Child Combatants

Think about it… What is a "child"? At what age can a young person no longer be called a 'child'? (What is a teenager? An adult?) What are the basic needs of children? What can happen if these needs are not met?

Why Join or be Enlisted? Why young people might join: revenge, anger no parental/family support self-protection poverty, means of survival their societies value warfare, heroism, martyrdom (honour) Why commanders want them: they don’t ask questions; they follow orders they can be easily controlled they can be made martyrs need for fighters: Inexpensive form of weaponry peer pressure they are not fully aware of the risks they are vulnerable

Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict: Adopted by the UN General Assembly on 25 May 2000 and entered into force on 12 February The protocol sets 18 as the minimum age for direct participation in hostilities, for recruitment into armed groups, and for compulsory recruitment by governments. States may accept volunteers from the age of 16 but must deposit a binding declaration at the time of ratification or accession, setting out their minimum voluntary recruitment age and outlining certain safeguards for such recruitment.

ICC & War Crimes The Rome Statute: Article 8 War crimes 1. The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes. War crimes are defined as… (xxvi) Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a former leader of a militia group at war in the North Eastern Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has been formally charged by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court with enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 and using them to participate actively in hostilities.

Consequences In groups of 4, discuss and compile a list of problems that ensue. If a child becomes a combatant and survives the war, what does the future hold for them? Economic, Social, Psychological, Emotional

DDR: Disarm, Demobilise, Rehabilitate/Reintegration Disarm – secure custody of weapons and/or destruction of weapons and munitions. Demobilise – separation or withdrawal from military and paramilitary structures. Re-integrate – return to society, equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to be accepted and become a productive and fulfilled member of society.

Emmanuel Jal on.com/relevance/sea rch/emmanuel+jal/vid eo/x54c7c_emmanuel -jal-war-child_music on.com/relevance/sea rch/emmanuel+jal/vid eo/x54c7c_emmanuel -jal-war-child_music on.com/relevance/sea rch/emmanuel+jal/vid eo/x5f2go_emmanuel -jal-clip- warchild_music on.com/relevance/sea rch/emmanuel+jal/vid eo/x5f2go_emmanuel -jal-clip- warchild_music movie.com/pages movie.com/pages Emmanuel Jal was born in war-torn Sudan in the early 1980s. He was taken from his family home in 1987 when he was six or seven years old, and sent to fight with the rebel army in Sudan’s bloody civil war. For nearly five years, he was a “child warrior,” put into battle carrying an AK-47 that was taller than he was. By the time he was 13, he was a veteran of two civil wars and had seen hundreds of his fellow child soldiers reduced to taking unspeakable measures as they struggled to survive on the killing fields of Southern Sudan. After a series of harrowing events, he was rescued by a British aid worker (Emma McCune) who smuggled him into Nairobi to raise him as her own.

Ishmael Beah mplates/player/mediaPl ayer.html?action=1&t=1 &islist=false&id= &m= mplates/player/mediaPl ayer.html?action=1&t=1 &islist=false&id= &m= n.com/relevance/search /ishmael+beah/video/x 3oocr_interview-with- former-child- soldier_blog n.com/relevance/search /ishmael+beah/video/x 3oocr_interview-with- former-child- soldier_blog