Children in Armed Conflict: What is the extent of the child soldier's phenomenon?
Introduction
The child soldier’s phenomenon ravages many war torn countries throughout the world today. Startling examples such as the Children’s Crusade in 1212AD highlight how entrenched in human warfare the phenomenon has been. The use of children as active combatants continued through the middle ages and permeates many modern conflicts. In Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East children continue to take active and support roles in hostilities. Large ethnic conflicts in Africa have seen children drawn into roles as merciless killing machines. The increase in intra-state conflict since the end of the Cold War has created a situation where the vulnerable child had been drawn into armed forces for both government and non-state forces. The new global security environment created by the end of the Cold War created ‘the political space for traditional peacekeeping operations to extend their mandates to a wide range of peace building activities’ (Ponzio, 2007: 6). For peace building initiatives to succeed the international community cannot overlook the needs of children drawn into armed conflict, terrorism or criminal activity. Nosworthy (2009:170) argues that ‘security policy has to recognise its complex interaction with outcomes for children’. The preamble of the 1989 convention on the rights of the child provides that;
‘the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and be brought up in the spirit of the ideas proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations’
The charter stressed the needs of the child and rights that this entails. The child should be entitled to special protection with possible vulnerabilities being tackled by the international legal instruments. Such protection cannot be provided by a traditional state security approach, human security as a counterpoint provides a framework for applying theory to the issue of child soldiers. According to Nosworthy (2009:170) the ‘security sector has specific obligations to fulfil in protecting and promoting the rights of children even during armed conflict’. Such obligations are not tackled under a traditional security approach, allowing the widespread abuse of children in civil conflict.
The child soldier’s phenomenon ravages many war torn countries throughout the world today. Startling examples such as the Children’s Crusade in 1212AD highlight how entrenched in human warfare the phenomenon has been. The use of children as active combatants continued through the middle ages and permeates many modern conflicts. In Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East children continue to take active and support roles in hostilities. Large ethnic conflicts in Africa have seen children drawn into roles as merciless killing machines. The increase in intra-state conflict since the end of the Cold War has created a situation where the vulnerable child had been drawn into armed forces for both government and non-state forces. The new global security environment created by the end of the Cold War created ‘the political space for traditional peacekeeping operations to extend their mandates to a wide range of peace building activities’ (Ponzio, 2007: 6). For peace building initiatives to succeed the international community cannot overlook the needs of children drawn into armed conflict, terrorism or criminal activity. Nosworthy (2009:170) argues that ‘security policy has to recognise its complex interaction with outcomes for children’. The preamble of the 1989 convention on the rights of the child provides that;
‘the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and be brought up in the spirit of the ideas proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations’
The charter stressed the needs of the child and rights that this entails. The child should be entitled to special protection with possible vulnerabilities being tackled by the international legal instruments. Such protection cannot be provided by a traditional state security approach, human security as a counterpoint provides a framework for applying theory to the issue of child soldiers. According to Nosworthy (2009:170) the ‘security sector has specific obligations to fulfil in protecting and promoting the rights of children even during armed conflict’. Such obligations are not tackled under a traditional security approach, allowing the widespread abuse of children in civil conflict.
Purpose
The aim of this article is to explore the child soldier’s phenomenon and examine the extent to which the issue might fit into the realm of security. To understand the extent and horror of the issue an examination of the subject matter is required along with an analysis of the failings of traditional security theory to tackle the subject matter. Firstly an examination of the international law and other instruments that are currently in place is put forward to show that children are protected under both international human rights law and international humanitarian law. This entitlement to protection does not always manifest into security for children on the ground in the harsh reality of intra-state conflict. As a result of ineffective implementation of the law an analysis of a method allowing real action to take place is necessary and applicable to the issue. The growing global phenomenon of child soldiers has had a profound impact on and has been “greatly affected by international legal instruments” (Fox, 2004: 466). Human rights law and military matters have become steadily more dependent on each other as liberal policies have started to influence state actions and behaviour. Human Security approaches the issue of security with international legal instruments in mind thus an analysis of the CRC and the OP-CRC is necessary. The sources of law must be examined in the context of child soldiers so it can be applied in practice.
The concept of human security is put forward as a method of recognising and addressing the security requirement of the child soldier’s issue. Human Security as a concept allows the child soldiers issue to be recognised and addressed in a manner that is unrealistic under traditional security thinking. Fox (2004: 465) provides backdrop for this piece of work stating “few attempts have been made to conceptualize or attach theory of any kind to the subject of child soldiers”. This statement provides the foundation for this piece of research.
The body of work available on child soldiers will be examined with the goal of deriving whether it can be securitised. Existing work on human security, gender and child studies from around the world can be scrutinised to try and provide a solution to the melding of the issue with security theory. Furthermore a case study will make a preliminary attempt to explore the issue of girl soldiers and how it might fit into discussions of security. The issue of girl soldiers falls squarely within the wider child soldier’s topic and should be considered a case study. It is necessary to examine girl soldiers as they comprise between “one tenth and one-third of all child soldiers” (Mazurana and McKay 2004: 115) and suffer some of the worst atrocities and social consequences as a result of their participation as child soldiers. They have been side lined within the issue and until recently were “little acknowledged or noticed” (2004: 115) despite being found “in almost all non-state political armed groups (Fox, 2004: 465). While girls fall within the larger issue of child soldiers there is an ‘additional and disturbing gendered component to the girl’s experiences and this has increasingly demanded more attention’ (2004: 466). The existence of armed minors provides a security concern in itself but the traditional military approach to the issue may not be sufficient. While clearing considered a military threat, child soldiers represent a “breach in the security that states are expected to provide for individuals and society” (2004: 466). Thus there exists a genuine ‘human’ element in the securitisation of child soldiers. Simply ignoring the issue is not an option “given that this is an issue that should be of great concern to international and regional peacekeeping forces, post conflict state building, development aid policy, and, of course, security” (2004: 466). Governments and NGO’s will have to concern themselves with the issue if they hope to achieve success in building more stable states, in particular the ones ravaged by deep social and ethnic divisions. Suggestions are made regarding humanitarian intervention and post conflict rebuilding by external actors. This concept requires the traditional realist principals of the nation state to be challenged by a new referent of security; the individual.
Extent of the Issue
The phenomenon of child soldiers has spread throughout an estimated 85 countries worldwide. The Coalition against the Use of Child Solders estimates that 300,000 children are involved in armed conflict at any one time. This number can fluctuate to up to approximately 500,000 depending on the severity of certain conflicts. To put this in context; in comparison the entire British army in 2009 had 149, 000 personal at its disposal highlighting the extent of the problem. It must be noted that today the problem is more widespread than ever before in history. 40 % of child soldiers can be found in Africa while female/girl soldiers account for 40% of the total number. Both government and Rebel forces are active in the recruitment of child soldiers.
Children in Burma, Guatemala, El Salvador and Ethiopia have been recruited by governments to combat rebel and opposition groups. They are also targeted by rebel movements in places such as Mozambique, Angola, Uganda, Sri Lanka and Sudan. Youth today can be easily taught how to handle effective armaments such as the M16 and AK-47 Assault rifle. These weapons can result in mass destruction of life with little effort. Children also volunteer to join rebel or government forces as they have very little prospects without such service. In Africa village elders have used their leadership to encourage children to partake in such conflict. The need for food, shelter, healthcare, money and a sense of power have driven children towards becoming child soldiers. Forced recruitment is a major issue. Children can be abducted from their villages or even across borders from neighbouring states. This raises a security issue for states in the region, providing safety for citizens is an important part of national sovereignty. Future generations are ruined by the violence they are exposed to. The resulting psychological trauma means that they struggle to reintegrate in their communities.
Why Children are Recruited
Children are mainly recriuted because they are, small, fast, obedient, brave, cheap to feed and easy to manipulate. Children have a number of uses in armed forces involved in intra state conflict. They are particularly useful for gathering intelligence on the enemy and have been involved as spies, scouts, saboteurs and decoys for an attacking force. They are used in direct military activity as well as support roles including domestic chores, sexual slavery and forced labour. In the Iran/Iraq war children were used in human wave assaults or as a device for clearing mine fields, a horrific waste of life. The increased terrorist activity of the past decade has seen children deployed as suicide bombers as they are considered less of a threat and can evade detection successfully. Children involved with armed groups suffer a brutal initiation period and find themselves becoming desensitised to violence and killing. This makes them very useful for carrying out attacks as they rarely appreciate the risks that they are taking and have little fear of death in what they consider a ‘game’. As a result of traumatic experiences a recovering child will suffer increased post traumatic stress, drug and alcohol dependency, memory difficulties, family discord, social dysfunction and depression. Due to their innocence and social position children constitute a uniquely vulnerable element in society.
Who is the Child? Who is the Child soldier?
The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly states that a child is defined as;
‘every human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier’.
A working definition is also provided by The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, defining a child soldier as;
‘any person under 18 years or age who is a member of or attached to the armed political forces or an armed political group, whether or not there is an armed conflict’
The Cape Town definition (1997) is the most comprehensive description of what constitutes a child in armed conflict, stating a child soldier as
‘any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to cooks, porters, messengers and those accompanying such groups, other than purely as family members. It includes girls recruited for sexual purposes and forced marriage. It does not, therefore, only refer to a child who is carrying or has carried arms’
The broad Cape Town definition was adopted by a group of child soldier’s experts during a symposium organised by the Working Group on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (NGO) and UNICEF for the purpose of preventing the recruitment of children into armed forces (Canada International Development Agency, 2005:4). This definition while broad is successful in providing a catch all net for defining what constitutes a child soldier. Furthermore the 1990 African charter on the rights and welfare of a child confirms in Article One that every human being to the age of 18 is a child.
The problem with the United Nations definition is the ‘majority’ aspect. Cohn and Goodwin-Gill (1994: 7) expand on this definition with a critical note about the age of majority and its recognition in a social, religious and cultural context. The contentious nature of the United Nations definition is highlighted by the fact that ‘for the purpose of participating in religious ritual, for example, a child may become an adult at age 13’ (1994: 7). This is the case in Judaism and other religions. In Islamic law, age of majority tends to be related to puberty, though there is considerable variation in the light of cultural norms prevailing in particular communities. In a legal context the right to vote and enter into contractual agreements is often seen as the individual reaching maturity. The Inter parliamentary Union expanded on this idea with a review of electoral systems in 150 sovereign states in 1993. The report found that
“The right to vote supposes that electors should have reached an age at which they are able to express an opinion on political matters, as a rule coinciding with the age of legal majority. The norm today is eighteen years; an overwhelming majority of 109 states has opted for this minimum age limit, with most other states having a slightly higher limit (19-21 years). The lowest limit (16 years) is practised in four countries: Brazil, Cuba, Iran and Nicaragua” (Inter Parliamentary Union, Electoral Systems: A worldwide comparative study, Geneva. 1993).
However ‘military age’ in these countries can vary from the voting age. In Brazil liability to military service is 19 while in Iran there is no age limit.
The Western Dimension
The issue on when majority is obtained casts a shadow on the recruitment policies of many Western armed forces. Twenty four Western States accept the voluntary recruitment of children under the age of 18. For example the British Army recruitment age is set at 16, with 17 year old soldiers being sent to Iraq in 2003. However when this was made clear the troops were withdrawn from the theater of operations within two weeks. In Afghanistan some 17 year old American soldiers have been deployed due to a lack of manpower in the region. The push towards a universal 18 years of age for the recruitment of soldiers appears to be a reasonable request given the nature of violent conflict. For the norm to be established and widely accepted every country must push for a single recruitment age. Cohn and Goodwin-Gill back this view stating ‘a reasonable inference would support the principal of transition to adulthood at eighteen, and the argument that young person’s below that age should not be compelled to take up arms’(1993, p. 8) Furthermore it seems unfair that disenfranchised persons should be drawn into armed conflict. A direct correlation between obtaining ‘majority’ at eighteen and military age should be drawn. An important piece of legislature relating to this issue is the Optional Protocol to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of a Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OP-CRC). Coming into force in Feb 2002 the OP-CRC bans recruitment of minors by non state armed groups and compulsory recruitment of under 18’s is also prohibited. Their still remains however an argument as to what extent child recruitment in less-developed countries can be considered voluntary. It will be seen in war torn ethnic conflicts that young people are often drawn into armed groups against their will. It is unreasonable to expect legislature to provide protection in a lawless environment.
Recruitment
Children are drawn to armed groups due to a number of factors which may lead to voluntary or forced recruitment. The underlying root causes of conflict are primarily the reasons why children are forced to seek refuge during vicious intra-state war. The intra-state conflicts that children find themselves caught in the middle of are characterised;
‘by guerrilla style warfare conducted largely by part time participants, such conflicts inevitably result in excessive civilian deaths and injuries, extensive damage to health and education systems, and substantial movements of refugees and displaced persons. When conflict drags on for years and even decades, the root causes themselves, such as poverty or repression, are exacerbated, galvanising civilian populations for recruitment into armed groups’ (Cohn and Goodwin-Gill 1994:23).
Conflicts in this vein create circumstances in which children find themselves displaced, orphaned or responsible for other family members. Schools and other infrastructure are destroyed leaving no safe haven for the youth; children become desperate and search for security. Children are often kidnapped from places where they have become vulnerable, such as refugee camps, schools or even the streets where they have become homeless as a result of destruction of their natural environment. Displaced children are at particular risk of being abducted into violent groups and the child may even be enticed by the security on offer. Poverty and the lack of access to education become additional factors in the decision of a child to seek security. Security can often come in the guise of an armed group, offering food, shelter, security and a weapon. Children are forcibly recruited but the destruction of economic, social, community and family structures by armed conflict plays a role in their ‘voluntary’ commitment to an armed group. Furthermore ‘many youths have reported that a desire to avenge the killing of relatives or other violence arising from war as an important motive’ (www.child-soldiers.org/childsoldiers/why-children-join). Propaganda may also play an important role, with pressure from ideological factions pushing their own political motive for children to involve themselves in the conflict. This was seen in the Iran/Iraq conflict in the 1980’s with children used as religious/political tools of the opposing factions. Forced recruitment into government forces has been witnessed in the Burma, Guatemala, El Salvador and Ethiopia. Furthermore the forced recruitment of minors by opposition movements in Mozambique, Angola, Sri Lanka and Sudan are clear cases of child victimisation (Cohn and Goodwin-Gill 1994:23). Child participation in the Palestinian intifada has often been purely voluntary and children have been the ‘primary catalysts of violent strife’ (1994:23). Such exceptions are mainly due to the unique religious, social or political views the children are indoctrinated with at a young age. Warlords and leaders of armed groups target children because they are uniquely vulnerable with the ability to learn quickly and adapt to war training. They provide a cheap and abundant source of labour and are capable of elevated levels of brutality once they have become desensitised to a certain level of violence. The end of the Cold War also caused a vast amount of light armaments to flood the market, enabling warlords to equip children with weapons they could easily handle. Understanding and analysing the underlying issues of why children are forced into armed conflict is vital in preventing child participation in violent civil strife.
Reintegration
The focus with recovering child soldiers is their involvement in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs (DDR), whether they are members of a government or rebel force at the end of an armed conflict. This is still in its early stage of development as ‘determining best practice with child soldiers is an ongoing effort and for program practitioners, it is often difficult to translate a list of best practice principals into local application (Verhey, 2001). Such challenges have often been portrayed by detractors as reasons why DDR programs cannot succeed in their ultimate goal. This viewpoint appears to carry more weight when children have been forcibly recruited and made to carry out horrific atrocities, often against other children. Verhey (2001) further argues however that ‘children and youths involved in armed conflict can re-engage positive social relations and productive civilian lives. It is not easy, however, and depends crucially on the political will and resources to include child soldiers in peace agreements and demobilisation programs and to support their reintegration into family and community’. Sadly more often than not the lack of resources and their correct application are serious issues preventing the rehabilitation of recovering child soldiers. Many are left on the sidelines because if their age, their gender, the function they performed, or a disability. (Canada International Development Agency 2005). According to the Canadian Development Agency (2005) the ‘purpose of a DDR program is to provide assistance to persons who are disarmed and demobilised, to promote sustainable peace, and to restore civilian life’. They should aim to promote the best interests of the child and protect them, providing one of the most vulnerable groups in society with security and the right to life.
In order to highlight the issue a closer examination of the child soldier’s phenomenon in Angola and Mozambique is included. The work of Alcinda Honwana (2002) provides a solid basis for such an exploration of recruitment, initiation into violence and eventual reconciliation attempts. In 1975 both Angola and Mozambique achieved independence from Portugal after a prolonged armed conflict for national liberation. Honwana (2002: 1) describes that the post-colonial regimes adopted a socialist model of development with a primarily Marxist government. Immediately opposition parties began wars against the ruling governments of Angola and Mozambique (Mozambique National Resistance RENAMO and United Front for the Total Liberation of Angola UNITA) Both wars lasted 15 and 20 years respectively with many child combatants involved in the fighting. It is estimated that more than 9000 children in Angola and approximately 8000-10000 in Mozambique, participated in the conflicts as soldiers. Both RENAMO and UNITA were active in recruiting children to their armies (2002: 2). Such a widespread use of children warrants a closer examination of the underlying causes of recruitment in post-colonial African states. It is Honwana that bases the phenomenon in the post-colonial state of Africa. The idea of any such blame being placed on Africa's pre colonial military history is rejected. Furthermore this rejection is applied to the traditional African culture.
'Rather, the phenomenon is rooted in the crisis of the post colonial state in Africa. This crisis is reflected in ethnic conflicts over power sharing, identity and access to resources; in the incapacity of the state to provide for and protect its citizens; and in the collapse of social and economic structures in rural areas and the massive migration to urban areas' (2002: 2).
The model that post-colonial governments applied has failed to deal with grievances arising from such issues. These internal pressures in unison with external pressures from destabilised neighbours have fuelled child recruitment in the resulting conflicts. Lack of opportunity in rural areas resulted in voluntary recruitment of child soldiers. Access to food and the protection of a gun were strong motivating factors.
Children can be manipulated and put to horrific use in armed conflict. There is a heavy psychological aspect to turning children into killing machines. Honwana (2002: 4) states in Mozambique and Angola that children 'were brainwashed and subjected to the most violent psychological pressures to make them shed their precious identities and assume new ones, as merciless killers. In this process they come to rely solely on their leaders. Evidence from the region shows they were capable of committing the worst of atrocities. Indeed the training was ‘aimed at preparing these children to fight a war and commit terrible atrocities’ (Honwana, 2002: 4). The psychological aim here is to dehumanise the target so that even the worst of actions takes on a robotic method. In a similar way that children can be desensitised to violence and war by watching bloodthirsty movies. African children were forced to actually carry out these atrocities furthering their initiation into becoming a useful weapon for their puppet masters. Harsh discipline, threats of execution and severe penalties force the child into deliberate action. A common first exposure to this violence is the execution of a colleague who has tried to escape. Drinking the blood of fallen comrades or being forced to kill family members further pushes the impressionable child towards savagery.
At the end of the conflict many children were taken to demobilisation centres run by international organisations such as the Red Cross. Honwana (2002: 5) describes how children in Mozambique who had been part of RENAMO were divided out amongst a group of child psychologists who worked on their mental state. The process of western psychology failed according to Honwana because;
‘the children were asked to talk about painful memories as a way of healing. Such methods are common in Western psychological practice. Western definitions and understandings of distress and trauma, of diagnosis and healing and of childhoods were applied to a society that possesses very different social and cultural patterns’ (Honwana 2002: 5).
The West failed to recognise the importance of ancestral spirits and the tribal mentality of the African continent. Part of the healing process in Africa is the idea of the collective body and the western psychologists failed to recognise this preferring to concentrate solely on the individual. Societal healing and a sense of forgiveness from peers and fellow tribe’s members were far more important to the collective body. The children who may now be young adults must be reintegrated and accepted by their own culture and society. Reintegration is the process by which ex-combatants acquire civilian status and gain sustainable employment and income. With the horrific atrocities these children have seen this process may be a difficult one, simply fitting back into a normal life will be near impossible. The majority of children who are dealing with the issues were born into war; they know nothing but war and the need for survival.
The Way Forward
The lack of a theoretical framework attached to the issue of children in armed conflict has allowed the underlying causes of recruitment to be ignored. The failure of reintegration programmes to successfully heal the individual has left a legacy of damaged children who know nothing but conflict and devastation. A post conflict situation must be built and maintained which is able to offer security, development and measures which address the root causes of the original conflict. The following chapters analyse the International Law which is already in place regarding children in armed conflict. International Law has attempted to provide a legal framework for combating the causes of recruitment and creating norms for the treatment of minors. This is followed by the discussion and the application of human security to the child soldier’s phenomenon. Human security and gender studies play a role in the final chapter and its discussion of the plight of girl soldiers.
The aim of this article is to explore the child soldier’s phenomenon and examine the extent to which the issue might fit into the realm of security. To understand the extent and horror of the issue an examination of the subject matter is required along with an analysis of the failings of traditional security theory to tackle the subject matter. Firstly an examination of the international law and other instruments that are currently in place is put forward to show that children are protected under both international human rights law and international humanitarian law. This entitlement to protection does not always manifest into security for children on the ground in the harsh reality of intra-state conflict. As a result of ineffective implementation of the law an analysis of a method allowing real action to take place is necessary and applicable to the issue. The growing global phenomenon of child soldiers has had a profound impact on and has been “greatly affected by international legal instruments” (Fox, 2004: 466). Human rights law and military matters have become steadily more dependent on each other as liberal policies have started to influence state actions and behaviour. Human Security approaches the issue of security with international legal instruments in mind thus an analysis of the CRC and the OP-CRC is necessary. The sources of law must be examined in the context of child soldiers so it can be applied in practice.
The concept of human security is put forward as a method of recognising and addressing the security requirement of the child soldier’s issue. Human Security as a concept allows the child soldiers issue to be recognised and addressed in a manner that is unrealistic under traditional security thinking. Fox (2004: 465) provides backdrop for this piece of work stating “few attempts have been made to conceptualize or attach theory of any kind to the subject of child soldiers”. This statement provides the foundation for this piece of research.
The body of work available on child soldiers will be examined with the goal of deriving whether it can be securitised. Existing work on human security, gender and child studies from around the world can be scrutinised to try and provide a solution to the melding of the issue with security theory. Furthermore a case study will make a preliminary attempt to explore the issue of girl soldiers and how it might fit into discussions of security. The issue of girl soldiers falls squarely within the wider child soldier’s topic and should be considered a case study. It is necessary to examine girl soldiers as they comprise between “one tenth and one-third of all child soldiers” (Mazurana and McKay 2004: 115) and suffer some of the worst atrocities and social consequences as a result of their participation as child soldiers. They have been side lined within the issue and until recently were “little acknowledged or noticed” (2004: 115) despite being found “in almost all non-state political armed groups (Fox, 2004: 465). While girls fall within the larger issue of child soldiers there is an ‘additional and disturbing gendered component to the girl’s experiences and this has increasingly demanded more attention’ (2004: 466). The existence of armed minors provides a security concern in itself but the traditional military approach to the issue may not be sufficient. While clearing considered a military threat, child soldiers represent a “breach in the security that states are expected to provide for individuals and society” (2004: 466). Thus there exists a genuine ‘human’ element in the securitisation of child soldiers. Simply ignoring the issue is not an option “given that this is an issue that should be of great concern to international and regional peacekeeping forces, post conflict state building, development aid policy, and, of course, security” (2004: 466). Governments and NGO’s will have to concern themselves with the issue if they hope to achieve success in building more stable states, in particular the ones ravaged by deep social and ethnic divisions. Suggestions are made regarding humanitarian intervention and post conflict rebuilding by external actors. This concept requires the traditional realist principals of the nation state to be challenged by a new referent of security; the individual.
Extent of the Issue
The phenomenon of child soldiers has spread throughout an estimated 85 countries worldwide. The Coalition against the Use of Child Solders estimates that 300,000 children are involved in armed conflict at any one time. This number can fluctuate to up to approximately 500,000 depending on the severity of certain conflicts. To put this in context; in comparison the entire British army in 2009 had 149, 000 personal at its disposal highlighting the extent of the problem. It must be noted that today the problem is more widespread than ever before in history. 40 % of child soldiers can be found in Africa while female/girl soldiers account for 40% of the total number. Both government and Rebel forces are active in the recruitment of child soldiers.
Children in Burma, Guatemala, El Salvador and Ethiopia have been recruited by governments to combat rebel and opposition groups. They are also targeted by rebel movements in places such as Mozambique, Angola, Uganda, Sri Lanka and Sudan. Youth today can be easily taught how to handle effective armaments such as the M16 and AK-47 Assault rifle. These weapons can result in mass destruction of life with little effort. Children also volunteer to join rebel or government forces as they have very little prospects without such service. In Africa village elders have used their leadership to encourage children to partake in such conflict. The need for food, shelter, healthcare, money and a sense of power have driven children towards becoming child soldiers. Forced recruitment is a major issue. Children can be abducted from their villages or even across borders from neighbouring states. This raises a security issue for states in the region, providing safety for citizens is an important part of national sovereignty. Future generations are ruined by the violence they are exposed to. The resulting psychological trauma means that they struggle to reintegrate in their communities.
Why Children are Recruited
Children are mainly recriuted because they are, small, fast, obedient, brave, cheap to feed and easy to manipulate. Children have a number of uses in armed forces involved in intra state conflict. They are particularly useful for gathering intelligence on the enemy and have been involved as spies, scouts, saboteurs and decoys for an attacking force. They are used in direct military activity as well as support roles including domestic chores, sexual slavery and forced labour. In the Iran/Iraq war children were used in human wave assaults or as a device for clearing mine fields, a horrific waste of life. The increased terrorist activity of the past decade has seen children deployed as suicide bombers as they are considered less of a threat and can evade detection successfully. Children involved with armed groups suffer a brutal initiation period and find themselves becoming desensitised to violence and killing. This makes them very useful for carrying out attacks as they rarely appreciate the risks that they are taking and have little fear of death in what they consider a ‘game’. As a result of traumatic experiences a recovering child will suffer increased post traumatic stress, drug and alcohol dependency, memory difficulties, family discord, social dysfunction and depression. Due to their innocence and social position children constitute a uniquely vulnerable element in society.
Who is the Child? Who is the Child soldier?
The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly states that a child is defined as;
‘every human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier’.
A working definition is also provided by The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, defining a child soldier as;
‘any person under 18 years or age who is a member of or attached to the armed political forces or an armed political group, whether or not there is an armed conflict’
The Cape Town definition (1997) is the most comprehensive description of what constitutes a child in armed conflict, stating a child soldier as
‘any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to cooks, porters, messengers and those accompanying such groups, other than purely as family members. It includes girls recruited for sexual purposes and forced marriage. It does not, therefore, only refer to a child who is carrying or has carried arms’
The broad Cape Town definition was adopted by a group of child soldier’s experts during a symposium organised by the Working Group on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (NGO) and UNICEF for the purpose of preventing the recruitment of children into armed forces (Canada International Development Agency, 2005:4). This definition while broad is successful in providing a catch all net for defining what constitutes a child soldier. Furthermore the 1990 African charter on the rights and welfare of a child confirms in Article One that every human being to the age of 18 is a child.
The problem with the United Nations definition is the ‘majority’ aspect. Cohn and Goodwin-Gill (1994: 7) expand on this definition with a critical note about the age of majority and its recognition in a social, religious and cultural context. The contentious nature of the United Nations definition is highlighted by the fact that ‘for the purpose of participating in religious ritual, for example, a child may become an adult at age 13’ (1994: 7). This is the case in Judaism and other religions. In Islamic law, age of majority tends to be related to puberty, though there is considerable variation in the light of cultural norms prevailing in particular communities. In a legal context the right to vote and enter into contractual agreements is often seen as the individual reaching maturity. The Inter parliamentary Union expanded on this idea with a review of electoral systems in 150 sovereign states in 1993. The report found that
“The right to vote supposes that electors should have reached an age at which they are able to express an opinion on political matters, as a rule coinciding with the age of legal majority. The norm today is eighteen years; an overwhelming majority of 109 states has opted for this minimum age limit, with most other states having a slightly higher limit (19-21 years). The lowest limit (16 years) is practised in four countries: Brazil, Cuba, Iran and Nicaragua” (Inter Parliamentary Union, Electoral Systems: A worldwide comparative study, Geneva. 1993).
However ‘military age’ in these countries can vary from the voting age. In Brazil liability to military service is 19 while in Iran there is no age limit.
The Western Dimension
The issue on when majority is obtained casts a shadow on the recruitment policies of many Western armed forces. Twenty four Western States accept the voluntary recruitment of children under the age of 18. For example the British Army recruitment age is set at 16, with 17 year old soldiers being sent to Iraq in 2003. However when this was made clear the troops were withdrawn from the theater of operations within two weeks. In Afghanistan some 17 year old American soldiers have been deployed due to a lack of manpower in the region. The push towards a universal 18 years of age for the recruitment of soldiers appears to be a reasonable request given the nature of violent conflict. For the norm to be established and widely accepted every country must push for a single recruitment age. Cohn and Goodwin-Gill back this view stating ‘a reasonable inference would support the principal of transition to adulthood at eighteen, and the argument that young person’s below that age should not be compelled to take up arms’(1993, p. 8) Furthermore it seems unfair that disenfranchised persons should be drawn into armed conflict. A direct correlation between obtaining ‘majority’ at eighteen and military age should be drawn. An important piece of legislature relating to this issue is the Optional Protocol to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of a Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OP-CRC). Coming into force in Feb 2002 the OP-CRC bans recruitment of minors by non state armed groups and compulsory recruitment of under 18’s is also prohibited. Their still remains however an argument as to what extent child recruitment in less-developed countries can be considered voluntary. It will be seen in war torn ethnic conflicts that young people are often drawn into armed groups against their will. It is unreasonable to expect legislature to provide protection in a lawless environment.
Recruitment
Children are drawn to armed groups due to a number of factors which may lead to voluntary or forced recruitment. The underlying root causes of conflict are primarily the reasons why children are forced to seek refuge during vicious intra-state war. The intra-state conflicts that children find themselves caught in the middle of are characterised;
‘by guerrilla style warfare conducted largely by part time participants, such conflicts inevitably result in excessive civilian deaths and injuries, extensive damage to health and education systems, and substantial movements of refugees and displaced persons. When conflict drags on for years and even decades, the root causes themselves, such as poverty or repression, are exacerbated, galvanising civilian populations for recruitment into armed groups’ (Cohn and Goodwin-Gill 1994:23).
Conflicts in this vein create circumstances in which children find themselves displaced, orphaned or responsible for other family members. Schools and other infrastructure are destroyed leaving no safe haven for the youth; children become desperate and search for security. Children are often kidnapped from places where they have become vulnerable, such as refugee camps, schools or even the streets where they have become homeless as a result of destruction of their natural environment. Displaced children are at particular risk of being abducted into violent groups and the child may even be enticed by the security on offer. Poverty and the lack of access to education become additional factors in the decision of a child to seek security. Security can often come in the guise of an armed group, offering food, shelter, security and a weapon. Children are forcibly recruited but the destruction of economic, social, community and family structures by armed conflict plays a role in their ‘voluntary’ commitment to an armed group. Furthermore ‘many youths have reported that a desire to avenge the killing of relatives or other violence arising from war as an important motive’ (www.child-soldiers.org/childsoldiers/why-children-join). Propaganda may also play an important role, with pressure from ideological factions pushing their own political motive for children to involve themselves in the conflict. This was seen in the Iran/Iraq conflict in the 1980’s with children used as religious/political tools of the opposing factions. Forced recruitment into government forces has been witnessed in the Burma, Guatemala, El Salvador and Ethiopia. Furthermore the forced recruitment of minors by opposition movements in Mozambique, Angola, Sri Lanka and Sudan are clear cases of child victimisation (Cohn and Goodwin-Gill 1994:23). Child participation in the Palestinian intifada has often been purely voluntary and children have been the ‘primary catalysts of violent strife’ (1994:23). Such exceptions are mainly due to the unique religious, social or political views the children are indoctrinated with at a young age. Warlords and leaders of armed groups target children because they are uniquely vulnerable with the ability to learn quickly and adapt to war training. They provide a cheap and abundant source of labour and are capable of elevated levels of brutality once they have become desensitised to a certain level of violence. The end of the Cold War also caused a vast amount of light armaments to flood the market, enabling warlords to equip children with weapons they could easily handle. Understanding and analysing the underlying issues of why children are forced into armed conflict is vital in preventing child participation in violent civil strife.
Reintegration
The focus with recovering child soldiers is their involvement in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs (DDR), whether they are members of a government or rebel force at the end of an armed conflict. This is still in its early stage of development as ‘determining best practice with child soldiers is an ongoing effort and for program practitioners, it is often difficult to translate a list of best practice principals into local application (Verhey, 2001). Such challenges have often been portrayed by detractors as reasons why DDR programs cannot succeed in their ultimate goal. This viewpoint appears to carry more weight when children have been forcibly recruited and made to carry out horrific atrocities, often against other children. Verhey (2001) further argues however that ‘children and youths involved in armed conflict can re-engage positive social relations and productive civilian lives. It is not easy, however, and depends crucially on the political will and resources to include child soldiers in peace agreements and demobilisation programs and to support their reintegration into family and community’. Sadly more often than not the lack of resources and their correct application are serious issues preventing the rehabilitation of recovering child soldiers. Many are left on the sidelines because if their age, their gender, the function they performed, or a disability. (Canada International Development Agency 2005). According to the Canadian Development Agency (2005) the ‘purpose of a DDR program is to provide assistance to persons who are disarmed and demobilised, to promote sustainable peace, and to restore civilian life’. They should aim to promote the best interests of the child and protect them, providing one of the most vulnerable groups in society with security and the right to life.
In order to highlight the issue a closer examination of the child soldier’s phenomenon in Angola and Mozambique is included. The work of Alcinda Honwana (2002) provides a solid basis for such an exploration of recruitment, initiation into violence and eventual reconciliation attempts. In 1975 both Angola and Mozambique achieved independence from Portugal after a prolonged armed conflict for national liberation. Honwana (2002: 1) describes that the post-colonial regimes adopted a socialist model of development with a primarily Marxist government. Immediately opposition parties began wars against the ruling governments of Angola and Mozambique (Mozambique National Resistance RENAMO and United Front for the Total Liberation of Angola UNITA) Both wars lasted 15 and 20 years respectively with many child combatants involved in the fighting. It is estimated that more than 9000 children in Angola and approximately 8000-10000 in Mozambique, participated in the conflicts as soldiers. Both RENAMO and UNITA were active in recruiting children to their armies (2002: 2). Such a widespread use of children warrants a closer examination of the underlying causes of recruitment in post-colonial African states. It is Honwana that bases the phenomenon in the post-colonial state of Africa. The idea of any such blame being placed on Africa's pre colonial military history is rejected. Furthermore this rejection is applied to the traditional African culture.
'Rather, the phenomenon is rooted in the crisis of the post colonial state in Africa. This crisis is reflected in ethnic conflicts over power sharing, identity and access to resources; in the incapacity of the state to provide for and protect its citizens; and in the collapse of social and economic structures in rural areas and the massive migration to urban areas' (2002: 2).
The model that post-colonial governments applied has failed to deal with grievances arising from such issues. These internal pressures in unison with external pressures from destabilised neighbours have fuelled child recruitment in the resulting conflicts. Lack of opportunity in rural areas resulted in voluntary recruitment of child soldiers. Access to food and the protection of a gun were strong motivating factors.
Children can be manipulated and put to horrific use in armed conflict. There is a heavy psychological aspect to turning children into killing machines. Honwana (2002: 4) states in Mozambique and Angola that children 'were brainwashed and subjected to the most violent psychological pressures to make them shed their precious identities and assume new ones, as merciless killers. In this process they come to rely solely on their leaders. Evidence from the region shows they were capable of committing the worst of atrocities. Indeed the training was ‘aimed at preparing these children to fight a war and commit terrible atrocities’ (Honwana, 2002: 4). The psychological aim here is to dehumanise the target so that even the worst of actions takes on a robotic method. In a similar way that children can be desensitised to violence and war by watching bloodthirsty movies. African children were forced to actually carry out these atrocities furthering their initiation into becoming a useful weapon for their puppet masters. Harsh discipline, threats of execution and severe penalties force the child into deliberate action. A common first exposure to this violence is the execution of a colleague who has tried to escape. Drinking the blood of fallen comrades or being forced to kill family members further pushes the impressionable child towards savagery.
At the end of the conflict many children were taken to demobilisation centres run by international organisations such as the Red Cross. Honwana (2002: 5) describes how children in Mozambique who had been part of RENAMO were divided out amongst a group of child psychologists who worked on their mental state. The process of western psychology failed according to Honwana because;
‘the children were asked to talk about painful memories as a way of healing. Such methods are common in Western psychological practice. Western definitions and understandings of distress and trauma, of diagnosis and healing and of childhoods were applied to a society that possesses very different social and cultural patterns’ (Honwana 2002: 5).
The West failed to recognise the importance of ancestral spirits and the tribal mentality of the African continent. Part of the healing process in Africa is the idea of the collective body and the western psychologists failed to recognise this preferring to concentrate solely on the individual. Societal healing and a sense of forgiveness from peers and fellow tribe’s members were far more important to the collective body. The children who may now be young adults must be reintegrated and accepted by their own culture and society. Reintegration is the process by which ex-combatants acquire civilian status and gain sustainable employment and income. With the horrific atrocities these children have seen this process may be a difficult one, simply fitting back into a normal life will be near impossible. The majority of children who are dealing with the issues were born into war; they know nothing but war and the need for survival.
The Way Forward
The lack of a theoretical framework attached to the issue of children in armed conflict has allowed the underlying causes of recruitment to be ignored. The failure of reintegration programmes to successfully heal the individual has left a legacy of damaged children who know nothing but conflict and devastation. A post conflict situation must be built and maintained which is able to offer security, development and measures which address the root causes of the original conflict. The following chapters analyse the International Law which is already in place regarding children in armed conflict. International Law has attempted to provide a legal framework for combating the causes of recruitment and creating norms for the treatment of minors. This is followed by the discussion and the application of human security to the child soldier’s phenomenon. Human security and gender studies play a role in the final chapter and its discussion of the plight of girl soldiers.