Child soldier

A child soldier is an old combatant of less than 15 years according to the international law or less than 18 years according to certain national legislations.

History

With the the Middle Ages, the education of the knight S started around 7 years, with a military training. Around 12 years, it became a rider while following a knight. He was then confronted with the violence of the engagements. It is only at 21 years that it was adoubé and became in its turn a knight.

More recently, of the children soldiers were used during the American Civil War, with the the United States in the Années 1860 and at the time the Insurrection of Warsaw in Poland during the Second world war. The latter, just like the resistant major ones, were carried out by the German army and little survived. Always at the same period of the History, the Jeunesses hitlériennes are also children soldiers, because they were used at the time them engagements to slow down the progression of Allied, in particular at the time of the catch of Berlin.

Today

The United Nations (UNO) estimates at: 300000 the number of children soldiers currently in activity. They are mainly used at the time of the Civil wars, or by paramilitary criminal groups (such as for example the FARC in Colombia). Inter alia examples, let us quote the independence troops of the Tamil Tigers of Eelam tamoul (LTTE) which were characterized by the use of young girls like Kamikaze S carried out against the governmental army of the Sri-Lanka. Even if the conflict seems today on the way to be solved, remains that hundreds of young girls between 9 and 17 years were exploited with fine soldiers and ideological, in all impunity. The same applies to the boys. Thus, UNICEF estimates at more: 5000 the number of children soldiers recruited by the LTTE.

The Talibans present in Afghanistan also proceeded to enrôlement of young warriors starting from their entered in war against the Soviet Union in 1979 until the falls of the islamist mode in 2001. The use of children soldiers did not disappear within the terrorist groups operative Taliban after the fall from their mode and one estimates in 2001 the proportion of children soldiers in Afghanistan at 20% of the total staff complement.

Reasons

The reasons of the existence of such composed armed groups children are explained various ways.

In addition to removal, one of the origins of the phenomenon of the child-soldiers is in the poverty, worsened by the situation of war. The families not being able to remain with the needs for their children, some indicate themselves to enlist in the paramilitary army or groups, thus relieving their close relations of a mouth to be nourished, while ensuring themselves their subsistence.

On the basis of voluntariate, one can also find other motivations:

fascination for the military life, the uniform, prestige, etc;
the desire to avenge death for a close relation during a conflict or simply to take part in the combat for the release of its people;
the need for protection (the rows of the freedom fighters Tchétchènes were seen to grow bigger when the Russian army took the practice to stop all the 16 year old young men for the " interroger");
one finds sometimes reasons ideological (in these cases, the children often profit from the approval of the entourage, to trust to see a family member sacrificing itself for the cause).

As regards recruiter, the reasons are easily explainable. The children are not expensive in food, they are flexible, influenceable, and easily enrôlables. Moreover, they can prove of a frightening effectiveness on difficult grounds (the bush for example), but also as spies or kamikazes, passing easily for inoffensive to the eyes of the opponents. They are also used like " flesh-with-canon" on the battle fields, placed in first line to make diversion.

Moreover, young and being stripped means of subsistence, they are in the practical impossibility to flee. Other assets: easily intimidated and malleable, one quickly made make machines of wars of them. Thus, during the civil war, the wolf children of the national Résistance of Mozambique (RENAMO) to the Mozambique were drawn up with the massacre and torture, tasks which they achieved with enthusiasm according to their own accounts. Moreover, the brittleness of the children, as well psychological as physical is a brake with the mutiny.

One should not either forget the various reasons of a contextual nature which explain this increase in use of the children soldiers. First of all, the extreme brittleness of the political situations and economic of the countries concerned, and the tensions exacerbate which reign there. Thus a child resulting from an easy family will have much less risks to be made recruit or enlist that another resulting from a underprivileged family.

The right to education is also a factor. Far from being respected by all the countries, means or of will, depending on the States. The children or not being provided education for more should not find an occupation, which very often must be lucrative. Engagement in the army is then an alternative to work as a civilian.

Another explanation would be the presence of an extremely high number of light weapons, where in 1998 one estimated at 500 million the number of light weapons in circulation in the world, including 100 million only for Africa. These weapons are easily easy to handle, in particular by the children, which increases their possibility of taking part in the engagements.

Lastly, certain companies are largely militarized. The worship of the army, the weapons and the war increases the share of fascination of young people for what attracted closely or by far with the army or violence, which increases the probability of engagement early of the children. This even truer for the countries where schooling is not assured, or is largely centered on the patriotic endoctrination, like certain religious schools, or the public schools of the quarrelsome States (military dictatorship of Myanmar for example, or certain Koranic schools in which education is actually centered on the Islamisme, and not on the Islam).

The statute of the young girls (but that can also arrive to the boys) particular is had regards of their sexual exploitation.

All these factors make that at the time of an armed conflict, the children are, with the Femme S, of the easy targets.

Reactions international

Vis-a-vis this problem, the international community reacts in a disparate way, by adopting laws and decrees, while yielding ground by compromises with the permissive States, compromises which are reflected in the adopted texts. First of all, the protection of the children is declined according to his statute:

civil not taking part in the hostilities
civil weakened by its young age
combatant

Conflicts

Children soldiers were, or are still used in the recent armed conflicts, in the following countries:

Uganda

At present, the Armed with resistance of the Lord (LRA), a bunch of religious fanatics of the north of the Uganda directed by Joseph Kony proceeds regularly, and this since the medium of the Années 1990, with forced enrôlements young children. A report/ratio of BBC going back to 2000 advances the figure of: 20000 children kidnapped, sometimes as of the age of 7 or 8 years. These abductions are often accompanied by violences made with the family of the child, sometimes carried out under the eyes of the removed children. Moreover, " small soldats" are forced to take part in exactions, component of the war crimes (massacres of whole villages, executions summary, lapidations, etc). Those which try to flee are used as example while being carried out by ritual murders in which turn-with-turn the children of the quota take part. The members of the LRA force sometimes the children to make these exactions in their own village, dissuading them once and for all to try to return a day on their premises.

Of course, the removed children undergo them also barbarous acts (Viol S, murder, Torture S, forced labors, long walks, etc). The proportion of children in the total quota of the LRA is estimated at 80%, it is thus an army living mainly of these abductions.

Democratic republic of Congo

The various militia largely employed children like combatants at the time of the Second war of Congo. Certain armed groups had up to 40% children in their troops.

To put an end to the civil war, a program of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (GDR) of the war veterans in the civil life were initiated in 2003. It concerned: 300000 children. But this program knew several brakes which made that in June 2006, the governmental commission in load of program GDR announced that it had demobilized a little more than 19000 children, in a report/ratio published in October 2006, considers that this program does not give to the children protection and the support which they need.

Because them difficulties to survive and persistence of armed groups, many children are likely to join new militia

The girls, who accounted for 40% of the children soldiers benefitted little from program GDR. According to international Amnesty, the girls “were often married” of force to adult soldiers and persons in charge refuse to recognize them like children soldiers preferring to designate them as “people with load” of adult combatants.

Chad

The government Chad IEN signed the May 9th 2007 an agreement with the UNICEF providing the protection and the demobilization of the children enlisted in the Chadian national army. By signing this agreement, the government recognizes for the first time the presence of children in the rows of the regular army.

Reference

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