CSC newsletter Jan 07 a-w

16
PREVENTION
ISSUE 15/JANUARY 2007
PREVENTION OF CHILD RECRUITMENT AND USE
newsletterA newsletter produced by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
In this issue of the Child Soldiers Newsletter we
look at prevention and the challenges involved
in stopping children from becoming soldiers in
the first place. The international human rights
and humanitarian community has long realized
that the issue of prevention in the fight against
the recruitment and use of child soldiers is as
important as their demobilization and reintegration.
Initially, efforts were aimed at ensuring governments signed up to the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on
the involvement of children in armed conflict (Optional Protocol), and
demobilized existing children from their forces and those of non-state
armed groups operating in their territories. Later, it became increasingly
apparent that new strategies had to be adopted to prevent children
from joining or returning to armed groups and that these had to
involve all stakeholders, including governments,
aid agencies, NGOs, non-state actors and
local communities. We look at some of these
initiatives in this issue.
Our new Director, Victoria Forbes Adam, sets
out the challenges in the Editorial, where
she argues for a holistic approach in dealing
with the complex issues involved in prevention
work. In Voices of Youth, we hear from the
Children’s Parliament in Rafah, in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories, a unique example of
peaceful child participation in the context of
an armed conflict.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, we
explore the relationship between the
proliferation of small arms and light
IN THIS EDITION…
ABOUT CHILD SOLDIERS NEWSLETTER EDITORIAL: PREVENTION – WHAT CAN WE DO?
VOICES OF YOUTH: CHILDREN’S PARLIAMENT IN RAFAH CHILD SOLDIERS NEWS
SMALL ARMS AND CHILD SOLDIERS IN THE DRC CSC HIGHLIGHTS CHILDREN IN
ORGANIZED ARMED VIOLENCE ACTION APPEAL: SRI LANKA HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION
IN THE PHILIPPINES COLOMBIA: SPORTS AND PREVENTION INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS AND PREVENTION
weapons and the continuous use of children as soldiers, focusing on
the responsibilities of the international community to halt the illegal
arms trade in the region. We also look at what lessons can be learned
from our partners’ work with children in organized armed violence
in Brazil and elsewhere. In our Action Appeal we urge the government
of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to agree to a
UN human rights monitoring mission, while we deplore the continuing
recruitment of children by the Karuna group.
Our partners in the Philippines share their experience on working with
non-state armed groups in human rights education and we show
the work of local communities in sports and prevention in Colombia.
We also look at how state party reports to the Committee on the
Rights of the Child can help highlight difficulties in applying the
Optional Protocol, one of the most important tools in the fight against
the use of child soldiers.
Poster campaign to prevent the involvement
of children in armed conflict in Colombia.
The poster reads: “Stay here, we are with
you: Involving yourself in the armed conflict
takes you nowhere”.
© Child Soldiers Coalition/Claudia Ricca, 2006.
By October 2006, 122 states had signed and
110 states had ratified the Optional Protocol.
The number of countries legally recruiting
children under the age of 18 years into its
armed forces has significantly reduced since
the Optional Protocol was adopted.
Following the entry into force of the Optional
Protocol in their territory, state parties must
submit within two years a report to the CRC
providing comprehensive information on
the measures it has taken to implement its
provisions. After considering each state party
report, the Committee produces a List of
issues and Concluding observations that are
useful in highlighting positive developments
and drawing attention to issues which were
not adequately addressed in the reports.
AREAS OF CONCERN
Based on 11 Initial reports presented to the
CRC at the beginning of 2006
2
, a number of
concerns have arisen. The content and depth
of individual reports varied widely. Some state
parties appeared to interpret the Optional
Protocol as only relevant for countries engaged
in armed conflict. This overlooks the need for
legislative and other mechanisms to protect
children from involvement in armed conflict to
be in place prior to the eruption of conflict.
Equally important, domestic legislation and
implementation of the Optional Protocol
provide standards for other countries to
emulate. Meaningful consultation with civil
society, including relevant NGOs and
international agencies, in the drafting of the
report appears to have been the exception
rather than the rule.
VOLUNTARY
RECRUITMENT
SAFEGUARDS
The Optional Protocol requires safeguards
to be in place to ensure that the recruitment
of under-18s is genuinely voluntary. While
the majority of the reports indicated that
such minimum safeguards were in place,
disaggregated data on under-18s in the armed
forces was often inadequate or not available.
Such volunteers have usually been drawn from
socially disadvantaged groups with limited
opportunities for education and employment.
MILITARY RECRUITMENT
OF UNDER-18S
Several reports did not provide sufficient
information on domestic legislation to prohibit
and criminalize the recruitment of under-18s
by third parties or the prosecution of a person
present on its territory who has allegedly
recruited or used under-18s in an armed
conflict in another country. The Committee
also raised the question of the exact rules
and procedures in place to govern the
apprehension of under-18s during hostilities –
including as prisoners of war – in situations
where state parties have armed forces
deployed in third countries.
3
INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATION
1
ASYLUM PROCEDURES
FOR FORMER CHILD
SOLDIERS
None of the reports reviewed referred to the
particular plight of refugee or migrant children
who had been involved in armed conflict before
leaving their home countries. Similarly, no
reference was made to the special vulnerability
of internally displaced children to recruitment.
These children unquestionably represent one
of the highest risk groups for recruitment into
armed groups.
DDR PROGRAMS
Very little information was available on
Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration
programs. Those reporting countries that have
been involved in armed conflict, and as a result
have former child soldiers among their citizens,
have failed to provide detailed information on
their activities to provide adequate assistance
for the physical and psychological recovery, as
well as social integration of these youths. Other
state parties have reported on the bilateral
and/or multilateral technical cooperation and
financial assistance they have extended to
other countries in this regard.
CONCLUSION
To conclude, state parties provided scant
information on the different ways they have
ensured the effective implementation and
enforcement of the Optional Protocol within
their respective countries. More innovative
measures should be found to facilitate the
latter, ensuring a transparent process and
meaningful monitoring. Young people
themselves must participate actively in
this process.
1 This article is a summary of research carried out by Elisabeth Janz Mayer- Rieckh for the Coalition in May 2006. It was edited by Claudia Ricca.
2 Andorra, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, Italy, New Zealand, and Switzerland. All Committee documents can be found
on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, http://www.ohchr.org.
3 CRC, List of issues, UN Doc. CRC/C/OPAC/CAN/Q/1, 9 February 2006 (Canada), and UN Doc. CRC/C/OPAC/SLV/Q/1, 9 February 2006 (El Salvador).
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children
in armed conflict (Optional Protocol) aims to end the use of child soldiers by asking state parties to
introduce legislative, administrative and other measures to prevent and punish the recruitment and use
of children in armed conflict. The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) reviews state party
reports and makes recommendations to improve implementation of the Protocol.
The implementation of national and international
legislation against the use of child soldiers provides
standards for other countries to emulate and supports
a global prohibition on child recruitment and use

ABOUT CHILD SOLDIERS NEWSLETTER
Child Soldiers Newsletter is a free publication
bringing you news, information and campaign updates
from the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
(CSC).
All submissions to the newsletter are the sole
responsibility of contributing authors and do not
necessarily represent the views of the Coalition, its
founding organizations or members.
To subscribe to the electronic version, please sign up
on the front page of our website. To subscribe to the
print version, please contact the CSC Secretariat
(details below).
A print version in French is also available.
Spanish, German and French versions are available on
the Coalition website, and also by email upon request.
We encourage you to distribute the newsletter widely
to friends and contacts.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
(CSC) works to prevent the use of children as soldiers
and to promote their demobilization, rehabilitation and
social reintegration. The CSC is comprised of national,
regional and international organizations and coalitions in
Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
Its member organizations are Amnesty International,
Defence for Children International, Human Rights Watch,
Jesuit Refugee Service, Quaker United Nations Office –
Geneva, International Save the Children Alliance and
International Federation Terre des Hommes.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR WORK
We welcome donations and/or practical support for our
on-going campaign. Donations by cheque or bank draft,
in any currency, may be sent to the address below.
You can also make a donation through our website.
To obtain more information about local campaigns
and activities, or to share information about your own
activities and events relating to child soldiers, please
visit our website or contact the Coalition Secretariat.
Design: Samson + associates
Editor: Claudia Ricca
Print: JAMM Print & Productions
© Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
International Secretariat
2nd Floor, 2-12 Pentonville Rd,
London N1 9HF, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 20 7713 2761
Facsimile: +44 20 7713 2794
Email: info@child-soldiers.org
Website: www.child-soldiers.org
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers is registered
as a limited company (no. 4411965) in England.
The Child Soldiers Coalition Educational and Research Trust
is registered as a charity (no. 1095237) in England.
EDITORIAL
32
VOICES OF YOUTH IN GAZA
This issue looks at the strategies needed for the long term prevention of children’s
recruitment and use in armed conflict. Children become “child soldiers” for many
reasons. While thousands are forcibly recruited, the majority enlist “voluntarily”
for lack of any alternative. War itself is a major motive, but children’s lack of
access to education or employment is a key determinant. Frustrated by poverty
and inequality, children (and adults) also take up arms to fight for social change.
Girls may see enlistment as a way out of marriage and other forms of exploitation.
In other words, children often see the military route as the most effective available
livelihood strategy. If these underlying issues are not addressed, children will
remain at risk of recruitment or use in future armed conflict as well as other forms
of armed activity.
What then needs to be done? First governments must pledge to uphold
international laws prohibiting the recruitment or use of children in armed conflict,
and must act to criminalize recruitment in national law. The traffic and flow of
weapons, particularly small arms and light weapons, must be controlled and
regulated. Proper birth registration procedures must be established so that
children are not deliberately or inadvertently enlisted into the armed forces.
The laws must be enforced and those who break them brought to justice.
Training is necessary for judicial, police and other law enforcement authorities
to ensure that children are treated with full respect for their rights and dignity
when in confrontation with the law. Repressive measures are likely to fuel further
violence and push children toward involvement with armed groups. Efforts to
address children’s involvement in criminal activities must be aimed at their
reintegration into society.
Whilst laws and effective law enforcement are a vital first step, they are not in
themselves sufficient. An effective prevention strategy will require comprehensive
policies to ensure that children’s rights to education, healthcare and employment
are respected. Ultimately children must be given the resources to meet their
needs and actively participate in community and society. Steps must be taken to
address domestic violence and sexual abuse, as well as all forms of economic
exploitation. And ways must be found for children to speak out – and be heard –
if they are abused.
Communities and young people themselves have a major role to play in
prevention. In many regions, community leaders, activists and families have
initiated discussions on child protection, often reaffirming the community’s own
values and traditions in this sphere. Former child soldiers have participated in this
process of reflection. In some regions, communities have engaged with non-state
armed groups – on the need to respect humanitarian principles and stop the
recruitment or use of children in armed conflict. When linked to knowledge of
national laws and policies prohibiting recruitment, communities have developed
powerful tools to prevent their children from being recruited – whether forcibly
or voluntarily – by armed forces and groups.
The international community must support these efforts by providing sustained
funding for the development of laws, policies and community projects to keep
children safe in their homes, schools and communities and when in contact with
police and the criminal justice system.
This issue of the newsletter explores the various elements needed to prevent
children from involvement with armed forces and groups. The articles demonstrate
the importance of a holistic approach involving governments, communities and
young people themselves in the process of preventing recruitment in the long term.
Victoria Forbes Adam
Director, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
PREVENTING CHILDREN’S
INVOLVEMENT IN ARMED CONFLICT
– WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS?
GIVING A VOICE TO
PALESTINIAN CHILDREN
Enrique Restoy, Program Manager
The Mini Parliament at the
border city of Rafah, south
of Gaza, was created in
1996 to introduce children
to the basics of democracy
and freedom through
participation in debates
about things that matter
to them. The Mini Parliament
discusses political and social
issues about Palestine and
has condemned the ONU,
the Arab League and
George Bush for failing to
protect Palestinian children.
The Rafah Mini Parliament is composed
of 88 rotating members, and over
1,000 boys and girls aged between
9 and 15 have participated since it
began in 1996. Its structure mirrors
the Palestinian Legislative Council,
including its various commissions.
The entire Mini Parliament meets every
week to discuss issues concerning
Palestinian children. The Coalition
visited the Mini Parliament in early
2006.
Nasser
1
, 13, says, “We discuss
everything that we think is important
in our lives. We discuss Bush and
Sharon, because they come and
destroy our houses.”
The Mini Parliament has organized
staged “trials” of those who, in their
view, have failed to protect Palestinian
children. George Bush, Ariel Sharon,
the Arab League and UNICEF have all
been “indicted” by the Parliament so far.
“We invited them all to come and
defend themselves, so far only UNICEF
has met with us”, says Noha, a 14 year
old girl who has been a member of the
Mini Parliament for two years.
Nasser Abdallah, a social worker who
provides logistical and administrative
support to the Mini
Parliament, denies
that the children are
manipulated by politicians
or used to vindicate the
demands of adults:
“It is true that children
discuss very political
issues, but this is what
they experience every
day under the [Israeli]
occupation. They choose
the issues they want to
debate and how they
want to do it.”
Issa, 16, who has been
president of the Mini
Parliament for the past
few months, articulates
the objectives of the
institution:
“We wanted to talk about our
problems and ask the world to
listen to the plight of Palestinian
children. We don’t want to be killed
throwing stones, but we want to
be useful to our people’s struggle”.
WORDS INSTEAD
OF STONES
The first sessions of the Mini Parliament
enjoyed wide international media
coverage, but that attention has been
difficult to sustain. Noha admits: “we
need to find other ways of being heard,
but it is difficult. When we’ve wanted to
rally peacefully we have been attacked
by the occupying forces.”
Nasser Abdallah, the social worker,
asks members of the Mini Parliament
who are hanging around the office or
playing with the only computer in the
room, to gather with us. They chat and
giggle when we ask them, “What is the
best thing about the Mini Parliament?”
Fatima replies, “We make friends and
learn democracy”, and Amara adds,
“And we can discuss what we hear on
the telly”. When they learn I am from
Spain, one of them promptly asks,
“Why is Spain processing Tayseer
Allouni? Isn’t this against freedom
of expression?” Allouni is a former
Al Jazeera correspondent in Spain,
accused of belonging to the Al Qaida
network. In response, we manage
to utter a few words about the
independence of the judiciary and the
standards needed for fair trials, but the
children appear utterly unimpressed…
Presented as a model for preventing
Palestinian children from being actively
involved in the conflict, it’s difficult
to assess the success of the Mini
Parliament so far. However, we notice
that the children talk about democracy
and what we should be doing to help
them. They don’t mention martyrdom or
being part of the struggle as we hear
elsewhere in Palestine.
As we leave the Mini Parliament, the
children go back to their business.
They will play and talk, like any other
children, but as long as they are so
exposed to violence, they will talk
peace and live war.
1 Actual names in this
article have been changed
Some members of the Rafah Mini Parliament in Gaza City,
Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestinian Territories.
© Child Soldiers Coalition/Enrique Restoy, 2006.

DEMOBILIZATION, REINTEGRATION AND
CHILDREN IN POST CONFLICT SITUATIONS
CHILD SOLDIERS NEWS
LIBERIA:
WITNESSES TELL LIBERIA TRUTH
COMMISSION OF CIVIL WAR ABUSES
Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) began hearing
public testimony on 10 October 2006, with several people testifying
about the crimes and abuse that occurred during the country’s 14-
year civil war. Four of the nine TRC commissioners heard testimony
in Monrovia, while the remaining five travelled throughout the country
to gather testimonies.
The TRC has a two year mandate and began its work in June after its
inauguration in February 2006. It will make recommendations to the
government on who should be granted reparations, receive amnesty or
face prosecution. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has said that
the commission is intended to heal the war-torn country and uncover
the truth about the civil war, but the TRC has been criticized by human
rights groups who instead advocate for a Liberian human rights court
because the TRC cannot prosecute war crimes violations.
Source: Jurist, October 2006
BURUNDI:
UN SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS TO
PROTECT CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT
Concerned about persistent rapes, killings, the detainment and military
recruitment of children in Burundi, United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan called on all parties to immediately work towards ending
these crimes and prosecuting offenders, as the central African nation
makes a transition from civil war to peace and democracy.
Mr. Annan urged that children’s rights remain at the forefront of the
newly forged peace, which began in September with a Comprehensive
Ceasefire Agreement that ended 12 years of civil war.
Source: CRIN, November 2006
COLOMBIA:
UN OHCHR CONDEMNS FARC AND
ELN FOR WAR CRIMES IN ARAUCA
In August 2006, the Colombia Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) condemned the
targeted killing, child recruitment, and forced recruitment and
displacement of hundred of individuals in Arauca. The Office
reminded members of the FARC and ELN that these crimes
are serious violations of international humanitarian law as
well as war crimes.
In September, municipal authorities in Saravena, a town in
Arauca, reported new cases of child recruitment by the
FARC. Local schools have reported a marked increase in
absenteeism, due to rumours of increased recruitment by
armed opposition groups. The FARC have denied recruiting
minors from schools or by force: “It’s not our policy… they
come voluntarily”. Authorities in Arauca have now placed
police officers outside schools.
Source: Colombia Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, August 2006 / AP, September 2006
PHILIPPINES:
NPA STILL RECRUITING CHILDREN
Three suspected New People’s Army (NPA) teenage
combatants were detained in Palawan province in late August
2006 and turned over to the Department of Social Welfare
and Development (DSWD). In October, two girls reportedly
identified as members of the NPA were detained by the
Philippines army in a remote village in Catbalogan. Reports
indicated that the father of one of the girls was an active
member of the NPA. The 7,400-strong NPA is the armed wing
of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and has
been waging a guerrilla campaign in rural areas for 37 years.
Source: INQ7.net, August 2006 / Philippines Inquirer, October 2006
UGANDA:
PEACE AGREEMENT WELCOMED
In August 2006 UNICEF welcomed the agreement between the
Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to
cease hostilities, aimed at ending 20 years of armed conflict. The
agreement calls on the LRA to re-locate and make special provisions
for any non-essential members of the LRA in the care of specialized
humanitarian agencies. UNICEF has urged the prompt return of all
children and women who have been separated from their families
and communities in northern Uganda.
Source: UNICEF, August 2006
54
DRC:
REBELS WANT TO JOIN ARMY
Taking advantage of the presidential elections in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the end of October,
rebel general Laurent Nkunda, in North Kivu, stated that the
new president would be forced to listen to rebel leaders if
he wanted to reunify the country. An international arrest
warrant was issued for Nkunda after his men were accused
of committing war crimes during the seizure of the town of
Bukavu in 2004. His men are also accused of continuing to
recruit children as fighters, but Nkunda denies this. “...we
work with ability and efficiency. A child soldier can be neither
able nor efficient.” Nkunda remains at large because the
DRC’s army is in chaos, poorly paid and divided. As a
defender of Rwandan language-speaking Congolese, Nkunda
enjoys the support of local politicians and military units and
his forces number several thousand. Many see him and his
men as testimony of the failures of DRC’s post-war transition.
Source: News24, South Africa, October 2006
DRC:
ICC PRE-TRIAL OF THOMAS LUBANGA
STARTS IN THE HAGUE
In what could become the first case for the International Criminal
Court (ICC), the hearing for the confirmation of charges against
Thomas Lubanga Dyilo started on 9 November 2006 in The Hague.
It will also be the first time in international criminal law that victims
have been able to participate in the proceedings, which are expected
to last until 28 November. The Pre-Trial Chamber then has 60 days
to decide whether or not to confirm the charges brought by the
Prosecutor against Lubanga. If the charges are confirmed, the
Presidency of the Court will constitute a Trial Chamber responsible
for subsequent hearings.
Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is charged on the basis of individual criminal
responsibility under Article 25 (3) (a) of the Rome Statute, of war
crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the war crime of
enlisting children under the age of fifteen; the war crime of conscription
of children under the age of fifteen; and the war crime of using children
under the age of fifteen to participate actively in hostilities.
Source: ICC, November 2006
USA:
CONGRESS CONSIDERS NEW DRAFT
LAW ON CHILD SOLDIERS
A new draft law aimed at ending the use of child soldiers in
hostilities around the world was introduced at the House of
Representative of the US Congress on 28 July 2006. Once
passed, Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2006 would commit
the US government to supporting efforts to establish and
uphold international standards on child soldiers; expanding
ongoing services to rehabilitate recovered child soldiers and
reintegrate them back into their communities; and working with
the international community to bring to justice rebel organizations
that kidnap children for use as child soldiers.
The US government would be prohibited from providing funds
for international military education and training, foreign military
financing or sales, as well as direct commercial sales of excess
defence articles to the government of a country that was clearly
identified by the Department of State as having governmental
armed forces or government supported armed groups that recruit
or use child soldiers.
Source: US Library of Congress, July 2006
ACTIONS AGAINST IMPUNITY
LEGISLATION ON THE
INVOLVEMENT OF CHILDREN
NON-STATE ARMED GROUPS
MYANMAR/BURMA:
GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO
RECRUIT CHILD SOLDIERS
In September 2006, Human rights NGO and Coalition partner HREIB
said Burma’s military regime continues to recruit large numbers of
children into its army, sending boys as young as 12 into combat despite
a high-level committee set up to stop the practice. It said that the plight
of child soldiers in Burma has remained essentially unchanged over the
past four years, but a senior Burma information ministry official denied
the report: “These allegations of child recruitment are based on
information compiled by anti-government groups and dissidents.”
Source: Associated Press, September 2006
SUDAN:
250 CHILDREN DEMOBILIZED
In Southern Sudan, about 250 children were demobilized in Upper Nile
State in late April 2006, the biggest demobilization since the signature of
the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005.
Since 2001, an estimated 20,000 children from the former southern rebel
forces, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), have been disarmed
and demobilized and returned to their families and communities. However,
there are an estimated 2,000 children still associated with the SPLA, mainly
in non-combat roles and in hard-to-reach areas, and an unknown number of
under-18s in other armed groups in Southern Sudan.
Source: UNICEF, April 2006
DRC:
DEMOBILIZED YOUTH FACING
RE-RECRUITMENT
The head of the army in Ituri District, DRC, has said some militias are re-
arming and fighting again, despite undertakings given to the government in
July to demobilize their combatants and hand over weapons. Thousands of
former combatants now in Bunia are under pressure to rejoin the militias
and those still wanting to disarm have been threatened or killed. Many of
the youth in Bunia are fleeing to villages while other former combatants are
rejoining their militias and buying weapons from government troops.
Source: Reuters, September 2006
LIBERIA/SPAIN:
FORMER CHILD SOLDIER SEEKS
ASYLUM IN SPAIN
Migration authorities in Spain were considering a young Liberian man’s
request for asylum after he arrived in Bilbao, Northern Spain, as a stowaway,
in September 2006. The man told authorities he had escaped from Liberia
in 2000 where “he had been forcibly recruited at the age of 12, tortured
and threatened with death”. NGOs in Spain welcomed the news, as Spain
has a poor record in considering asylum claims. According to official
statistics, 70 percent of all asylum claims are dismissed in the first instance,
while only 7 percent of claims processed are successful.
Source: Europa Press, September 2006
UGANDA:
FORMER CHILD SOLDIER STARTS CHARITY
Ugandan middleweight boxer and former child soldier, Kassim ‘The Dream’
Ouma, has started a charity to help people in Uganda, providing aid and
assistance to his native land and in particular promoting clean water
sources. On presenting his project, Ouma said that, “Even if it is just raising
awareness and making connections between people I want people to know
why we need clean water. When I was a child soldier [in the Ugandan army]
we would drink anything we had to. It’s not just an African problem. Lots of
poor people can’t find clean water. We want to help, whether with money
when we can or just highlighting the issue. Everybody can contribute.”
Source: The Monitor, Kampala, October 2006

76
PROLIFERATION OF LIGHT WEAPONS AND
THE IMPACT ON CHILD SOLDIERS IN THE DRC
Héloïse Ruaudel, Program Manager
1
committed massive human rights
violations, including killings, rape and
the recruitment and use of children as
soldiers. The high prevalence of small
arms, which are light and easy to use,
has perpetuated a culture of violence
affecting all levels of society, including
children. All sides have deliberately
distributed weapons to civilians and as a
result more civilians are armed, including
pastoralists, farmers, mine-workers,
traders and children.
A CONTINUOUS STREAM
OF LIGHT WEAPONS
There is no systematic monitoring of light
weapons in DRC and no clear data on the
number of arms in circulation. However, a
field assessment carried out by the UN
Development Program (UNDP) in February
and March 2002, found a massive
concentration of weapons in the region,
numbering millions, and in particular in
eastern, North and South Kivu, and northern
Katenga regions.
7
Factors that compromise
the implementation of initiatives set-up to
eradicate the proliferation of illegal arms
include non-compliance with the UN embargo
on arms, poverty, border porosity, state
services corruption, failing governance,
impunity and the continuous exploitation
of natural resources by foreign armies.
8
Responsibility for the proliferation of weapons
in DRC can be attributed to several key players,
including the Rwandan and Ugandan
Governments; the Kinshasa government which
played a key role in the proliferation of arms,
especially in the East; rebel forces and armed
groups; international arms dealers; cross
border movements and alliances between
armed groups in the region; networks involving
officers of the Forces Armées de la Republic
Democratic du Congo (DRC armed forces);
and the international community which took too
long to impose an arms embargo in the DRC.
WEAPONS IN
CHILDREN’S REACH
Some studies state that the “availability of
small arms is without question a contributing
factor to the use of child soldiers”.
9
In South
Kivu, controlled by the Rassemblement
Congolais Démocratique (RCD), a number
of groups have used children. The Mudundu
40 militias, operational in Walungu, Kabare
and Mwenga (but no longer in existence),
reportedly enrolled over 5,000 children
between 1999 and 2002. Their fate remains
uncertain, following the defeat of the
movement by the RCD backed by the RDF.
10
According to government sources, between
20,000 and 30,000 children were recruited,
sometimes forcibly, into the armed forces and
armed groups mentioned above.
11
Assault guns such as the M16, FAL and AK-
47 are very light, easy to use, do not require
specific training and have been the most
common weapons used by children in armed
conflicts in DRC. Experts question the moral
responsibility of weapons’ producers and
exporters when their arms are found in
countries with armies that use children as
soldiers. Following the end of conflict,
children continue to be exposed to weapons
and are often at risk of re-recruitment and
enrolment in organized armed violence
distinct from rebel groups.
TACKLING
INTERLINKED ISSUES
Domestic and international civil society
groups play an important role in combating
the proliferation and use of these weapons
in the DRC and a number of initiatives and
networks have been created to prevent the
recruitment and use of child soldiers.
12
However, efforts to protect children and
those to control the proliferation and misuse
of small arms remain largely separate.
The establishment of norms and standards,
as well as coordination between programs
and the development of additional measures
to safeguard the security of children affected
by small arms, must be put in place to
control the proliferation of small arms and
light weapons and address the use of
child soldiers.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO
THE DRC GOVERNMENT
Disarmament, Demobilization and
Reintegration (DDR):
• Reinforce DDR processes without
excluding children associated with armed
groups or forces who have not carried
weapons;
• Support programs that provide peaceful
alternatives to conflict, violence and crime,
reducing incentives that lead people to arm
themselves;
• Take appropriate measures to prevent the
recruitment of children working in brick
factories and sawmills, both recruitment
grounds for armed groups;
National, regional and international
legislation:
• Support the ratification of international
standards and the adoption of a tough
global Arms Trade Treaty to stem the flow
of arms to the DRC and other war zones;
• Establish and strengthen existing norms
and codes of behaviour relating to the
possession and use of small arms by
civilians and members of the armed forces;
• Promptly ratify the African Charter on the
Rights and Welfare of the Child and make
the recruitment or use of children by armed
forces or groups a specific offence under
the DRC’s civil and military penal codes;
Actions against impunity:
• Encourage the UN Security Council to
reinforce the UN embargo on arms in
DRC, including measures against states
or individuals delivering arms to groups
that use child soldiers;
• Support prosecution of perpetrators of
human rights abuses, including on charges
of enlistment and conscription of children;
Strengthening civil society initiatives
and coordination
• Conduct further research to quantify the
impact of small arms on children and to
determine best practices and priorities;
• Involve ex-combatants and local
communities, in particular women and
children, in collection and destruction
of small arms;
• Strengthen civil society initiatives, including
the Réseau Congolais d’Action sur les
Armes Légères (RECAAL) and encourage
joint activities with child protection
networks, including the Coalition to Stop
the Use of Child Soldiers.
Since 1996 the DRC has been involved
in armed conflicts with seven other
countries.
5
As a consequence of these
conflicts there has been a massive
proliferation of small arms and light
weapons (SALW), while illegal arms
trafficking continues to fuel conflicts in
the region. The wide availability of small
arms has meant that more individuals
become combatants, conflicts last longer,
and more people, especially children,
suffer. Many small arms remain after
a conflict ends, and their resulting
availability may allow conflicts to re-
ignite.
6
Arms circulation has fed and
contributed to the on-going state of
insecurity especially in eastern DRC
where it remains a major obstacle for
the peace and democratization process
and the overall sustained development
of the country.
In the early 1990s few weapons were in
circulation, but with the spread of the
conflict arms became more easily and
cheaply available. As a consequence,
armed groups proliferated and
• Small arms and light weapons kill
and disable more children and
adults than any other instrument
of violence, in conflict and post-
conflict situations worldwide.
2
• Between 2000 and 2003, over
200,000 Congolese met violent
deaths, up to 90 percent of them
from gunshots (Small Arms Survey
2005).
• The International Rescue Committee
has estimated that since 1998
nearly four million people have died
as a result of conflict in the DRC
and roughly half of them were
women and children.
• Fighting continues in eastern DRC –
despite a peace deal in 2002 –
fuelled by weapons and
ammunitions from around the world.
• 50 to 60 percent of weapons found
in DRC are AK-47s.
3
Small Arms are designed for personal
use. They include revolvers and self-
loading pistols, assault rifles, sub-
machine guns, rifles, carbines and
light machine-guns. Light weapons,
such as heavy machine guns, portable
anti-aircraft guns and missiles,
mortars and anti-tank missile and
rocket systems, are sometimes
mounted on vehicles and require
more than one person to operate.
AVREO,
4
the volunteer association
for the recuperation of war-orphans,
abandoned, malnourished and
displaced children, based in South
Kivu, is a member of the Coalition
to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
in DRC. It works to bring together
efforts to control small arms, and
protect children, through awareness
raising campaigns and prevention
activities. It trains the military and
the community on the dangers of
arms proliferation for children.
The uncontrolled increase in small arms and light weapons (SALW) in the Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC) continues to fuel the armed conflict, where children are involved as soldiers.
Organizations working against SALW and for the rights of children have yet to coordinate their
actions to increase the effectiveness of their lobbying on this issue.
Boys stand behind barbed wire that forms a protective barrier around the perimeter of a camp for
some 9,000 displaced people near the airport in the town of Bunia in the eastern region of Ituri. The
camp, created in May 2003 following an upsurge in violence in Ituri, is protected by peacekeepers
from the United Nations Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC). The boys are hoping to sell
batteries and other items to some of the peacekeeping soldiers who have an adjacent encampment.
© UNICEF/HQ03-0350/ ROGER LEMOYNE
1 Adapted from an original text by Jean-Baptiste Safari
Bagula, Coordinator of Innovation et Formation pour le
Développement et la Paix, a member of the Coalition to
Stop the Use of Child Soldiers in DRC, and a human rights
defender and trainer as well as researcher and analyst on
peace, non-violence and conflict resolution.
2 UNICEF, No Guns, Please: We are children!, 2001.
3 Oxfam/Control Arms, “Bullets reach DRC rebels, urgent
call for Arms Trade Treaty,” 16 October 2006.
4 Association des Volontaires pour la Récupération des
Enfants Orphelins, Abandonnés et Malnutris.
5 Angola, Burundi, Chad, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, and
Zimbabwe.
6 Rachel Stohl, “Targeting Children: Small Arms and Children
in Conflict,” Brown Journal of World Affairs, Vol. IX, Issue 1,
Spring 2002.
7 Spyros Demetriou, “Reducing Small Arms in the Great
Lakes”, BCPR Story of the Month, April 2002, cited in The
European Union in Small Arms Action, op. cit.
8 The UNSC embargo (S/RES 1493, 28 July 2003) was
limited to armed groups operating in North and South Kivu
and Ituri District. UNSC Resolution 1616 of 29 July 2005
renewed the embargo and extended it to cover the entire
country.
9 However, children can also be used as soldiers in areas
where arms are in short supply. See Jo Becker, “Small Arms
and Child Soldiers”, workshop presentation, New York, 20
March 2001, cited in Rachel Stohl, Putting Children First,
Building a Framework for International Action to Address the
Impact of Small Arms, 2005.
10 Rwanda Defense Forces is the new name of the
Rwandese Army, formerly the Armée Patriotique Rwandaise.
11 Commission Nationale de Désarmement, Démobilisation
et Réinsertion.
12 The Reseau Congolais d’Action sur les Armes Légères
(RECALL), an umbrella organization of civil society groups
working on SALW issues, was established in November 2004.
PREVENTIONPREVENTION

98
CSC HIGHLIGHTSCSC HIGHLIGHTS
Héloïse Ruaudel, with previous UN
experience in Uganda and Namibia, joined the
Coalition as Program Manager for the Great
Lakes of Central Africa last April. Lucia
Withers joined as Program Manager for
South Asia and South East Asia in December.
She was previously a researcher and
campaigner at Amnesty International, working
mainly on Indonesia and Timor-Leste, and also
worked in Kabul for the United Nations
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
The International Secretariat launched the
Armed Groups Project in January 2006 to
consolidate its work on non-state armed
groups and the involvement of children in
armed conflict. In July, the Coalition
organized a Forum on Armed Groups and
the Involvement of Children in Armed
Conflict, in Céligny, Switzerland, to exchange
views and strategies in relation to armed
groups with a wide variety of individuals,
groups and agencies.
INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT
By Ryan Silverio, South East Asia
Regional Coordinator
Human Rights Education Institute of Burma
(HREIB) published new research on child
soldiers in Burma, based on interviews with
more than 50 children recruited by the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
who had fled to the Thai border. HREIB and
other international organizations held talks
with the leaders of the Karen National Union
(KNU) and the Karenni National Progressive
Party (KNPP) aimed at obtaining a deed of
commitment on the non-recruitment and
involvement of children in armed conflict by
these armed groups.
In May and August, women and youth from
Bangsamoro communities in Mindanao,
The Philippines, participated in workshops on
international human rights and humanitarian
standards, organized by the South East Asia
Coalition (SEACSUCS) and others. They will
be followed up by further training sessions in
2007, focussing on teaching methodologies
and techniques used in popular education.
The Philippine Coalition to Stop the Use of
Child Soldiers conducted awareness raising
campaigns to develop partnerships with youth
groups and students in the area of prevention
of child recruitment.
In September, SEACSUCS organized a round
table on the creation of an ASEAN commission
on the protection and promotion of the rights
THE COALITION IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
of children and women.
SEACSUCS began a research project to
identify existing organizations and programs
implementing demobilization, rehabilitation
and reintegration (DDR) programs for children
involved in armed conflict in Indonesia, Burma
and The Philippines, as part of a wider DDR
mapping project undertaken by the Coalition.
The biennial Regional Steering Committee
was held in Manila, The Philippines, where a
new action plan was adopted with a strong
emphasis on capacity building, monitoring and
research, and community-based education for
local partners and networks.
To access the documents prepared for the
Forum, including an overview of approaches
to influence armed groups, plus case
studies and a bibliography, please see:
http://www.child-soldiers.org/resources/
armedgroups. A report on the Forum will
shortly be available in English, Spanish and
French.
By Héloïse Ruaudel, Program Manager
There have been some staff changes in
the region this year. Laure Malchair
(laure.malchair@mem.it) started as the regional
consultant for the International Secretariat in
August. In Burundi, Chantal Niyokindi
(chniyokindi@yahoo.fr) from Ligue Iteka is the
new National Coalition coordinator, assisted by
the local NGO Libejeun. In Uganda, Godfrey
Orach Otobi (cpauganda@yahoo.com) from
the Concerned Parents Association is the
new National Coordinator. Save the Children
in Uganda continues to host the regional
consultant and to provide support. New
Program Manager Héloïse Ruaudel visited
the region in June to meet with all partners
and reinforce the coordination structure of
national networks.
In October, members of the Coalition’s
international secretariat and the Coordinator
for the DRC Coalition met with the French
Collective against the Use of Child Soldiers,
the Fédération internationale des droits de
l’homme (FIDH), and the French Government.
In Brussels, the team was joined by the
Amnesty International researcher on DRC who
presented AI’s latest report on child soldiers
(See http://www.amnesty.org). Meetings were
arranged with members of European Union
institutions, government representatives, the
World Bank, and journalists.
A regional meeting took place at the end of
November in Bujumbura, Burundi, bringing
together local and international NGOs
working in the region, UN representatives,
and international child soldier experts.
In Burundi, the Coalition organized the
screening of a documentary film on child
soldiers. Around 100 members of the
international NGO and donor communities,
the Burundi government, and local youth,
attended the sessions. In November, a one-
day national debate on child soldiers took
place to discuss some of these issues and
the Coalition organized a training session
THE COALITION IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION
for NGOs on monitoring and reporting, with
a specific focus on child recruitment and use.
In Uganda, at the end of August, the Coalition,
child protection NGOs, UNICEF and the
Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR), jointly organized a training
session on monitoring and reporting on
human rights violations with a focus on child
rights violations.
In DRC, the Coalition has been campaigning
for measures to strengthen the judiciary to
bring to justice those who recruit or use
children. In South Kivu, Coalition members
have been monitoring and reporting on the
recruitment and use of child soldiers and
assessing issues surrounding prevention
and reinsertion. NGOs will receive training
on monitoring and reporting following the
presidential elections held in November and
the Coalition will undertake further advocacy
with the new government for the ratification
of the African Charter on the Rights and
Welfare of the Child.
By Enrique Restoy, Program Manager
The Coalition has consolidated its presence
in West Africa throughout 2006. The West
Africa Project Manager produced a survey
on child soldiers and child DDR programs
in West Africa and co-produced a “Call for
Action” on child soldiers with the Program
for West Africa at Save the Children Sweden.
Both documents are available at:
http://www.child-soldiers.org/resources/
themed-reports.
The survey was used as the basis for
advocacy trips to West Africa, North America
and Europe. The Coalition’s work has focused
mainly on stressing the difficulties for the
reintegration of former child soldiers in post-
conflict Sierra Leone and Liberia, where
thousands of children used during the
conflicts demobilized themselves, were re-
recruited for other conflicts, or were left in
situations of abuse and neglect, in some
cases considerably worse than when they
were child soldiers. The Coalition will focus
its advocacy and capacity building efforts
in Côte d’Ivoire, the only remaining armed
conflict in the sub region.
The Coalition has also supported the creation
of the West Africa Network of Community
THE COALITION IN WEST AFRICA
Based Organizations to Stop the Use of Child
Soldiers, an independent organization made
up of local and national NGOs, based in
Freetown, Sierra Leone. These organizations
have been selected by the director of the
network and the Coalition, based on the
West Africa Project Manager’s field survey.
Guillaume Landry, the Coalition’s West
Africa Project Manager for the past 18
months left us in August. He did an
outstanding job and we wish him all the
best in his new endeavours.
By Enrique Restoy, Program Manager
The Middle East and North Africa Network
to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has now
been dissolved and the Coalition is currently
focused on two priority countries in the
region: Israel/ Occupied Palestinian
Territories and Lebanon.
In March, the Coalition supported a training
course on the Convention on the Rights of
the Child and the Optional Protocol to the
CRC on children in armed conflict in Jericho,
Palestine, organized by DCI Palestine
Section for the 25 representatives of the new
Palestinian Network for Children’s Rights.
The Coalition’s work in the Middle East from
around May 2006 was severely affected by
Israel-Hezbollah attacks and the invasion of
Lebanon, as well as the precarious situation
in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, due
to the conflict between the new Hamas-led
government in Palestine and Israel, and the
blockage of all aid to Palestine imposed by
THE COALITION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
the European Union.
Fadi Abi Allam, chairman of the Lebanese
organization Permanent Peace Movement and
a long-time member of the MENA Network,
was invited to coordinate a new information-
sharing network on the involvement of
children in armed conflict in the Middle East
and North Africa. The Coalition will link up
with this new network to carry out specific
projects with some of its members in the
future.
The International Coalition supported
international advocacy efforts by the
Colombia Coalition (Coalico), including a
mission to Geneva in May 2006 to present
an alternative report to the Committee on
the Rights of the Child (CRC), in time for
the CRC’s session on Colombia. The
alternative report focused on issues such
as the continuing use of children by armed
opposition groups; military indoctrination and
training of children; general impunity in the
demobilization of paramilitaries; and lack of
information on children demobilized by these
groups. The CRC included some of these
points in its Final Observations, in particular
the military indoctrination of children and
their use in intelligence by the Colombian
Government.
Coalico also participated in a seminar on UN
Security Council Resolution 1612 organized
by the Canadian Permanent Mission in New
THE COALITION IN LATIN AMERICA
York in July 2006 and met members of the
UNSC and other UN bodies. Coalico is
part of the country task force of the UN
Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism, created
in November 2005, even though Colombia is
not part of the first phase of implementation
(countries in Annex 1 plus Sri Lanka and
Nepal) and has not been included in Annex I
of the Secretary General’s Report to the UN
Security Council.
By Martin Nagler, Europe Outreach
Officer
The Coalition first established a presence in
Brussels in August 2005 to systematically
lobby the institutions of the European Union
(EU) to include the issue of child soldiers in
their policies and programming. Since then
we established regular contacts with the
Commission, the Council of the EU and the
European Parliament.
The Coalition lobbied for a meaningful review
of the EU Guidelines on children in armed
conflict at the end of 2005 and worked
with the Austrian EU presidency on the
implementation of the guidelines in the first
half of 2006. The EU has also developed
a checklist to integrate the protection of
children affected by armed conflict into
European Security and Defence Policy
operations and missions with military and
civilian components, like those currently
on the ground in DRC.
THE COALITION IN EUROPE
The Coalition started a series of activities
that aim to bring the EU closer to other
regional coalitions, as well as bringing
regional partners to Europe to advocate
in Brussels and other European capitals.
In May the Europe Outreach officer went
to The Philippines to build capacity within
the SEA Coalition on EU lobbying and
develop contacts between EU Member
States embassies and the EC delegation
in Manila and Coalition partners.

PREVENTION
1110
PREVENTION
Every day we can find newspaper articles
referring to criminal gangs, organized crime
groups, maras or pandillas in both developing
and developed countries. Although the media
and the political and social communities
insist on treating individuals who are actively
involved in organized armed violence as
common delinquents, this view does not
accurately reflect reality.
The question we must ask ourselves is are
children and adolescents involved in organized
armed violence “just” juvenile delinquents and
the answer is no. They cannot be treated the
same way as juveniles because they belong to
a different violent reality, are subjected to a
specific command structure, are paid a salary
and belong to organized groups that have a
strong hierarchical system which they have
to respect.
During the 1990s, a similar question arose
regarding the case of child soldiers. Graça
Machel was asked by the UN Secretary
General to carry out research on the impact
of armed conflicts on children. Her report
emphasized the abuses and human rights
violations they usually suffered, as well as the
lack of access to basic resources. It was a
benchmark in the struggle for the recognition
of the plight of children employed as soldiers.
The international community finally understood
that girls and boys involved in armed conflicts
as soldiers are first and foremost victims of
constant abuse even if they may, at times,
also perpetrate abuses themselves.
Children in diverse regions of the world such
as South and Central America, Central Asia,
Eastern Europe, the Balkans and parts of
the African continent are exposed to serious
“risk factors” including impoverished socio-
economic contexts, high unemployment rates,
fragile governments, and lack of access to
sanitary and educational systems. The
situation of insecurity and high levels of
violence, due in part to state corruption, as
well as the lack of consolidation of post-war
rehabilitation processes, uncontrolled
circulation and presence of small arms and
light weapons, and networks of drug and
person trafficking, all serve to worsen the
context in which this reality is breaking out.
For instance, when comparing the danger
posed by gunfire to minors in Rio de Janeiro
with that of recognized conflict situations,
the seriousness of Rio’s situation is starkly
apparent. As a result of the conflict between
Israel and Palestine over the Occupied
Territories, 467 Israeli and Palestinian minors
were killed between December 1987 and
November 2001.
1
During the same period,
in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro alone,
3,937 under 18s were killed due to small
arms-related injuries.
2
A historical absence of policing and an almost
total lack of socio-economic investment in
poor areas has left a power vacuum and
opened the way for factions to assume the
role of social ordering within the community,
traditionally held by the state.
3
High levels
of police corruption and repressive policing
have led to a spiral of violence between
these sides and failed to deal with the
socio-economic problems that have led
many children and young people to choose
the drug trade as the ‘best’ of bad options.
CHILD SOLDIERS
VERSUS “URBAN
CHILD SOLDIERS”
Despite the similarities between these
concepts, categorizing children involved
in organized armed violence as “child
soldiers” would be problematic as many
of the countries in which this phenomenon
is observed are not in a state of war.
“Urban Child Soldiers” are children and
youth employed or otherwise participating in
Organized Armed Violence
4
where there are
elements of a command structure and power
CHILDREN IN ORGANIZED
ARMED VIOLENCE
By Rebeca Pérez and Clarissa Huguet, COAV International Project – Viva Rio
over territory, local population or resources.
Organized armed groups include
institutionalized street gangs, maras and
pandillas, drug factions, ethnic militias,
vigilantes and even paramilitary groups
acting in non-war scenarios.
Furthermore, categorizing these children as
‘soldiers’ may result in the legitimization of
the already high levels of lethal state force
used against them. There are also many
similarities between child and youth members
of drug factions and members of gangs in
urban centres within the United States and
elsewhere. However, the command
structures, levels of armed confrontation,
territorial domination and power over the local
population found amongst many organized
armed groups are a far cry form traditional
notions of “adolescent peer groups” found in
the US. Furthermore, children provided with
war-grade weapons and paid a salary to carry
firearms for a drug faction in Rio de Janeiro
favela, for a Civilian Volunteer Organization
in a village in rural Philippines, or for an
ethnic-militia in the Niger Delta in Nigeria
seem worlds apart from the traditional
understanding of “juvenile delinquency”.
Despite similarities, definitions such as “child
soldiers” or “delinquents” fail to correctly
represent the growing number of children
and youth around the world that engage
in organized armed groups that function
outside traditionally defined war zones.
SMALL ARMS AND
CHILDREN IN ORGANIZED
ARMED VIOLENCE (COAV)
The unchecked proliferation of illicit small
arms and the easy access to inexpensive
light weapons within poor communities
across the world has exacerbated the levels
of gun violence in those communities, and
increasingly exposed younger children to
guns on a daily basis. Attention must be
drawn to the devastating consequences
that the circulation of small arms and light
weapons has had on the growth of organized
armed violence since the 1980s and its
subsequent effect on children, many of
whom end up losing their childhood and
lives to violence, abuse and the violations
of their basic human rights.
With less than three percent of the world’s
population, Brazil accounts for 11 percent of
the world’s firearm deaths. Rio de Janeiro’s
annual death toll from violent crime is so high
that it at times exceeds the conflict-related
death toll in Colombia, where a high intensity
civil war has been waged for many years.
In the period from 1978 to 2000, an
estimated 39,000 conflict-related deaths
occurred in Colombia.
5
During the same
period in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro,
49,913 firearm fatalities were reported.
6
Approximately 70 percent of these deaths
were the result of so-called drug factions, or
drugs gangs. It is estimated that between 50
and 60 percent of drug faction members in
the city are minors. The types of small arms
and light weapons employed by all sides in
the daily conflicts between rival factions and
the police in Rio de Janeiro, as well as those
used by paramilitary groups and militias in
other regions, are also found in many civil
wars and related conflicts.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Governments have tended to focus on
repressive tactics to deal with children
and youth in organized armed violence.
Government repression may occur via
legislation that singles out youth groups or
their members; repressive and increasingly
militarized policing; or detention and
imprisonment of members of armed groups
or their summary execution.
Security forces that focus exclusively on
repression tend to be ineffective since they
do not deal with the root causes of the
problem, while juvenile justice and penal
systems in most countries affected by the
phenomenon are inadequate, actually
worsening the problem. Moreover, armed
groups tend to become better organized
and increasingly violent when faced only
with repressive tactics.
To effectively address the emerging
phenomenon of children and youth in
organized armed violence requires new
legislation at national, regional and international
levels; definition and categorization of
children in organized armed violence; and
the establishment of proactive measures
like programs of prevention, treatment and
rehabilitation with the affected communities.
A recent study has shown that children’s
responses to joining local armed groups vary
widely, despite facing the same external risk
factors.
7
While some children are more
vulnerable than others to pressures to join
these groups, the study maintains that in
the long-term, macro risk factors must
be eliminated in order for the problem to
be successfully eradicated. However,
strengthening existing local interventions to
build up resilience amongst children and young
people can be used successfully in the short
term so that they choose to leave or not join
the armed groups that dominate their areas.
Prevention and rehabilitation projects and
programs for children associated with armed
violence are successful when they are able
to give children and youth the ability to
respond to external risk factors through
options that do not involve participation in
an armed group. In addition to providing
sufficient options, really successful projects
also provide important influences for children,
in the form of mentors for example, that
further facilitate their decision to actively
respond to risk factors without joining a
local armed group.
“The situation [of children in
organized armed violence] must
be understood as an urgent call for
action, not only because we need to
contain the violence of armed youth
groups, but because every child and
adolescent needs to have his or her
rights fully respected.”
Paulo Pinheiro, Independent Expert,
UN Secretary General’s Study on
Violence Against Children
8
Children in organized armed violence should not be seen simply as juveniles. Risk factors believed to
influence children’s and youths’ decisions to join armed gangs are similar to those influencing child
soldiers, including poverty, low education levels and lack of economic options. Lessons from the successful
treatment of children and youth in organized armed violence might be beneficial to disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration programmes for child soldiers in armed conflicts, and vice-versa.
16 year-old with 9mm calibre pistol, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
© Luke Dowdney
Armed pandilleros, Honduras.
© Jha Ja, 2004 / Luke Dowdney,
“Neither War nor Peace”, 2005
1 Statistics supplied by the Israeli
Information Centre for Human Rights
in the Occupied Territories.
2 Provided by DATASUS – Ministério
de Saúde, Secretaria da Saúde do
Governo do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
3 Known as the ‘law of the favela’.
4 Also know as COAV: Children and
youth in Organised Armed Violence.
5 Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute, SIPRI.
6 DATASUS, op. cit.
7 Such as poverty, lack of economic
options due to low levels of education
and high unemployment, social
marginalization, prejudice, racism, low
self-esteem, violence from state forces
and rival groups, family problems, lack
of leisure facilities, and nothing to do.
Dowdney, Luke, Neither War nor Peace:
International comparisons of children
and youth in organised armed violence,
Rio de Janeiro: Viva Rio, 2005. p. 75,
www.coav.org.br, p. 86, Table 2.1,
“External Risks and Influences”.
8 Dowdney, Luke, Neither War nor Peace,
op. cit., Foreword.

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ACTION APPEAL ACTION APPEAL
SRI LANKA:
CALL FOR A UN HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING MISSION
AND INVESTIGATION OF ALL CHILD RECRUITMENT.
1
Children, mostly aged 14 to 18, continue
to be recruited as soldiers in Sri Lanka in
violation of international human rights
and international humanitarian law.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child
Soldiers is calling for the urgent creation
of a UN human rights monitoring mission
and for all cases of child recruitment to
be investigated.
The Coalition issued a statement on 3
October 2006, deploring the continuing
forced recruitment by the Karuna group,
which broke away from the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in March
2004. UNICEF had documented 194 cases
of child recruitment by the Karuna group
as of November 2006. In a recent and
disturbing development, evidence has
emerged of the complicity of elements of
the government military and police forces
in abductions and forced recruitment by
the Karuna group.
THE USE OF CHILDREN
AS SOLDIERS BY THE LTTE
The LTTE has recruited and used children,
some as young as nine, as soldiers throughout
the Sri Lankan civil war. The average age of
children at the time of recruitment into the
LTTE is 15. According to latest estimates by
UNICEF, 1,642 children, of which 667 are still
under 18, within the ranks of the LTTE
Initially, children are used as guards, cooks and
helpers and then as messengers and spies.
They are gradually inducted into the fighting
forces, first in battlefield support functions and
later in active combat. Ill-treatment of children
has been reported, including beating of those
who say they miss home.
Since October 2005, reports from the
eastern districts – particularly Batticaloa and
Trincomalee – indicate that the LTTE has
undertaken large-scale training of entire villages
for periods stretching from three to ten days.
Some local NGOs indicate that this could help
the LTTE identify cadres for future recruitment.
LTTE RECRUITMENT
PATTERNS
The LTTE has in the past encouraged every
family to give a son or daughter to the cause
and has militarized Tamil schools, sometimes
for use as military training grounds.
Observers say the LTTE recruitment drive
follows a cyclical pattern depending on
international scrutiny. Abduction has been
resorted to if the families fail to contribute
their quota, and many families are known to
flee to safer places to save their children
from the LTTE. UNICEF and other agencies
have reported a drop in recruitment from mid-
2005, but there is general consensus among
international and local NGOs that the drop in
figures is largely due to a fall in the number
of complaints made by parents as a result of
increased levels of fear and is not indicative
of the actual position.
There are reasons to believe that the LTTE
is continuing to recruit under-age youth in
territory held by them. Anecdotal evidence
suggests that the LTTE has been paying
workers to identify and recruit children
from villages and carrying on its recruitment
activities in a much more targeted and
organized fashion. There are indications
that the LTTE is making efforts to get back
in touch with its former cadres who were
recruited as children: leaflets asking for
meetings with former under-age recruits
have been recovered by international NGOs.
RECRUITMENT BY THE
KARUNA GROUP
In March 2004, the Karuna group led by
the commander of the Eastern Province, V.
Muralitharan, known by his nom de guerre
Karuna, split with the LTTE. At the time,
Karuna publicly declared that his opposition
to the LTTE’s policy of recruiting children was
among the reasons for the split. However,
since then the Karuna group has also been
involved in the recruitment of child soldiers.
In June 2006, UNICEF publicly called for
immediate action to halt the abduction and
forced recruitment of children by the Karuna
group. However, recent information indicates
that recruitment has increased as military
operations have intensified. As of November
2006, UNICEF had recorded 194 cases of
under-age recruitment by the Karuna group,
mostly in Batticaloa district. UNICEF
estimates that the real figures may be three
times higher. Those recruited include boys as
young as 15.
The fact that forcible recruitment has
occurred in the vicinity of government forces,
and the police have taken little or no action
to prevent it, raised strong suspicions of at
least acquiescence by government forces.
However, more direct involvement has
recently been confirmed by Ambassador Allan
Rock, a United Nations advisor on children
and armed conflict, who, during a mission to
Sri-Lanka in November 2006 found “strong
and credible evidence that certain elements
of the government security forces are
supporting and sometimes participating in
the abductions and forced recruitment.”
2
Since then, Colonel Karuna, while denying
engaging in recruitment of children, has
committed to work with UNICEF on child
protection and has committed to four
actions: informing commanders that
recruiting and using children is forbidden;
training commanders on child rights;
releasing any children among Karuna ranks:
and giving UNICEF monitors free access
to Karuna camps to ensure that there are
no children there.
The government, which has repeatedly
denied charges of Sri Lankan army support
for Karuna and other Tamil militia opposed
to the LTTE and has failed to act on earlier
allegations of involvement of its security
forces in recruitment of children by the
Karuna group, committed to undertake
immediate and thorough investigations.
LTTE LATEST
COMMITMENTS ON
CHILD RECRUITMENT
Ambassador Rock also expressed concern
that the LTTE has not complied with its
commitments under the 2003 Action Plan for
Children Affected by War, the first and only
formal human rights agreement between the
Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, to end
all recruitment of children and to release
children from its forces.
During Ambassador Rock’s visit, the LTTE
committed to work with UNICEF and to
accelerate the release of children from its
ranks, so as to complete this process by
1 January 2007. It additionally committed to
improving the training of its military
commanders on the issue of child soldiers
and to enforce disciplinary measures for
those who do not comply.
THE WIDER CONTEXT
Child recruitment in Sri Lanka occurs in a
context of widespread violations of human
rights and international humanitarian law by
all parties to the armed conflict. Neither the
army nor the LTTE has acted to protect
civilians. The UN estimates that more than
211,000 people have been displaced in the
north and east as a result of the deterioration
MODEL LETTER TO SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES:
(Your name and address)
(Date)
Dear
Children continue to be forcibly recruited by the Karuna group, which broke away from
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in March 2004. Recent reports implicate
elements of government security forces in supporting or participating in abductions and
forced recruitment children by the group. UNICEF has recently documented 194 cases
but it is believed the actual figure is higher. Child recruitment continues to occur in a
context of widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by
all parties to the armed conflict. Neither the Sri Lankan army nor the LTTE has acted to
protect civilians and both have obstructed the consistent delivery of humanitarian aid to
the population. In December, Colonel Karuna said that his group would release children
from its ranks, commanders would undergo training on child rights and be issued with
instructions not to recruit children, and that UNICEF would be allowed access to its
camps to verify that there are no children there.
While this commitment is most welcome, I am concerned that the serious situation will
lead to further recruitment and use of children as soldiers and respectfully urge you to:
• Put in place effective measures to immediately stop all recruitment of under-18s by
the LTTE and the Karuna group;
• Publicly issue orders to the military and the police that support or involvement in
such practices is forbidden;
• Investigate all reports of forced recruitment and abduction of children into the LTTE
and the Karuna group including allegations of support or involvement of elements
of the government security forces, and hold those responsible to account;
• Actively protect the civilian population and allow delivery of humanitarian aid;
• Agree to a human rights monitoring mission under UN auspices that includes
a child protection section with a mandate to investigate and report all cases of
child recruitment.
Yours sincerely
[name and signature]
Please write to: Sri Lanka Government, His Excellency the President Mahinda
Rajapaksa and Minister of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order, Ministry of
Defence, Public Security, Law and Order, 15/5, Baladaksha Mawatha, Colombo 03,
Sri Lanka. Tel: (+94 11) 243 0860 / 0869, (+94 11) 243 0878 / 0879,
Fax: (+94 11) 244 6300, Email: modmedia@sltnet, Web: www.defence.lk
Hon. Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, MP, Prime Minister and Deputy Minister of Defence,
Public Security, Law and Order, Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order,
15/5, Baladaksha Mawatha, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka. Tel: (+94 11) 243 0860 / 0869,
(+94 11) 243 0878 / 0879, Fax: (+94 11) 244 6300, Email: modmedia@sltnet,
Web: www.defence.lk
MODEL LETTER TO THE LTTE:
(Your name and address)
(Date)
Dear
Within the ranks of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), there are reported to be 1,642 children under 18 or
children who were recruited under 18, but are now 18 or
above. Underage recruitment continues and the LTTE have
yet to release children in accordance with its commitments
under the 2003 Action Plan for Children Affected by War.
Child recruitment takes place in a context of widespread
violations of human rights and international humanitarian
law by all parties to the armed conflict. Neither the Sri
Lankan army nor the LTTE has acted to protect civilians
and both have obstructed the consistent delivery of
humanitarian aid to the population. The LTTE has
recently given assurance that it will work with UNICEF
and accelerate the release of children from its ranks,
in addition to providing better training for its military
commanders on recruitment of children and disciplining
those who do not comply.
While this commitment is most welcome, I am concerned
that the serious situation will lead to further recruitment and
use of children as soldiers and respectfully urge you to:
• Immediately stop all recruitment of under-18s and
release all children currently in the LTTE;
• Make effective your stated commitment of not recruiting
under-18s into LTTE units;
• Actively protect the civilian population and allow delivery
of humanitarian aid;
• Agree to a human rights monitoring mission under
UN auspices that includes a child protection section
with a mandate to investigate and report all cases of
child recruitment.
Yours sincerely
[name and signature]
Please write to: Peace Secretariat, Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Elam, A9 Road, Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka.
Tel: (+94 21) 228 3960, Fax: (+94 21) 228 3959,
Email: mail@ltteps.org
in security earlier this year. Both the Sri
Lankan army and the LTTE have obstructed
the consistent delivery of humanitarian aid to
the population.
The Coalition calls on the government to
act immediately to stop all recruitment of
under-18s by the Karuna group and the
involvement of its own forces in such
practices. The Coalition also condemns
ongoing child recruitment by the LTTE.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child
Soldiers joins the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights in urging the government
and the LTTE to agree to a human rights
monitoring mission, under UN auspices.
The mission should include a child protection
section with a mandate to actively investigate
and report on cases of child recruitment by all
parties to the conflict.
1 Source: Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers,
“Sri Lanka: Parties to the conflict must stop
recruitment of children,” Press statement, 3 October
2006 and Hogg, Charu Lata, “Sri Lanka: The Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and child recruitment,”
paper presented at the Forum on armed groups and
the involvement of children in armed conflict, organized
by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers,
Château de Bossey, Switzerland, 4 to 7 July 2006.
Both available at http://www.child-soldiers.org
2 Statement from the Special Advisor on Children and
Armed Conflict, Colombo, 13 November 2006

1514
PREVENTION PREVENTION
Young people have always been the
victims of armed conflicts or been
involved in them. Efforts to ensure that
warring parties respect international
human rights and humanitarian law
have been mostly directed at people
or groups holding leadership posts,
and have benefited adults such as
community leaders, military officials or
leaders of armed opposition groups.
Young people from conflict areas have
remained at the margins, rarely receiving
information vital to their own protection.
Aiming to reach war-affected youth in
Mindanao, SEACSUCS decided to
initiate a trainer’s training workshop
on human rights and international
humanitarian law (IHL) for young
people. In May 2006, around 25 young
men attended the training sessions,
having been selected by the leadership
of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF), an armed opposition group, and
representing local organizations and
communities from Maguindanao, North
Cotabato and Cotabato City.
The overall objective was to encourage
respect for, and compliance with,
international standards, using a
progressive approach that would start
on raising awareness and critical
understanding of various laws and
programs, and would be complemented
by developing capacity and skills to
educate other youth.
The workshop’s program consisted of
plenary discussions and small group
interactions on basic human rights’ laws
and principles, the Geneva Conventions
and Additional Protocols, the landmines
issue, the role of young people in peace
building, and child protection issues and
concerns.
The sessions on child protection
focused on both international and
national laws, including the Optional
Protocol. The facilitators stressed that
both state and non-state armed groups
have the responsibility to observe human
rights laws and ensure the protection
of children. Marco Puzon, the National
Coordinator of the Philippine Coalition
to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers,
explained that, “It’s making the youth
understand that if they want to be an
independent Bangsamoro State, they
need to develop laws and policies
consistent with international legal
standards”.
The program included practical
sessions on facilitation skills and
development of training modules.
Participants were asked to develop
ways to disseminate what they had
learned to their colleagues and later
to discuss the presentations.
For most participants it was the first
time they had attended a workshop
on human rights and IHL. Many said
that the knowledge they had gained
could give them an alternative view in
dealing with armed conflict, while the
methodology was welcome as it allowed
participants to clearly understand
the content, and interaction and the
exchange of opinions was highly valued.
DEALING WITH
CONTENTIOUS ISSUES
There were some sensitive issues
that surfaced during the workshops,
particularly in relation to the involvement
of children in armed conflict. Divergent
and conflicting positions were
expressed: some participants cited
religious obligations and the need to
respond to the government’s injustices
and oppression as reasons for the
voluntary involvement of children, while
others said that there were no child
soldiers within their communities except
child victims of war in the custody of
MILF leaders.
While the workshop carried an explicit
position on the issue, the facilitators
designed the sessions in the form of a
dialogue as they realized that imposing
previously-held views was not beneficial.
Frank and open discussion grounded
on respect for each other’s opinions
and cultural background was the
prevailing norm.
The exchange of different views was
a learning process for both the
organizers and the participants and
understanding the cultural foundations
of their perspectives was beneficial in
order to develop more context-specific
approaches in the design of future
workshops.
Agreement on certain critical issues
was not anticipated but the underlying
interest, however, was to seek a
common understanding on the need
for further dialogue and interaction,
and a common objective was to protect
the rights of children.
ENGAGING YOUNG PEOPLE AS
ADVOCATES AND EDUCATORS
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
By Ryan Silverio, Regional Coordinator, Southeast Asia Coalition
A new initiative by the Southeast Asia Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (SEACSUCS), to
reach war-affected youth in the Philippines, has been well received by members of the Bangsamoro
community in Mindanao, who recently received training on human rights standards. But learning has
been a two-way process.
Coalition
member Cristina
Lomojlo shares
information on
child rights with
members of the
Moro Islamic
Liberation Front,
Cotabato City,
the Philippines.
© Child Soldiers
Coalition/Claudia
Ricca, 2005
RESPECT FOR
LOCAL PARTNERS
One of the strengths of the workshop
was its respect for the capacity of local
groups. Such a principle had inspired
members of the organizing team to
mutually reinforce and support each
other’s interests. The workshop was
intended to be a collaborative effort to
establish a sense of local ownership
of the project and there were close
consultations with partner organizations,
including during the project’s
conceptualization and the program’s
design and implementation.
Local partners and international
organizations that supported the
workshop included the Center for
Muslim Youth Studies (CMYSI), a local
youth organization based in Mindanao,
the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies
(IBS), the International Committee of
the Red Cross, the Philippine National
Red Cross and Geneva Call.
FOLLOW-UP
Encouraged by the participants’ positive
feedback and interest in sustaining the
initiative, the organizers have planned to
hold a follow-up workshop, to develop
skills in the areas of facilitation, creative
teaching and module development.
Participants have also expressed their
interest in organizing themselves into
a group called “Bangsamoro Youth
Human Rights Watch,” to take the lead
in educating young people on human
rights and IHL, as well as monitoring
and reporting violations within their
communities.
CONTRIBUTION TO
PEACE BUILDING
The workshop in itself is not the
solution to the conflict in Mindanao
but has a direct impact in, and
reinforces, the process of peace
building, as it promotes a sense of
obligation and accountability by all
parties to the conflict to respect norms
and standards, to protect vulnerable
groups such as children, and at the
very least respond to their needs to
alleviate suffering. As a capacity
building project, it also helps create
the social capital needed to sustain the
much needed development of conflict-
affected Bangsamoro communities.
To counteract the growing influence of
paramilitary groups and drug gangs in
the Medellin area of Colombia, the
Colombian Institute of Sports and
Recreation (INDER) has established
People’s Sports Schools (escuelas
populares de deportes, EPDs) in
marginal areas. The EPD is a municipal
program aimed at children between the
ages of 6 and 18 and contributing
through sports to “their integral
development as human beings,
strengthening their socialization and
teaching them principles such as
peaceful cohabitation, the culture of
citizenship, non-violence, using leisure
time appropriately and developing
[meaningful] life projects.”
The sports schools offer popular sports
such as football, basketball, volleyball
and swimming, as well as activities
such as athletics, tennis, chess,
orienteering, synchronized swimming,
skating, cheerleading, karate and
baseball. The program is financed
through municipal funds and targeted
at 22,000 people, 58 percent of whom
are boys and men. INDER social
workers and sociologists supervise the
COLOMBIA:
PEOPLE’S SPORTS SCHOOLS
By Claudia Ricca, Consultant, CSC
EPDs encouraging parents to share
play activities and craft workshops with
their children while helping strengthen
family bonds and break isolation.
INDER teachers also work with
youngsters to change antisocial
attitudes and promote solidarity and
respect for others. They have also
recently established a “parents’ school”
where adults can get advice on family
issues such as domestic violence, drug
abuse and sex education. EPDs have
also given youngsters known to have
links to the paramilitaries the chance
to try something new. INDER teachers
act as community mediators between
youngsters when conflict arises.
For Álvaro Córdoba, an adviser working
at INDER’s headquarters, “sports and
recreation must be used as a gateway
to talk to children and youngsters
about their rights – not only their right
to recreation, but all child rights.”
Source: INDER Medellin, Programa
Escuelas Populares del Deporte,
http://www.inder.gov.co/ and interviews by
Child Soldiers Coalition, February 2006
Children outside a
playgroup run by INDER
in Calasanz, a Medellin
barrio in Colombia.
© Child Soldiers
Coalition/Claudia Ricca, 2006

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