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OVER 300,000 CHILDREN ARE CURRENTLY PARTICIPATING IN ARMED CONFLICTS
AROUND THE WORLD
We
invite you to take part in EarthAction's global campaign to stop
the use of child soldiers everywhere. Our goal is to mobilize
legislators, organizations, the media, and citizens worldwide
to press their governments to ratify and implement a new UN treaty
aimed at ending the use of children as soldiers.
EARTHACTION,
a global network of over 2,000 organizations in 161 countries,
is launching a worldwide campaign to support a global ban on the
use of children as soldiers. Over 300,000 children under the age
of 18 are currently participating in armed conflicts around the
world.
EARTHACTION is joining the Coalition to Stop the Use of
Child Soldiers in campaigning for universal ratification of a
treaty establishing 18 as the minimum age for direct participation
in armed conflict, for compulsory recruitment, and for any recruitment
or use in hostilities by non-governmental armed groups. The treaty
is called the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
THIS
OPTIONAL PROTOCOL represents a global consensus that children
should not be used as instruments of war. Since its adoption by
the United Nations in May of 2000, over 100 governments have signed
the Optional Protocol, and over 40 have ratified it. The Protocol
went into effect in February 2002.
UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL :
- ALL CONSCRIPTION or forced recruitment of children
under age 18 is forbidden;
- GOVERNMENTS MUST TAKE all feasible measures to ensure
that members of their armed forces that are under age 18 do
not participate in armed conflict;
- NON-GOVERNMENTAL ARMED GROUPS (including opposition
forces and paramilitaries) are prohibited from any recruitment
of children under age 18;
- GOVERNMENTS ARE ALLOWED to accept voluntary recruits
as young as age 16, but only with safeguards including parental
permission and proof of age. Governments that recruit volunteers
under age 18 must indicate how they will ensure that children
do not participate in armed conflict
;
- GOVERNMENTS ARE URGED to support efforts to provide
former child soldiers with assistance, such as education and
vocational training.
HAS
THE PROTOCOL HAD ANY IMPACT ?
As
a result of the Protocol and increased international attention
to child recruitment, some countries have changed their practices.
In Colombia, thousands of children were demobilized from the Colombian
armed forces. In June of 2000, President Kabila of the Democratic
Republic of Congo issued a decree calling for the demobilization
of child soldiers from the Congolese army, and he is cooperating
with UNICEF to put rehabilitation programs into place. Other countries,
such as Portugal, South Africa and Italy, have adopted legislation
to raise the age of recruitment into their armed forces. Even
rebel armies have demobilized children from their ranks. Last
year, over 2,500 children were demobilized from the Sudan People's
Liberation Army and over 1,500 children were demobilized from
the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone.
HOWEVER,
THE PROBLEM IS STILL ENORMOUS.
In
Uganda, the Lord's Resistance Army has abducted more than 10,000
children from northern Uganda in the last decade. Children are
forced to fight, and often compelled to beat or hack to death
fellow child captives that have attempted to escape. Girls are
given as "wives" to rebel commanders.
In
Burundi, hundreds of children as young as seven have been recruited
into government-linked paramilitaries. They are subjected to harsh
conditions and some have died as a result of beatings by older
soldiers. Many others died in combat after being sent into battle
ahead of regular soldiers.
In
Burma (Myanmar), tens of thousands of boys as young as 12 have
been forcibly recruited into the army. They are denied contact
with their families, treated brutally and may witness or carry
out atrocities against civilians. Some have been beaten to death
for trying to escape.
In
Colombia, up to 10,000 members of guerrilla forces and army-backed
paramilitaries are under 18. The guerrillas use children to collect
intelligence, make and deploy mines, and serve as advance troops
in ambush attacks, while paramilitaries force families to provide
children for service or risk being killed as suspected guerilla
sympathizers.
In
total, children are being used as soldiers in more than 30 countries.
"Children are fighting adults' wars, and it is adults' responsibility
to end this practice once and for all," states Lois Barber,
Executive Director of EarthAction.
EARTHACTION is calling on all nations and armed groups
to stop all recruitment of children under the age of 18, and to
demobilize any child soldiers in their ranks. They are also urging
all governments to ratify the Optional Protocol as soon as possible
and for everyone to honor and implement it.
The campaign also encourages increased allocation of resources
for rehabilitation assistance and reintegration of former child
soldiers.
In addition,EARTHACTION is inviting national legislators
to join the proposed Children's Rights InterGroup, where legislators
from around the world can work together to meet the needs of the
world's children. This InterGroup is being organized as part of
a new initiative to create a global e-Parliament.
http://www.earthaction.org/en/02_02_efa/e-parl/e-parl.html
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