End Recruitment of Child Soldiers
UPDATED MARCH 2013
INVISIBLE CHILDREN: A Movement to end the violence in Africa
INVISIBLE CHILDREN: A Movement to end the violence in Africa
click to watch the video MARCH 2013
An update on INVISIBLE CHILDREN
graffiti credit: by bixentro from Flickr
THIS IRIN ARTICLE BELOW WAS POSTED ON MARCH 17, 2012. OTHER INFO PROVIDED HERE IS UP TO 3 YEARS OLD, BUT STILL HAS VALUE.
CLICK ARTICLE TO READ IN FULL
click image to go to their website
How many child soldiers are there? Who are child soldiers?
Why are girls considered child soldiers? Don't they just accompany the men and boys who do the fighting?
(answers at bottom .. but one stat is 120,000 girls are currently fighting)
How many child soldiers are there?
Which country or region has the worst record for using child soldiers?
Why is the minimum recruitment age for child soldiers set at 18? Surely in many "non-western" societies children assume "adult" responsibilities far below this age?
Does the Coalition support the recruitment of under 18 year olds into government armed forces?
Some child soldiers are known to have committed human rights atrocities. Shouldn't they be punished for such crimes?
Most child soldiers are used by non-governmental armed political groups. How can they be stopped from using child soldiers?
Click here For answers
________________________________________________________
Child Soldiers Library from http://www.child-soldiers.org/library/news
_________________________________________________________
By Mary Riddell
Published in Telegraph.Co.UK
Gilbert did not mean to kill anyone. He did not even intend to go to war. He was 10 when a relative enlisted him in a rebel army in eastern Congo and 12 when he led a raid in which his cousin died. 'I was ordered to kill the son of the leader in my village. I was put in charge of the group, and ordered to fire as people fled. The leader was my uncle; his boy was six years old.’
If Gilbert wished, he could make excuses for what he did. He could say, truthfully, that he would have been executed if he had failed to obey orders. In the frenzy of battle, he cannot even be sure whose bullet dealt the mortal wound. But, as the appointed leader, he shoulders all blame for an atrocity whose legacy he will never escape.
Gilbert is 16 now, and we meet in the transitional centre for former child soldiers where he has lived since UN peacekeepers rescued him two years ago. He is a solemn boy with a laddered yellow T-shirt and a face turned old by sorrow.
He has not told his story before, and READ FULL STORY
Why are girls considered child soldiers? Don't they just accompany the men and boys who do the fighting?
(answers at bottom .. but one stat is 120,000 girls are currently fighting)
How many child soldiers are there?
Which country or region has the worst record for using child soldiers?
Why is the minimum recruitment age for child soldiers set at 18? Surely in many "non-western" societies children assume "adult" responsibilities far below this age?
Does the Coalition support the recruitment of under 18 year olds into government armed forces?
Some child soldiers are known to have committed human rights atrocities. Shouldn't they be punished for such crimes?
Most child soldiers are used by non-governmental armed political groups. How can they be stopped from using child soldiers?
Click here For answers
________________________________________________________
Child Soldiers Library from http://www.child-soldiers.org/library/news
_________________________________________________________
By Mary Riddell
Published in Telegraph.Co.UK
Gilbert did not mean to kill anyone. He did not even intend to go to war. He was 10 when a relative enlisted him in a rebel army in eastern Congo and 12 when he led a raid in which his cousin died. 'I was ordered to kill the son of the leader in my village. I was put in charge of the group, and ordered to fire as people fled. The leader was my uncle; his boy was six years old.’
If Gilbert wished, he could make excuses for what he did. He could say, truthfully, that he would have been executed if he had failed to obey orders. In the frenzy of battle, he cannot even be sure whose bullet dealt the mortal wound. But, as the appointed leader, he shoulders all blame for an atrocity whose legacy he will never escape.
Gilbert is 16 now, and we meet in the transitional centre for former child soldiers where he has lived since UN peacekeepers rescued him two years ago. He is a solemn boy with a laddered yellow T-shirt and a face turned old by sorrow.
He has not told his story before, and READ FULL STORY
CHILD SOLDIER FACTS
- The problem is most critical in Africa, where children as young as nine have been involved in armed conflicts. Children are also used as soldiers in various Asian countries and in parts of Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.
- The majority of the world's child soldiers are involved in a variety of armed political groups. These include government-backed paramilitary groups, militias and self-defence units operating in many conflict zones. Others include armed groups opposed to central government rule, groups composed of ethnic religious and other minorities and clan-based or factional groups fighting governments and each other to defend territory and resources.
- Most child soldiers are aged between 14 and 18, While many enlist "voluntarily" research shows that such adolescents see few alternatives to involvement in armed conflict. Some enlist as a means of survival in war-torn regions after family, social and economic structures collapse or after seeing family members tortured or killed by gov .. ..
August 17, 2009 Girl Soldiers Are Neglected Casualties of War
by Cesar Chelala
"One of the tragic consequences of war is the forced participation of girls as soldiers. In Sudan, as well as in many other conflicts throughout the world, girls (sometimes as young as 13) are unwilling warriors or soldiers' sexual partners. It has been estimated that between 1990 and 2003, girls have been part of military and paramilitary groups in 55 countries and have participated in armed conflict in 38 of those countries. Presently, more than 120,000 girls are participating in armed conflicts worldwide."
MORE
by Cesar Chelala
"One of the tragic consequences of war is the forced participation of girls as soldiers. In Sudan, as well as in many other conflicts throughout the world, girls (sometimes as young as 13) are unwilling warriors or soldiers' sexual partners. It has been estimated that between 1990 and 2003, girls have been part of military and paramilitary groups in 55 countries and have participated in armed conflict in 38 of those countries. Presently, more than 120,000 girls are participating in armed conflicts worldwide."
MORE
VISIT THEIR WEBSITE FOR UP TO DATE CHILD SOLDIER INFORMATION AND FACTS
Latest Reports and Media Statements from COALITION TO STOP THE USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS
Opportunity to amend UK's outdated military recruitment policy
UK recruitment of child soldiers in 2010
Child Soldiers Coalition joins child rights NGOs in urging countries that have not ratified either the child soldiers or sale of children (or both) Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child - May 2010 (List of countries)
Coalition report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on OPAC implementation in Sri Lanka - April 2010
Media statement on Mai Mai child recruitment and use - 26 February 2010
Mai Mai child recruitment and use in the DRC - February 2010 (Click here for French version)
Opportunity to amend UK's outdated military recruitment policy
UK recruitment of child soldiers in 2010
Child Soldiers Coalition joins child rights NGOs in urging countries that have not ratified either the child soldiers or sale of children (or both) Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child - May 2010 (List of countries)
Coalition report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on OPAC implementation in Sri Lanka - April 2010
Media statement on Mai Mai child recruitment and use - 26 February 2010
Mai Mai child recruitment and use in the DRC - February 2010 (Click here for French version)
CLICK IMAGE TO GO TO http://www.child-soldier.org/
