents,
paramilitary groups, and even governments are using children, and
at least 10 countries use children on the front lines, including
Uganda, Burundi, and Burma, she said.
It’s
impossible to learn with any certainty the precise number of children
around the world who serve in military camps, carry supplies, and
even wield weapons in combat, Becker said. But the report, which
covers a three-year period to March 2004, found that the number
of child soldiers appears to have remained the same in spite of
an international outcry and significant efforts to reduce their
numbers. Even as some conflicts wind down and children are demobilized,
other conflicts heat up and draw in more underage participants,
she said.
In
Africa alone, up to 100,000 children are estimated to be involved
in hostilities, with some 20,000 children involved in the conflict
in Sudan and as many as 30,000 children in arms in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
In
Colombia, as many as 14,000 children have been recruited by paramilitaries
and armed opposition groups, with children being forced to commit
serious human rights violations.
Even
peace agreements don’t always bring an end to hostilities for
child soldiers. In Liberia, a peace agreement was signed in 2003
after a conflict that included recruitment of children as young
as seven. But some of these child veterans have since made their
way to Cote d’Ivoire to fight as mercenaries.
In
Sri Lanka, a two-year cease fire has failed to end child recruitment.
“In some areas, children are so afraid of the LTTE [Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eeelam] recruiters that they have dropped out of
school because they’re afraid they could be picked up on the
way back and forth,” Becker said of forced recruitment by the
armed opposition to Sri Lanka’s government.
Children
join armed groups for many reasons, from coercion to financial desperation.
They may begin by working as intelligence gatherers, or may be recruited
initially to serve as a cook or porter, but could end up with rifles
in their hands. Sexual exploitation is also common.
To
compound the problem, it is difficult to achieve demobilization
without a peace agreement or the presence of international observers.
The leaders of many government and opposition forces claim to oppose
the recruitment of children. Yet the recruitment of child soldiers
“has become a profound phenomenon all around the world,”
noted panelist Ajay Bhatt of the U.S. Department of State, even
though there is an “international consensus that children should
carry books and not arms.”
The
full report is available online at www.child-soldiers.org.
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Timely
topics prove popular with SIS students
“The
situation of children in the world, especially children who
are abused and exploited, is something that has come more
and more to public attention,” SIS dean Louis Goodman
told an audience that packed the room at the launch of the
“2004 Global Report on Child Soldiers.”
The
growing importance of the topic prompted the school to create
a graduate course last year, Children in International Development,
that proved so popular it was full within hours of the opening
of spring registration. This spring will also see the introduction
of a related course, Victims of Violence.
Global
children’s issues aren’t the only topics that inspire
students to go online a few minutes after midnight when registration
opens to ensure a spot in the classroom. By 9 a.m. on the
first day of spring registration, an unusual number of SIS
graduate courses were already closed.
“This
is the first time I remember this happening,” said Nanette
Levinson, dean of academic affairs at SIS, “I really
think what’s happening is we’re having more and
more wonderful students who want to make a difference, and
they want to equip themselves with cutting-edge knowledge.”
Among
the many SIS courses that filled up within hours were International
Security and Arms Control; Foreign Policy Analysis; Corruption,
Democracy and Development; the Psychological and Cultural
Bases of International Politics; Transnational Threats to
U.S. Security; and Islamic Sources of Conflict Resolution.
“It
really is extraordinary,” Levinson said.
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