1. Child Soldiers Youth Advocate Program International 4545 42 nd St. NW, Suite 209 Washington DC 20016, USA www.yapi.org Youth Who Participate in Armed Conflict

2. Child Soldiers What do you know?  During what years of your life are you considered a child?  How many countries would you guess use child soldiers in today’s world? A few? A lot?  Why would an army want to use child soldiers?  Can children be accepted into the United States Armed Forces?

3. Child Soldiers In Focus

4. “Any child – girl or boy – under the age of 18, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group, including but not limited to combatants, cooks, porters, messengers, and anyone accompanying such groups other than as family members. This includes girls and boys recruited for sexual purposes and/or forced marriage” (UNICEF). Child Soldiers Who is a child soldier?

5.  There are 300,000 children involved in armed conflicts around the world.  Child soldiers are used in more than 30 countries around the world and range in age from 5 to 17 years old.  There are approximately 70,000 children in Myanmar’s (Burma’s) government armed forces.  Between 1986 and 1996 alone, 2 million children were killed in armed conflict and over 6 million children were injured.  In past conflicts 80-90 percent of casualties were adult soldiers; today, 80-90 percent of casualties are women and children. Source: “Child Protection: Armed Conflict,” (3 March 2004). Source: “Special Report: Child Soldiers,” 12 December 2003, United Nations: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, (3 March 2004). Source: “Child Soldier Use 2003: A Briefing for the 4th UN Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict,” January 2004, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. Source: “Special Report: Child Soldiers,” 12 December 2003, United Nations: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, (3 March 2004). Child Soldiers Basic Facts

6.  Child soldiers often fight on the front lines of conflict.  They serve as scouts, spies, trainers, saboteurs, decoys, couriers, guards, and landmine clearers.  Child soldiers also work indirectly as porters and domestic servants.  Girl soldiers are often used as sexual slaves or are given as rewards to male soldiers as “wives.” Child Soldiers What do child soldiers do? Source: MSNBC

7. Child Soldiers Where are child soldiers? Children at War Around the World Source: UN

8.  300,000 children around the world are actively participating in more than 20 armed conflicts.  More than 20,000 children have been abducted and trained as soldiers by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Sudan since May 2002  Some of countries that use child soldiers are Burma, Columbia, Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Liberia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Cote d'Ivoire. Source: “Child Protection: Armed Conflict,” http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_armedconflict.html (3 March 2004). Source: “UNICEF-led team finds 163 Congolese child soldiers in Uganda,” 22 November 2003, http://www.unicef.org/newsline/01pr19.htm (3 March 2004). Child Soldiers Where are child soldiers?

9.  Child soldiers increase the number of fighters.  Children are more easily manipulated and controlled – they are more likely to follow orders without question – than adults.  Children can hide in tight quarters because they are physically smaller than adults.  People generally do not suspect children to be soldiers, so they can slip through many security checks unexamined.  Advances in technology have produced weapons light and cheap enough to be used by children. Child Soldiers Why are there child soldiers?

10.  Children in extreme poverty who are desperate for food and shelter.  Children without identification papers.  Orphans and children with weak family structures.  Children living in refugee camps or conflict zones. Child Soldiers Which children are affected? Source: UN

11.  The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) signed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 protects children under the age of 15 from involvement in the armed forces.  All countries but Somalia and the United States have ratified the CRC.  A 2000 Protocol (optional addition) to the CRC raised the age from 15 to 18 years.  This Protocol also prohibits non-governmental armed groups from recruiting soldiers under the age of 18. Child Soldiers What’s being done to stop the use of child soldiers?

12.  Disarmament: to remove all weapons from the child.  Demobilization: the point at which the child leaves military life.  Rehabilitation and Reintegration: to prepare a child to return to normal life.  Can be difficult for child to readjust.  The UN and NGOs try to provide psychological support, education, and job training. Child Soldiers What’s being done to help child soldiers return to normal life? Source: BBC

13.  Educate yourself about Child Soldiers.  Contact local, state, and national politicians for information about Child Soldiers.  Write letters asking for their opinion on Child Soldiers  Talk to your parents about Child Soldiers.  Educate the adults in your life!  Advocate for Child Soldiers awareness!  Begin a social awareness/human rights club Child Soldiers What you can do

14. Center for Defense Information www.cdi.org/atp/childsoldiers Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org International Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers www.child-soldiers.org UNICEFwww.unicef.org War Child www.warchild.org Youth Advocate Program International www.yapi.org Child Soldiers For more information