Child Soldier Relief is creating a three part series on the Charles Taylor Trial; the second report in the series explores Charles Taylor’s use of child soldiers.
The Council of Foreign Relations reports that in the late eighties and early nineties Charles Taylor recruited child soldiers into his National Patriotic Front of Liberia movement and created the Small Boys Unit, a group of child soldiers within his rebel movement.
As President of Liberia from 1997 to 2003, Charles Taylor allegedly also sought child soldiers in the most recent conflict between Liberia and Sierra Leone. One of the reasons child soldiers were sought by Taylor and rebel groups is that children don’t fully understand the danger that faces them in battle. In fact, according to IRIN, child soldiers are “highly prized for being fearless in combat.” A militia commander in Liberia told IRIN why he thinks child soldiers can be the “best and bravest” on the front line, “They can fight more than we the big people….It’s hard for them to just retreat.”
Because of their “fearlessness” child soldiers were often used as officers. “These children were given high positions. They were called colonel and general, and this made them feel like they had power,” said UNICEF Child Protection Officer Michael Charley about child soldiers in Sierra Leone.
As Gloria and Mary, two former child soldiers in Liberia, explain in a video by the Guardian, girls taken as child soldiers had extra burdens to bear: being raped at the will of soldiers. “…For a girl, sometimes we used to be raped by [the soldiers] not just by one person, sometimes by two or three and afterwards we still had to carry [weapons] to the frontline. So the girls were maltreated more than the boys,” said Gloria.
Despite increased publicity on the use of child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, recruitment is increasing once again. Aid agencies report that “in the past few months, fighting between the DRC army and Rwandan Hutu rebels and other militias has intensified, deepening the crisis for the country’s youth.” They describe the “situation as ‘catastrophic’”.
Increasingly brutal techniques are being employed to force the children to fight and kill. According to reporter Mohammed Adow from Al Jazeera, children “are trained to kill almost as soon as they are recruited” and are being forced “to kill a member of his own family” as part of their training.
According to Human Rights Watch the Congolese army (FARDC), the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, the National Congress for the Defense of the People, pro-government Mai Mai groups, and the Lord’s Resistance Army are all parties in the DRC conflict known to use child soldiers.
Children have been used as tools of war throughout history, serving not only as foot soldiers on the front line, but also as spies, porters and sexual slaves. Lawmakers and human rights organizations generally recognize the following from the 1997 Capetown Principles as the standard for defining a child soldier: “a child soldier is any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to cooks, porters, messengers and anyone accompanying such groups, other than family members. The definition includes girls recruited for sexual purposes and for forced marriage. It does not, therefore, only refer to a child who is carrying or has carried arms.”
On October 2, 2009 the Trial Chamber I issued the Decision “adjourning the evidence in the case and consideration of Regulation 55,” which means the trial will be delayed. Regulation 55(2) ensures that the accused has adequate time and resources to prepare for the case against him or her.
Specifically, the Chamber wrote, “Thomas Lubanga Dyilo should know whether or not the legal characterisation of the facts may be subject to change, so as to include the elements of sexual slavery, inhuman treatment and cruel treatment. Additionally, he is entitled to know whether or not any potential modification of the legal characterisation of the facts is to be limited by the facts and circumstances contained in the charges.” Citing these concerns, the Chamber delayed the case until the Appeal Chamber “resolve[s] this appeal.”
Albania, Guinea, the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Jamaica, Liechtenstein, Panama and Senegal joined 76 other countries (totaling 84) by signing the Paris Commitments on Tuesday, an agreement that is designed to”strongly reaffirm our collective concern at the plight of children affected by armed conflict, our recognition of the physical, developmental, emotional, mental, social and spiritual harm to children resulting from the violation of their rights during armed conflict, and our commitment to identifying and implementing lasting solutions to the problem of unlawful recruitment or use of children in armed conflict.”
More information on laws and treaties relating to child soldiers.
Discover the Journey, a team of journalists and story-tellers who “expose injustices facing children in-crisis and advocate for intervention partners” has recently released a teaser for their new film “No More Tears”.
No More Tears is a film about child soldiers and their journey to become peacemakers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The film follows Heretier – a former violent child soldier who was given the chance of a new way of life after being given a scholarship to a rehabilitation center, and his decision to search for his best friend Moisha who he fought side by side with in the rebel group called the Mayi-Mayi. During Heritier’s search for Moisha, he becomes a peacemaker, shedding his former identity as a tool of war, and calling his friend to a life of peace instead of death. This story is human and heroic, and will inspire people to enter their own journey of becoming peacemakers, even in the face of injustice.
