Human
Rights advocacy
Campaigns
to Stop Using Child as Soldiers
Child
soldiers global report 2004
The
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has published
its new Global Report which finds that child soldiers
are still being used in over 20 conflicts world-wide.
This report represents the most comprehensive global survey
of child soldiers to date. It says that children are fighting
in almost every major conflict, in both government and
opposition forces. They are being injured, subjected to
horrific abuse and killed.
The
Coalition accused governments at the European Union, G-8
and UN Security Council of a failure of leadership. It
called for the immediate enforcement of a ban on the use
of child soldiers. "Children should be protected
from warfare not used to wage it. Instead generations
are having their childhoods stolen by governments and
armed groups," said Casey Kelso, head of the Coalition
to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
"A
world that does not allow children to fight wars is possible,
but governments must show the political will and courage
to make this happen by enforcing international laws."
'Child
Soldiers Global Report 2004' reviews trends and developments
since 2001 in 196 countries. Despite some improvements
the situation remained the same or deteriorated in many
countries. Wars ending in Afghanistan, Angola and Sierra
Leone led to the demobilisation of 40,000 children, but
over 25,000 were drawn into conflicts in Côte d'Ivoire
and Sudan alone.
Opportunities
for progress, including the creation of and growing support
for a UN child soldiers treaty, the creation of demobilisation
programs in some countries and momentum towards prosecutions
of those recruiting children, have been undermined by
governments actively breaking pledges or failing to show
political leadership.
Although
the UN Security Council has condemned child soldiering
and monitors those using children in war, some members
have blocked real progress by opposing concrete penalties
for violators. The Coalition said that the Security Council
should take immediate and decisive action to get children
out of conflict by applying targeted sanctions and referring
child recruiters to the International Criminal Court for
prosecution.
Armed
groups, both government-backed paramilitaries and opposition
forces, are the main culprits in recruitment and use of
child soldiers. Dozens of groups in at least 21 conflicts
have recruited tens of thousands of children since 2001,
forcing them into combat, training them to use explosives
and weapons, and subjecting them to rape, violence and
hard labour. Governments, including Burundi, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Sudan and the USA, used children
on the front lines in at least 10 conflicts. Others, including
Colombia, Uganda and Zimbabwe, backed paramilitary groups
and militias that used child soldiers. States such as
Indonesia and Nepal used children as informants, spies
or messengers. Some governments, including
Burundi,
Indonesia and the Russian Federation, killed, tortured
or arbitrarily detained children suspected of supporting
armed opposition. Palestinian children detained by Israeli
forces were tortured or threatened to coerce them to become
informants.
Western
governments broke commitments to protect children by providing
military training and support to governments using child
soldiers, such as Rwanda and Uganda. The Coalition called
on governments to ban all recruitment of under-18s into
any armed force and to ratify and fully implement the
UN child soldiers treaty, which is helping to reduce the
numbers of children, used in hostilities. At least 60
governments, including Australia, Austria, Germany, the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the USA, continue
to legally recruit children aged 16 and 17.
Source:
The Child Rights Information Network (CRIN).
