On Darfur’s Borders, Children to Lay Down Guns
DENVER, Colo. - Thousands of children in the African nations of Chad and the Central African Republic could be turning from the battlefield to the blackboard as a result of international negotiations over the past two weeks.
The international children’s rights group UNICEF announced Thursday that negotiations had started to reintegrate hundreds of children into civilian life in the northeastern region of the Central African Republic. According to a UN report, the first batch of children is expected to be sent home on June 1, and that could pave the way for the release of children in the northwestern part of the country as well.
About 1,000 children are believed to be serving in various armed groups in the Central African Republic, a UNICEF representative told the UN’s IRIN news service.
“The liberation of these child soldiers will be a good thing for the rebellion because we want all of them to go back to school or learn a job,” General Damane Zakaria, a rebel leader in the northeastern part of the country, told IRIN.
The UNICEF program is expected to extend the benefits of improved health care, schooling, recreation activities, and protection to all children in the northeast of the country.
That news comes on the heels of a similar agreement signed by UNICEF and the government of Chad on May 9. In that country, UNICEF says it will help the government prevent the future recruitment of children into armed forces and ensure that those already fighting will be liberated and reintegrated into everyday life.
One rebel group in Chad is also believed to have over 1,000 child soldiers among its ranks. Negotiations are underway to secure their return home as well.
In Chad, many of the freed children will head to transition centers where they can receive initial medical treatment and psychological and social support and begin to participate in schooling.
“Traditionally, one would want to see these children [immediately] reintegrated with their families, but the children in Chad come from areas that are still not secure,” said UNICEF representative Stephen Adkisson, explaining the need for the transition centers.
The reintegration program in Chad is expected to benefit Sudanese children as well who will be returned to their country of origin.
Chad and the Central African Republic border the embattled region of Darfur in western Sudan, and have seen pockets of fighting erupt in recent months, both due to political instability at home and spill-over effects from the fighting in Darfur.
According to the International Rescue Committee, a non-profit group that works with freed child soldiers, some 300,000 young people worldwide — both boys and girls — are currently trained for combat or being used by armed groups as porters, spies, or sex slaves.
The group says that for former child soldiers to recover, communities must “fully accept the child back, and help him or her assume a positive role and identity.” It promotes schooling, vocational training, and community child-protection committees to provide support systems for vulnerable children.
In February, 58 countries agreed to the so-called “Paris Principles” to protect children from military recruitment and assist those already involved with armed groups.
The government of Chad was among those who joined the agreement. The Central African Republic was not.
Copyright © 2007 OneWorld.net.
I’m sure that these children have suffered the casualtys of war. Mental instability. Why should it be expected that these children can return immediately back to normal lives they had prior to their military involvement.
I think that their returns should be a protracted one with all the safeguard and nurturing afforded any new born. Don’t kid yourself by thinking that they’ve not suffered mentally. To return them without this intervention would be to release a time bomb. (IN A NUTSHELL)
That photo of the beautiful young boy with the military garb, the assault rifle… he deserves an education, a chance (if possible, considering what he must have endured) to just be a kid.
What about those who were child soldiers, now grown? Don’t they deserve an education as well? Educate the poor, so they can rise above the ignorance of those who oppress thenm!
If you have the opportunity to read Ishmael Beah’s book LONG WAY HOME, you’d learn that the transition from child soldier to member of the community going to school is a long and difficult one, led by people involved in UNICEF and NGOs. When Ishmael and his pals were rescued by UNICEF they had first of all to get off the drugs they’d been given by the army so that they would be able to kill without remorse. Those who make it deserve a log of credit. So also do the communities who are asked to take the children back in. The communities know about the boys’ histories as killers and need help in overcoming their fear of the boys.
If the UN can carry out an effective program to help these abused children, then I hope they can help as many as possible. Wouldn’t it be nice if we did the same in the USA?
I first arrived in the Tenderloin of San Francisco and the first job I had was as a night time hotel clerk. Anyone who is familiar with the Tenderloin in San Francisco will know what I am about to say. The children are usually heavily armed. Have no family to speak of, and are simply doing their best to survive in a violent area if you are involved in crime. Why can’t the USA do the same? It is a dumb question, I know, because those who are running this country into a wall couldn’t care less about poor children – black, white, yellow, brown, or any color you would want to add.
I no longer live in the USA. I live in a poor third world country. But they care about their young. We in the West, at least some of us, have forgotten that today’s children will be tomorrow’s leaders. American Idol just doesn’t fit the bill.