Daily News Debate
by Rajmi Manatunga
This week on 'Daily News Debate' we continue the discussion commenced
last Wednesday on 'the use of children as soldiers'.
Accordingly, today's page features an insight into the international
law regarding the use of children in armed conflict provided by a legal
academic, and an examination of the plight of Sri Lankan child soldiers
by a well-known child rights activist.
'Daily News Debate' is your forum. You are welcome to voice your
opinion on the above topic through 'Daily News Debate' with articles not
exceeding 1,500 words. The articles should be confined to the selected
issue and sent before November 30, 2006.
As December is drawing near, we have decided to invite your views on
Christmas for 'Daily News Debate' during December. Thus, the 'Daily News
Debate' topic for next month is 'the commercialisation of Christmas'.
Your views on both the above topics can be sent by post to 'Daily
News Debate', Daily News, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, PO
Box 1217, Colombo or via e-mail to [email protected].
Wasantha SENEVIRATNE
YOUNGSTERS: Children in the areas of armed conflict are generally at
risk of being recruited as child soldiers. Child soldiers are youngsters
under the age of 18 who directly or indirectly participate in military
or political armed conflict.
Research indicates that those most at risk are either the displaced,
separated from their families, economically and socially deprived, or
members of marginalized groups such as minorities.
When children are caught in the chaos of conflict they may either opt
to become soldiers of war or may be forced into military recruitment;
this might be their only chance of survival.
LTTE’s ‘Baby Brigade’
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The objective of this article is to discuss the problem of recruiting
children as soldiers of war and to discuss the international legal
standards that govern the practice of child soldiering.
At present, more children bear arms in armed conflict than ever
before. Nearly 300,000 children are serving as soldiers in a number of
countries despite the legal provisions, which prohibit recruiting
children as combatants in warfare.
Sometimes children as young as 7 years have been recruited as
soldiers. This problem is most prevalent in Africa and Asia although
many countries in Europe and the Americas still accept children into
their armed forces.
Very young children are forcibly recruited as soldiers, spies,
porters, lookouts etc in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Burundi and several other war affected countries
sin Africa.
In Asia, tens of thousands of child soldiers have been widely
deployed by non-State armed groups as well as State armed forces. The
worst affected countries in Asia are Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Burma, and
Nepal.
There are several reasons for the conscription of children as
soldiers. By virtue of their immaturity children can be employed in
dangerous situations with brief training.
Some commanders prefer to conscript children rather than adults
because they are more obedient and do not question orders, and are thus
easier to manipulate than adult soldiers.
In situations of armed conflict, when children are left orphaned or
responsible as heads of the household if one or both parents are killed
or are away fighting, they are more susceptible to being recruited as
soldiers, or opt to become soldiers because they have to find their own
means of survival.
As a result, 'a gun is often a meal ticket' and a more attractive
option than waiting helplessly.
Sometimes, war affected children join military service voluntarily
without being forced to do so. However, the word 'voluntarily' is not
accurate in the sense that these children do not really have a choice.
Whatever the reason that compels children to be recruited forcefully
or voluntarily as soldiers, it deprives them of all the basic rights of
the child, which are formulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child of 1989 or any other international legal instrument.
The lives, well-being and education of children are necessarily at
great risk once they become soldiers, as they are required to engage in
dangerous work, which exposes them not only to the risks of warfare but
also to other forms of abuse.
The impact of conscripting children as soldiers in times of war is
massive. In addition to being physically affected the tenace of war
causes serious psychological damage.
In consideration of their special needs such as education,
re-establishment of family ties and the development of a post war
identity, the costs to society of the demobilization and reintegration
of child soldiers is also very high.
The problem of child soldiers in Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) used a
large number of child soldiers in fighting against the Sri Lankan armed
forces, and the signing of the cease-fire agreement between the two
warring parties did not put a stop to the recruiting of child soldiers
by the LTTE.
UNICEF has pointed out that the continued recruitment of children by
the LTTE, despite its promise to end this practice, is one of the most
serious violations of Sri Lankan children's rights. ICRC, UNICEF and
other international organisations attempt to deal with the problem.
UNICEF and the LTTE signed a MOU in April 2003, and that included the
issue of child conscription.
Accordingly, a joint LTTE/UNICEF press release was issued at the end
of talks in Killinochchi, where the LTTE once more reiterated its
commitment not to recruit persons under 18 years of age.
It was agreed to set up transit centers for children affected by war
that are to be co-managed by international and national agencies,
including UNICEF and the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), an
LTTE front organization.
Analysts in the media have already pointed out that the transit
centers will amount to another mere token gesture in view of the fact
that access to LTTE camps is being denied, and the period of the
children's stay at these transit centers is not defined.
International legal standards: conscription of child soldiers
A plethora of international instruments include legal provisions
proscribing the use of children in war.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Protocols I and
II, additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Optional
Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict
contain numerous provisions proscribing this practice.
However, in spite of these legal standards children are still widely
conscripted as soldiers worldwide.
(a) The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 (CRC)
Article 38 of the CRC provides that State Parties should undertake to
respect, and to ensure respect, for rules of international humanitarian
law applicable in armed conflicts which are relevant to the child.
It further clarifies that children under he age of 15 years should
not be recruited for active warfare. State Parties are obliged to
endeavour to give priority to take those who are oldest.
Article 38 has been subjected to vigorous criticism since it has set
the age as 15 years for the enrolment of children as soldiers in
hostilities. This is contradicted by the definition of the child
articulated in the CRC.
Article 1 of the CRC defines a child as a human being below the age
of 18 years, except where, under the law applicable to the child,
majority is attained earlier. Consequently, all provisions spelled out
in the CRC apply to persons up to 18 years of age except standards
delineated in paragraph (2) and (3) of Article 38, which apply only to
children up to the age of 15.
It is unacceptable that persons who in every other sense are regarded
as children under he Convention, are recruited into the armed forces and
permitted to participate in armed conflict in accordance with this
provision.
It is a clear exception, and several legal experts have commented on
this anomaly. As a result there was apathy against the age limit
included in the CRC for the conscription of soldiers in hostilities.
This led to the formulation of a new Protocol on the Involvement of
Children in Armed Conflict, which will be discussed later.
Another weakness of the provisions of the CRC is that it cannot deal
directly with the recruitment and participation of children in non-State
armed groups, because only State Parties are bound to respect the
provisions of the Convention.
(b) Additional Protocols I and II to the Geneva Conventions of 1949
These two Protocols contain significant provisions pertaining to the
recruiting of child soldiers. Differences are seen in the phraseology of
the provisions of the two Protocols regarding the conscription of child
soldiers. These two Protocols apply in different situations.
Article 77 (2) of the Protocol I of 1977, which is applicable to
international armed conflicts, stipulates "the Parties to the conflict
shall take all feasible measures in order that children who have not
attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in
hostilities and, in particular, they shall refrain from recruiting them
into their armed forces.
In recruiting among those persons who have attained the age of
fifteen years but who have not attained the age of eighteen years, the
parties to the conflict shall endeavour to give priority to those who
are oldest."
This provision allows children below the age of 15 should not take a
direct part in hostilities. On the other hand, this appears to allow
indirect acts of participation.
Considering this fact, the similar provision included in Protocol II
of 1977 does not specify the type of participation in hostilities of
under-aged children.
So that according to Article 4 (3) of Protocol II, which is
applicable to non-international (internal) armed conflict, prohibits any
type of participation, direct or indirect.
This Article proclaims that "children who have not attained the age
of fifteen years shall neither be recruited in the armed forces or
groups nor allowed to take part in hostilities".
Accordingly, this Article neither specifies that only States Parties
should take feasible measures to guard against recruitment and
participation of under-aged children, nor as in Protocol I, refers to
the direct taking part in hostilities.
Therefore, Protocol II allows no exceptions to the proscribed
conduct. It is significant that Protocol II extends the recruitment
restrictions to groups other than the armed forces of a State.
The provisions of both Protocols certainly represent greater progress
in developing international standards, which proscribe the use of child
soldiers in warfare.
However, these provisions too are criticized on the grounds that the
two Protocols have not been universally ratified, and that there are
anomalies and gaps owing to their inconsistent application and
disparities in levels of protection, i.e. types of prohibited
participation and application to non-governmental groups.
The failures and anomalies seen in the CRC as well as in the
Protocols to the Geneva Conventions led to the development of a new
legal instrument, banning the use of children below the age of 18 in
hostilities.
(c) Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict of 2000.
Taking a historic step to wipe out the use of children as soldiers,
the new Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed
Conflict to the CRC was brought in on 21 January 2000.
The UN General Assembly passed a Resolution adopting this Protocol.
The new Optional Protocol represents noteworthy progress over the
provisions of the CRC on recruiting children as soldiers.
Article 1 of the Protocol stipulates "States Parties shall take all
feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have
not attained the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in
hostilities."
This Article imposes an obligation on State Parties specifying the
type of participation on warfare. Due to the term 'direct' there is
space for children for indirect participation in hostilities.
Article 2 further states "State Parties shall ensure that persons who
have not attained the age of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited
into their armed forces."
While referring to Article 38 of the CRC, Article 3 (1) of the
Optional Protocol delineates that States Parties should raise the
minimum age for the voluntary recruitment of persons into their national
armed forces from that set out in Article 38 (3) of the CRC, taking
account of the principles contained in that Article and recognizing that
persons under 18 are entitled to special protection under the
Convention.
This Article further requires States Parties to deposit a binding
declaration upon ratification of or accession to this Protocol, that set
forth the minimum age at which it will permit voluntary recruitment into
its national armed forces, and a description of the safeguards that it
has adopted to ensure that such recruitment is not forced or coerced.
Article 3 (3) imposes strict requirements upon States Parties that
permit voluntary recruitment into their national armed forces under the
age of 18. Therein it specifies that safeguard must be maintained to
ensure, as a minimum, that
(a) such recruitment is genuinely voluntary;
(b) such recruitment is with the informed consent of the person's or
legal guardians;
(c) such persons provide reliable proof of age prior to acceptance
into national military service.
These provisions are very important because in most cases voluntary
participation, as stated earlier does not depict the real choice of
children.
Thus the new Optional Protocol prohibits governments and armed forces
from recruiting and using children under the age of 18 in hostilities,
raises the minimum age, requires strict safeguards for voluntary
recruitment and bans all forms of recruitment of the under 18s by armed
groups.
The writer is a lecturer at the Fuculty of Law of the University of
Colombo. She is an Attorney-at-law with LLB (Hons). This article was
first published in the Sri Lanka Journal of International Law.
To be continued
Professor Harendra de SILVA
MEDIA: The public and the media, both local and foreign may not
always interpret armed conflict as detrimental to a child's proper
development and they may consider the children as heroes or martyrs
(BBC, Inside Story 1991).
Sri Lanka has faced a civil war for two decades, which counts more
than 60,000 deaths. Several media reports have described child
conscripts amongst the militant groups (Newsweek 1995; BBC inside story
1991).
In an effort to explore the effects of child conscription on the
children involved, Several Research projects were done to identify
problems of conscription. The children reported performing a variety of
manual labors, involving varied degrees of dangers.
Two children had performed radio communication tasks, and fifteen had
performed guard duty. Fifteen of the children had performed tasks such
as digging trenches or doing kitchen work.
Seven of the children had engaged in front line fighting, five had
manufactured bombs, and five had set land mines. Fifteen of the children
had been trained in firearms use, and fourteen of them had been trained
to commit suicide if captured.
According to the nineteen children interviewed, life with the
militants was not pleasant. All of the children had to undergo some form
of indoctrination designed, at least in part, to create a hatred of the
enemy.
Twelve of the 19 had had run away or attempted to run away at least
once, and 11 of the 19 reported arguing about or refusing to obey
orders.
Disobedience led to various forms of punishment, including kitchen
duty, beatings, imprisonment, blackmail, or death threats. A majority of
the children felt sad and emotionally upset when they remembered their
mother or family.
The 'inside story' by the BBC (1991), though not intentionally,
illustrates many of the different methods adopted to 'motivate' children
to volunteer to join armed groups.
Some of these methods include public address systems that
continuously broadcast 'reasons' and 'justifications' for volunteering,
and literature encouraging volunteerism is targeted at children and
adolescents.
Model automatic rifles were attached to seesaws in one children's
playground. The dead are glorified as martyrs with monuments built all
over, and posters of martyrs on display.
School children and school bands parade at funerals of the dead
'martyrs'. Our interviews with child soldiers suggest these tactics (or
a combination of factors) are often successful.
Some joined for the virtue of being a freedom fighter and martyr.
Some joined for fear of being abducted by the enemy (soldiers), Others
said they joined seeking to revenge a family member who had been killed
by an enemy (or their own group).
Few indicated that they had joined for economic reasons, to support
their family. Conscripting children is abuse Given the public's tendency
to view these child soldiers as "heroes", it may be difficult for many
to recognize the abusive effects of conscription.
However, considering the different aspects of emotional abuse,
conscripted child would face the following: conscription "corrupts" a
child by making him engage in violent, destructive, and anti-social
behavior, such as killing and destruction of property, thus making him
unfit for normal social experience.
Conscription "terrorizes" a child with verbally assaults, bullying,
blackmail and death threats, all in the name of 'discipline'.
Conscription isolates a child from the normal social experience, and
ignores his emotional and developmental needs by removing him from
normal family life and schooling.
Any of these circumstances would adversely affect the child's right
to unhindered growth and identity as a child.
Moreover, conscription may lead children to commit suicide, an act of
self-destruction that cannot be fully comprehended.
Traditionally, all conscripts, irrespective of age wear cyanide
capsules at all times, which they are trained to bite on during "suicide
missions" or if they are captured (BBC - 'inside story' 1991).
The prominent place given to martyrs and the oath taken by the child
soldier in which he vows to sacrifice his life are likely contributing
factors to this phenomenon.
Indoctrinating and convincing a child to commit suicide for any cause
should constitute both emotional abuse and intentional poisoning. These
findings lead us to propose a new definition of child abuse.
When an adult persuades a child to commit suicide - an act the child
cannot comprehend - for personal, social, economic, or political reasons
that the child cannot understand, that persuasion constitutes a form of
child abuse that may be called "suicide by proxy".
Moreover, we propose that conscription itself - the involvement of
dependent, developmentally immature children and adolescents in an armed
conflict that they do not truly comprehend, to which they are unable to
give consent, and which adversely affects the child's right to
unhindered growth and identity as a child - should also be viewed as a
form of child abuse.
Defining conscription as a form of child abuse does not require a
great leap of imagination, as many of the traditional elements of child
abuse are already contained within it.
Severe physical punishment in the name of discipline clearly
constitutes physical abuse.
Getting a child to perform guard duty, involving the child in
military operations, making the child manufacture bombs and set sea
mines increases the likelihood that the child will suffer serious injury
or death, and subjects the child to intense psychological and emotional
pressure.
The exploitation of child labor is yet another form of abuse. There
is a need for the public in affected areas and societies to recognise
the long-term implications that childhood conscription will have on
their society.
There should not be any political bias when such a call for awareness
is made. The common objective should be to protect children whatever the
race, religion or political group from the physical and emotional trauma
including death, and initiate a program to rehabilitate these children
who are deeply damaged emotionally.
The writer is a former chairman of the National Child Protection
Authority. This is an extract from his address at the second
International Conference of the World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka.
REPORT: Today, as many as 300,000 children under the age of 18 serve
in government forces or armed rebel groups. Some are as young as eight
years old.
* The participation of child soldiers has been reported in 33
on-going or recent armed conflicts in almost every region of the world.
Child soldiers are used by armed opposition forces, although many are
used by Government armies.
* Children are uniquely vulnerable to military recruitment because of
their emotional and physical immaturity. They are easily manipulated and
can be drawn into violence that they are too young to resist or
understand.
Technological advances in weaponry and the proliferation of small
arms have contributed to the increased use of child soldiers.
Lightweight automatic weapons are simple to operate, often easily
accessible, and can be used by children as easily as adults.
* Children are most likely to become child soldiers if they are poor,
separated from their families, displaced from their homes, living in a
combat zone or have limited access to education. Orphans and refugees
are particularly vulnerable to recruitment.
* Many children join armed groups because of economic or social
pressure, or because children believe that the group will offer food or
security. Others are forcibly recruited, "press-ganged" or abducted by
armed groups.
* Both girls and boys are used as child soldiers. In case studies in
El Salvador, Ethiopia, and Uganda, almost a third of the child soldiers
were reported to be girls. Girls may be raped, or in some cases, given
to military commanders as "wives."
* Once recruited, child soldiers may serve as porters or cooks,
guards, messengers or spies. Many are pressed into combat, where they
may be forced to the front lines or sent into minefields ahead of older
troops. Some children have been used for suicide missions.
* Children are sometimes forced to commit atrocities against their
own family or neighbours. Such practices help ensure that the child is
"stigmatized" and unable to return to his or her home community.
* Few peace treaties recognize the existence of child soldiers, or
make provisions for their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
Many former child soldiers do not have access to the educational
programs, vocational training, family reunification, or even food and
shelter that they need to successfully rejoin civilian society.
As a result, many end up on the street, become involved in crime, or
are drawn back into armed conflict.
Extracted from the Human Rights Watch fact sheet on child soldiers.
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