PO377 Ethnic Conflict and Political Violence

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PO377 Ethnic Conflict and Political Violence

• Week 11 Child Soldiers

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Child Soldiers Introduction

• In the recent past it has been estimated there
  are around 250,000-300,000 active child soldiers
  in the world, in both non-state and state
  military groups, but exact figures are very
  difficult to ascertain (Child Soldiers
  International (formerly Coalition to Stop the Use
  of Child Soldiers) http//www.child-soldiers.org)
  .
• Most aged 14-18 but some as young as 7-9.
• Many girl soldiers as well as boy soldiers
  (possibly 30-40) but girls are often overlooked
  in Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration
  programmes.
• Most child soldiers say they enlisted voluntarily.

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Child Soldiers Introduction (2)

• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
  a child/minor is a human being under age of 18.
  Optional Protocol to the Convention, on the
  Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict
  (2000/2002) bans recruitment of minors by
  non-state armed groups and prohibits their
  participation in state and non-state armed
  hostilities. Conscription also banned under 18.
• Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children
  Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups
  (2007) a child soldier is any person under the
  age of 18 recruited or used by any armed group
  (state or non-state), in whatever capacity and
  whether or not an armed conflict exists.
• Nevertheless, child soldiers still exist and are
  for many a shocking figure.

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Pull and Push Factors

• PULL FACTORS
• Strategic need of armed group, esp. non-state,
  for greater number of troops. Child soldiers
  often used as cannon fodder.
• Children may be seen as more docile and more
  malleable by the armed group.
• Changing patterns of warfare affect childrens
  roles (as well as womens).
• Changing war technology lighter weapons mean
  children today can carry them.

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Pull and Push Factors (2)

• PUSH FACTORS
• Many are forcibly conscripted, involving
  violence.
• Others coerced through various pressures
• Threats against or pressure on the childs family
  
• Indoctrination of children by the armed group
  and/or significant adults
• Financial incentives in context of poverty
• Hope of social protection
• Many say they joined voluntarily
• Revenge for attacks on their family or community
• Sense of injustice, nationalist or political
  sentiment
• Can children ever truly volunteer to be soldiers??

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Questions to Consider

• In a context of war, where choices are so
  limited, can we speak of children volunteering
  to become soldiers?
• If they are under the international legal adult
  age of 18, what does their consent mean?
• How does the reality that the concept of
  childhood is historically and culturally
  specific affect our views on child soldiers? (In
  many societies it is reaching certain personal or
  social milestones such as marrying that means one
  is considered adult, not a certain age.)
• If we think there is a moral problem (or other
  problems?) with the use of child soldiers, how do
  we respond to this?

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Some Other Resources

• Books (in addition to the reading list)
• Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a Boy
  Soldier, 2007. (Personal account from Sierra
  Leone.) Extracts at http//www.nytimes.com/2007/0
  1/14/magazine/14soldier.t.html?_r2pagewanted1r
  efmagazineorefslogin
• China Keitetsi, Child Soldier, 2004. (Personal
  account from Northern Uganda.)
• Els de Temmerman, Aboke Girls Children Abducted
  in Northern Uganda, 2001.

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Some Other Resources (2)

• Videos
• Invisible Children (Northern Uganda)
  http//video.google.com/videoplay?docid3166797753
  930210643qinvisiblechildren
• A Duty to Protect Justice for Child Soldiers in
  the DRC http//www.witness.org/index.php?optionc
  om_rightsalertItemid178taskviewalert_id41
• Child Soldiers in Africa http//www.cnn.com/inter
  active/world/0701/slideshow.audio.soldiers/framese
  t.exclude.html

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Images of Child Soldiers

• Look at the pictures below of child soldiers from
  different countries and times. How do these
  images make you feel? Do you have different
  responses to different images? Can you try and
  disentangle your reactions and work out why you
  feel the way you do?

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Afghanistan (left, 1986) and Yemen (right, 1964),
from Cohn and Goodwin-Gill (1994) Child Soldiers
The Role of Children in Armed Conflict.
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Sri Lanka (1990 boys)
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Sri Lanka (girls)
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Cambodia (left, 1970s) and unknown (right)
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Karen child soldiers in Burma/Myanmar (left, 2000
and right, 2001 all are 12 years old)
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Uganda (left) and Sudan (right)
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Liberia
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Democratic Republic of Congo
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Sierra Leone