1 / 7

Child Soldiers: Challenges and Solutions

Delve into the complex issue of child soldiers in developing countries, exploring their involvement in conflicts and the international initiatives addressing their protection and rehabilitation. Discover the blurred lines between victims and perpetrators and the transformative potential of post-war reintegration programs.

mckeej
Download Presentation

Child Soldiers: Challenges and Solutions

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Child soldiers Children in Developing Countries Renata Serra – March 29th 2007

  2. Child soldiers • Under-18 attached to any government, regular or irregular armed force • No reliable estimate of number exists • Boys mainly but also girls • Africa seems to have the largest number of child soldiers • Conflicts in Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, DRC, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda (and recently in Mozambique, Angola, and Sierra Leone) • Asia: Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Laos and Philippines, and especially Sri Lanka • Myanmar: the only country where government armed forces forcibly recruit children from age 12 • Middle East: child soldiers reportedly used in Iran, Iraq, Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in tribal groups in Yemen • Latin America: Colombia (14,000?) • Europe: Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation

  3. International standards and initiatives • 2002: the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict outlaws the involvement of children < 18 in hostilities • Thus raising the previous standard of age (15) set by the CRC, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols • 2002: the Statute of the International Criminal Court makes the conscription, enlistment or use of children under 15 in hostilities a war crime • First prosecution in 2006 against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, the leader of a militia group based in the northeast of the DRC • 2007: UNICEF sponsored Paris Meeting with 58 countries

  4. The issues • 1. How can these “new wars” emerge? What made possible such human tragedies? • 2. Children: Innocent or guilty? Agents or victims? • 3. Can children be prosecuted for their war acts? What initiatives and programs for children after the wars?

  5. The “new wars” • Warfare versus war • Multiple connections between wars • Sierra Leone & Liberia • Central Africa region • Total societal crisis • Predation of natural and other resources

  6. Children in war • Child-soldier is an oxymoron: difficult to comprehend • Liminal and interstitial space, in-between states • What are the features and steps of the initiation into a new culture of terror and violence? • Are there ‘other’ spaces/spheres the child can cut out for herself? • What are the possibilities and limits for child agency?

  7. After-war trajectories • Trauma and healing • DDR programs (disarmament, demobilization and reintegration) • Re-acceptance by community and family? • The extraordinary experience of Ishmael Beah, former child soldier in Sierra Leone • Read his newly published book “A long way gone” • Click here for a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3OcYVQ9o3o

More Related