Child Soldier Relief

Information, research, news, resources for and about child soldiers

November 17, 2009 • 2:52 pm 0

The Charles Taylor Trial Series – Part Two: Charles Taylor’s Use of Child Soldiers

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.

“When I think about the war, I think of doing bad things to myself. Sometimes I just want to kill myself…but if I think about the future I will be happy,” said Gloria.

For more on the Charles Taylor Trial…

Filed under: C. Taylor Trial, Liberia, Sierra Leone , charles taylor, child soldier, Liberia, Sierra Leone, War

August 7, 2009 • 9:16 am 0

The Charles Taylor Trial Series – Part One: A summary of charges

Child Soldier Relief is creating a three part series on the Charles Taylor Trial; the first explores the summary of charges against Charles Taylor concerning child soldiers.

Charles Taylor is charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law. According to Count 9 of the Indictment, Taylor is charged with conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 in Sierra Leone from November 30, 1996 through January 18, 2002.

Specifically, the prosecution accuses Taylor of assisting, encouraging and directing the RUF, AFRC, AFRC/RUF Junta and/or Liberian fighters to conscript and enlist children under the age of 15 “to participate in active hostilities.”

These actions are punishable under Article 4 (c) of the Special Court Statute for Sierra Leone.

Under this Article the Special Court has the power to prosecute those that violate international humanitarian law including, “Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities.”

According to CharlesTaylor.org, which has been covering the trial from the beginning and provides daily, weekly and monthly summaries on the trial, Charles Taylor was leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia from 1989 to 1997 and from 1997 to 2003, he was the democratic president of Liberia.

As ChildSoldierRelief.com wrote in February 2009, the Special Court for Sierra Leone is a collaboration between international and national justice, set up to try those accused of committing war crimes in the civil war in Sierra Leone.

Filed under: C. Taylor Trial, Intl Criminal Ct, Liberia, Sierra Leone , charles taylor trial, conflict, court, law, politics

March 27, 2009 • 3:23 pm 0

Empowering former girl child soldiers in Uganda, Sierra Leone and Liberia

University of Wyoming professor Susan McKay is in the third phase of a research project studying former girl soldiers in Uganda, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Her findings have been wide-ranging, but her most recent discoveries have been concerned with the “stigma and marginalization” faced by the women, many of them young mothers, attempting to transition back into their old communities and lives with their small children.

McKay said that often the girls with children live alone in dire poverty and sometimes must resort to prostitution because they have a hard time becoming part of the community.

McKay, working with 100 local academics and agency workers, as well as several child welfare organizations, has conducted her study in 20 research sites and involved 700 participants. The project, titled ‘People in the community told us we are good for nothing:’ Community-based participatory research to empower war-affected girl mothers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Northern Uganda’ in addition to being a research study, has also helped to aid the women in reintegration and empowerment.

To start, the researchers got the girls together and had them define their problems. Just that first step was valuable, McKay said…

Then the girls create plans to address their problems. Many have started small businesses together. They’ve also created dramas that they act out for their communities to help people understand how they’ve been marginalized, and that has resulted in changed behavior, McKay said.

More more information on the project, please see PARGirlMothers.

Filed under: Educational, Girl Soldiers, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Treatment Centers, Uganda , child soldiers, children, education, girl soldiers, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, university

March 10, 2009 • 9:20 am 0

…NPR Essay on a former child soldier from Sierra Leone

…Deborah George, writer and radio producer travelled to Sierra Leone in 2001 and met a young girl soldier, Baindu. Carrying her picture home with her, George located the child again and paid her school fees, later settling her into a boarding school. Says George of her now, “she’s in 11th grade and loves hip hop and hamburgers. She doesn’t like to talk about the past. She doesn’t forget, she says. When she’s old, she’ll still remember her stories. But, it’s better, she says, to look to the future…”

Filed under: Educational, Sierra Leone, Treatment Centers , child soldier, girl soldier, npr, Sierra Leone

March 4, 2009 • 1:24 pm 0

Conviction of RUF commanders means increased DDR for girl soldiers

The recent conviction of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leaders Issa Hassan Sesay and Morris Kallon at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, of 16 counts of war crimes including “acts of terrorism”, mutilation, terrorism, rape, forced marriage, sexual slavery, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers, has also had the added effect of elevating the crime of forced marriage and sexual violence as a “crime separate from sexual slavery“. Girls forced into marriage and those who suffered sexual violence in being forced to join Lubanga’s militia, are now considered victims of “a crime against humanity distinct from other forms of sexual violence such as sexual slavery because of the length of the association and its domestic nature.” From IRIN:

According to local NGOs many women and girls associated with the rebel forces, especially those not in fighting roles, were excluded from the official disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process whereby ex-combatants received money and training to help them re-enter civilian life.

Filed under: DDR, Girl Soldiers, Intl Criminal Ct, Laws, Treaties, Sierra Leone , child soldiers, Congo, Human Rights, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, War

February 27, 2009 • 11:27 am 0

Sesay and Kallon: Found guilty in Sierra Leone for using child soldiers

Issa Hassan Sesay and Morris Kallon, two accused war criminals from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in the civil war in Sierra Leone, were convicted of 16 counts of war crimes at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, including “acts of terrorism,” against the civilian population, mutilation, terrorism, rape, forced marriage, sexual slavery, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

The statute establishing the Special Court of Sierra Leone includes a provision prohibiting conscription of children under the age of 15 punishable under Article 4.c. of the Statute.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone is a collaboration between international and national justice, set up to try those accused of committing war crimes in the civil war in Sierra Leone. AP reports: “The court was set up in 2003 after the end of the 11-year war that began in 1992.”

The last case to be tried is against Charles Taylor and is currently underway in the Hague – the trial was moved there for security reasons. Serious funding issues due to the global economic crisis have sparked talk of a possible early end to the trial, allowing Taylor to “walk free”.

Filed under: C. Taylor Trial, Intl Criminal Ct, Laws, Treaties, Sierra Leone, United Nations , charles taylor, child soldiers, court, International Criminal Court, law, news, Sierra Leone, War