Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of children under the age of 18 have been affected by armed conflict. They are recruited into paramilitaries, civil militia and a variety of other armed groups. Often they are abducted at school, on the streets or at home. Others enlist "voluntarily", usually because they see few alternatives. According to Amnesty International, international law and in many instances even the countries' national law prohibits the participation of children under 18 years of age in armed conflict. It means that in reality underage girls and boys participate in combat where frequently they are injured or killed. Others are used as spies, messengers, porters, servants or to lay or clear landmines. Girls are at particular risk of rape and other sexual abuse. Such children are robbed of their childhood and exposed to terrible dangers and to psychological and physical suffering. I believe that the human rights issue that is of the greatest priority in the contemporary world is the issue of Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also known as the DRC.
According to the world fact book, the Democratic Republic of Congo, previously known as Zaire is located in Central Africa; it is the third largest country by area in the African continent. The war in the DRC is the widest interstate war in modern African history. There have been a number of complex reasons, including conflicts over basic resources such as water, access and control over rich minerals and other resources as well as various political agendas. This has been fuelled and supported by various national and international corporations and other regimes which have an interest in the outcome of the conflict. Now known as Africa's First World War, the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) began in 1998 among seven nations. The war has cost nearly 4 million lives, and its methods have proven equally vicious: the warring states and militia groups involved have been employing children, from ages 8 to 17, as combatants. It is believed that in the year 2000 there were between 10,000 to 20,000 children under the age of 15 were serving as combatants within the various forces fighting the conflict in the DRC, and the recruitment of children is growing (Hoppland.M, 2005). A review about child soldiers in the Congo (Susanna, 2006) discusses the conflict's official end in 2003 and how the establishment of a new government under Joseph Kabila, the continued presence of militia groups in the Congo's Ituri district and the repercussions of the Congolese war for the conflicts in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda are producing further warfare. The ongoing violence in the east and the legacy of war has ensured the continued use of child soldiers, creating incredible difficulties for those being demobilized.
Human rights are concerned with equality and fairness. They recognise our freedom to make choices about our life and develop our potential as human beings. They are about living a life free from fear, harassment and discrimination. The basic rights around the world that people have agreed on are: the right to life, freedom from torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment, rights to a fair trial, free speech and freedom of religion, rights to health, education and an adequate standard of living. These human rights are the same for all people everywhere, male and female, young and old, rich and poor, regardless of background, where you live, what you think or what you believe. This is what makes human rights 'universal'. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets out the fundamental rights of all people, including the right to life, freedom from slavery, torture and arbitrary arrest, freedom of thought, opinion and religion, the right to a fair trial and equality before the law, the right to work and education and the right to participate in the social, political and cultural life of one's country. Human right covers virtually every area of human life and activity. They include civil and political rights, such as freedom of speech and freedom from torture. They also include economic, social and cultural rights, such as rights to health and education. Some rights apply to individuals, such as the right to a fair trial: these are called individual rights. Others apply to groups of people, such as women and children: these are called collective rights. Human rights cannot exist in isolation, for instance, an individual in a desert island does not really 'have' any rights because there is no-one to meet the corresponding responsibilities that go with them. In other words, human rights connect us to each other in a shared set of rights and responsibilities.
According to the Sectary General for armed conflict the rapid growth of inexpensive, lightweight weapons has made it easier to use children as soldiers. These small arms are lethal and easy to hide, transport and use with little training. Children are also relatively easy to abduct, subjugate, and manipulate. They are more impressionable and vulnerable to indoctrination, they learn skills and tasks quickly, are fast and agile on a battlefield, more willing than adults to take risks and are seen as more loyal and less threatening to adult leadership. Moreover, it is easier for children to slip through enemy lines unnoticed, making them effective spies and bomb carriers. Children are typically viewed as cheap and expendable labour; they require less food and no payment. In addition, using child soldiers can present a moral dilemma to enemies: should they kill children? Stuart Maslen, the Coordinator of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reports that the obvious risks to children of participation in armed conflict which apply equally to adults children are often at an added disadvantage as combatants. Their immaturity may lead them to take excessive risks. According to a rebel commander in the Democratic Republic of Congo, "[children] make good fighters because they're young and want to show off. They think it's all a game, so they're fearless." Moreover, and as a result of being widely perceived to be dispensable commodities, they tend to receive little or no training before being thrust into the front line. Reports suggest that they are often massacred in combat as a result.
According to a Harvard International Review on Child Soldiers in the Congo (Susanna, 2006) some children enlist voluntarily either for a monthly pay of US$100, extremely generous by Congolese standards, or to protect their communities. However, thousands of others were forced into military service after being abducted from streets, schools, refugee camps, or even their own homes. These child soldiers underwent rigorous military training. Due to brutal treatment, including torture and deprivation of food, sleep, and healthcare, hundreds died. Those who managed to survive became cooks, spies, or porters. As soldiers they were forced to commit atrocities such as murdering and raping civilians, enemy soldiers, or even family members. All of the recruited youths experienced military combat, whether fighting directly or acting as shields for adult soldiers. Although it is impossible to state the total number of child soldiers who have died as a result, estimates are in the thousands and rising.
This can affect the children in disastrous ways. Child soldiers are separated from their families, forced to flee their homes and schools, and in many cases, killed, maimed, sexually abused or otherwise exploited. Needless to say this has a devastating impact on their physical and mental wellbeing for the rest of their lives. They are usually forced to live under harsh conditions with insufficient food and little or no access to healthcare or education. They are almost always treated brutally, subjected to beatings and humiliating treatment. Punishments for mistakes or desertion are often very severe. They are forced to engage in hazardous activities such as laying and clearing mines or explosives, using weapons, playing the role of spies, bomb carriers, sentries and human shields. Girl soldiers are particularly at risk of rape, sexual harassment, abuse and sexually transmitted diseases. They may give birth during their time with combatants and their children are exposed to the same dangers. Child soldiers suffer enormous emotional, physical, developmental, social and spiritual harm. The child soldiers are also deprived of there right to education which is a requirement under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The children are also stigmatised and not ale to integrate into there family and wider society. Child Soldiers also inherit lifetime health issues such as HIV/AIDS; girls are at particular risk of this.
According to the United Nations report on the Convention on Rights of Child (2006) Children are the backbone of each household and more importantly to the society and to the country. The DRC with all its natural resources cannot and will not achieve its full potential without educated and virulent youths. Children are key resource of the country. Without them all other forms of development such as protecting and utilising all other forms of natural resources and opportunities cannot be realised. Health, education, employment, natural resource management cannot be achieved effectively without rehabilitating these children. While noting that the State party has resorted to international cooperation to address the issue of child soldiers and initiated a Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration process, the Committee is concerned that many former child soldiers and children, including girls, do not receive adequate assistance for physical and psychological recovery. The Committee is also concerned that former child soldiers are not reintegrated in the educational system. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that all children who directly or indirectly took part in the armed conflict are provided with services aimed at their full physical and psychological recovery, as provided for under article 39 of the Convention and that special attention be paid to the specific needs of girls. The Committee also recommends that the State party increase its efforts to set up appropriate programmes and institutions and ensure that former child soldiers are reintegrated in the regular educational system.
Children are excluded from participating in hostilities not only because they are too young to engage from effectively in combat, but also because the experience is seen as causing life long psychological and physical damaging to them. Previously participating in hostilities could be seen as heroic. However, war is no longer seen as glorious or a rite of passage into adulthood. War is hell and child soldiers are victims (Happlod.M, 2005).
Since the outbreak of fighting in August 1998, some 5.4 million people have died in DRC; it has been the world's deadliest conflict since World War II. The vast majority have actually died from non-violent causes such as malaria, diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition-all typically preventable in normal circumstances, but have come about because of the conflict. Although 19% of the population, children account for 47% of the deaths and some 45,000 continue to die each month. The Ituri district alone has between 8,000 and 10,000 children serving as child soldiers in torn region. It is estimated that more than 30,000 child soldiers were serving among the ranks of the various belligerents in the entire DRC, representing between 40 and 60 percent of the soldiers fighting in the war.
The issue of child soldiers breaches several Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For example, according to Article 4 - No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. Article 5 -No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Many of the children who are abducted and forced into military service are held against their will. If they try to escape they are re-captured and they are beaten and in other ways tortured, sometimes even killed. They are treated in degrading and inhumane ways. Being held against one's will and forced to do things unwillingly is a form of slavery. Thus this breaches Article 4 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Recruitment and engagement of child soldiers also breaches several Articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child:
Article 38
1. States Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for rules of international humanitarian law applicable to them in armed conflicts which are relevant to the child.
2. States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities.
3. States Parties shall refrain from recruiting any person who has not attained the age of fifteen years 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, States Parties shall endeavour to give priority to those who are oldest.
4. In accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population in armed conflicts, States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure protection and care of children who are affected by an armed conflict.
Hence according to this convention the use of children in this armed conflict is a major breach of international humanitarian law.
Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court includes several provisions making conscription of children as war crimes. On 8th September 2003, the ICC prosecutor used the situation in Ituri in the DRC as the first situation meriting analysis with a view to commencing a formal investigation on war crimes relating to child soldiers.
One of the main objectives of the peace agreement was the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of fighters into civilian life. This process requires that the children be placed in demobilization centers, where they receive medical and nutritional care, psychological support, and literacy and vocational training before being reunited with their families.
Seven years of almost continuous war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has led to the death of over three million people since 1998 alone, most of them civilian men, women and children. The DRC has one of the world's largest numbers of child soldiers. The ruthless exploitation of children by the leaders of armed forces to further their own material and political ends stands out as one of the most grotesque human rights abuses of this entire conflict. In recent years, the international community has undertaken several initiatives to highlight the illegality and immorality of recruiting and using children. It calls on all parties to the conflict in the DRC to fully respect international human rights and humanitarian law, as well as to comply with the terms of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement of 1999, which calls on all parties, inter alia, to protect human rights and cease all acts of violence against civilians, including unlawful killings and summary executions, use and recruitment of child soldiers, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, arbitrary arrest, unlawful detentions, executions on the basis of ethnic background, etc.
There are several UN, International and National Organisations that supports the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights including those relating to child soldiers. The organisations include UNHCR, UNICEF, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and other national NGOs. Within these Amnesty International and Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers provide a lot of services in the protection, promotion of human rights and rehabilitation of child soldiers.
Thus the Government of DRC and the international community should urgently address the issue of child soldiers in DRC otherwise they in violation of several of the above mentioned national and international human rights and humanitarian legal obligations towards these young children. The UN in particular should take a lead role in bringing the international community and the African countries to address this important and urgent issue of child soldiers in DRC. In addition without settling this problem, peace and prosperity in DRC, its neighbouring countries and the global world cannot be achieved. The economic wellbeing of the people of DRC and its neighbours cannot be achieved without effectively addressing the problem of child soldiers in DRC.
