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

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

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

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?

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

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?

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