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…

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.

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”.

From this article: 

Prosecutors said the 31-year-old Emmanuel was involved in killings and torture as head of an elite Antiterrorist Unit in his father’s government also known as the “Demon Forces…

A succession of African witnesses told the jury about Emmanuel’s involvement in horrific acts including at least three killings and torture using electric shocks, lit cigarettes, molten plastic, hot irons pressed to flesh, stabbings with bayonets and even biting ants shoveled onto people’s bodies…

Chuckie Taylor was found guilty under the 1994 US federal extraterritorial torture statute.  Under this law, US courts are able to prosecute American citizens or anyone present in the United States for crimes of torture committed overseas. 

Boston-born Chuckie Taylor is the first person to be convicted under the new law.

Human Rights Watch had been pressing the U.S. Justice Department for some time to try Chuckie Taylor under the 1994 law.  Back in 2006, HRW stated, “Federal laws on torture and war crimes committed abroad have been on the books for years, but we don’t know of a single person who has been prosecuted for them.  How serious can the U.S. be about justice when these laws have never been used to hold our own citizens to account? With ‘Chuckie’ Taylor in custody, this is an ideal moment to wield this authority.”  

The 1994 law is similar to the the Child Soldier’s Accountability Act of 2007 where persons on U.S. soil can be tried for crimes committed overseas.  Instead of addressing torture, the Child Soldier’s Accountability Act deals with child soldier recruitment. 

This conviction marks a new chapter for holding war criminals accountable for their actions.  We look forward to the seeing the Child Soldier’s Accountability Act used in the same way. 

For more information on the Charles Taylor trial:

• Former girl soldier testifies at Charles Taylor Trial
• Former child soldier under Charles Taylor testifies in Monrovia
• Moses Blah discusses Small Boy Units (child soldiers) again at Charles Taylor Trial
•  Charles Taylor’s former vice president, Moses Blah, testifies on child soldiers at trial
• Former Child Soldier Testifies at Charles Taylor Trial yesterday on “marking”, drugs, forced killings
• Former Child Soldier Testifies at Charles Taylor Trial: First faces deliberation on issues of protective measures
• Recent Testimony at Charles Taylor Trial on SBUs (small boy units)

Former “Small Girl Unit” child soldier testified last week at the Charles Taylor trial, describing torture, rape and forced labor by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in 1994.   

For the trial official transcript, click here.

Here is a summary from CharlesTaylorTrial.org:

The 66th prosecution witness said her primary school was hosting their annual athletics meet when the rebels struck rudely interrupting it.  She said she was raped by the rebels who abandoned her in the bush and was later discovered by the then RUF patrol commander whom she identified as “O.C. Blood” who took her along with him…  

Edna said she underwent a 2-week training in a camp around Buedu together with 50 other captives trained by training instructor Monica Pearson whom, the witness alleged, spoke Liberian English.  She narrated how she used to carry a gun even though she was very young. ‘Because I was very small, the gun had a belt and at any time I wanted to use the gun I would just take the gun, put it somewhere higher than me and then I would go underneath it and put my head through the belt and then put it round me’…

After the training, Edna said she was enlisted in the Small Girls Unit (SGU) which, together with the Small Boys Unit (SBU), comprised young girls and boys aged between 10 and 13 years, captured and conscripted by the rebels.  Edna pointed out that rebel commanders used the SBUs as security guards who carried guns wherever their bosses went, and the SGUs as house help to the wives of the rebels… 

at age 9 he was recruited along with other children by former government militia commander RolandDuo around their 72nd, Somalia Drive residence to become bodyguards.  According to a TRC release, he said they were used by Duo and other commanders to execute captives and to loot stores in and around the Monrovia. 

From AllAfrica.com, here is an explanation of the TRC Hearing Process:

The TRC was agreed upon in the August 2003 peace agreement and created by the TRC Act of 2005.   The TRC was established to “promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation,” and at the same time make it possible to hold perpetrators accountable for gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law that occurred in Liberia between January 1979 and October 2003.

A key mandate of the Commission is to hear stories from all parts of the population of Liberia, including from children.  Interestingly, the hearings are public and part of the mandate of the hearings includes public discussion and debate.  It does sound like there are allowances for the children to meet privately with only the commissioners, but nevertheless, it must be ensured that the children are fully protected.  This has been an issue before in the Charles Taylor Trial, where former child soldiers were not given adequate protections due to the fact that they were now adults.

Moses Blah, former vice-president for Charles Taylor, testified briefly about child soldiers on May 14th (see this post for his earlier testimony), but during the following week - on May 20th – Defense brought the topic up again. 

Here is the relevant testimony (full transcript is here at charlestaylortrial.org):

Def; Lets move to another topic. Can we have a talk about SBUs please

Wit: Yes

Def: The war caused the displacement of thousands of people within lIberia. One consequence was, literally, young people started following the fighters around?

Wit: Yes

Def: And in due course, it was necessary to involve them?

Wit: Yes

Def; And they willingly joined the NPFL?

Wit: Yes

Def: Did you have a SBU attached to you?

Wit: yes

Def: Up to now?

Def: So you still have them

Def: I had one SBU who is still with me. His name is Tamahali. In his case, I saw him and he had been trained, i said he was a small boy and so should not fight so he should come and stay with me. Whe NPFL was dissolved, i told him that he should stay with me and go to school.

Judge: How old was this boy when he came to you?

Wit: 13

Def; Did he then undergo military training?

Wit: He had done so before i saw him.

Def: At the time that you had a SBU, did you have any moral concerns about that?

Wit: Yes, this is why i took him away from combat to come and stay with me. He was too small and thats why i took him not to fight.

Def: Through out the war, did you ever express concerns about SBUs?

Wit: This is another difficult thing. What power did i ever have to say that? I could be fined or taken to the tribunal for breaking a unit. Some were forced to join the revolution, some joined voluntarily, some are working for the UN now

Def: How many boys did you have in your SBU?

Wit: I only had that little boy.

Def: Were you ever a commander of an SBU

Wit: Never. What i meant is that i had a boy from the SBU, but i didn’t command any SBU.

Def: As Inspector Gen, did you not consider it appropriate to raise your voice about the use of SBUs?

Wit: That would have costed my life. What power will i have on the commanders. I knew it was against the Geneva Conventions to use SBUs but how would i have said it?

Def: So you were aware of the Geneva Conventions?

Wit: I knew of it when i was a little boy

Def: Did you not consider it right to tell your colleagues about the use of these SBUs?

Wit: I did many things like addressing rape, but question like this would have put me in danger.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone adjourned on Thursday May 22, 2008 to allow the Judges to attend a Plenary Meeting of the Special Court in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The trial will resume on June 2, 2008.

On Wednesday, Blah testified on his capture by SBUs while in Liberia, awaiting an arms shipment for Taylor:

While waiting for civilian trucks to be arranged, Blah came to the NPFL’s first camp in Liberia, Gborpleh, and was promptly arrested by Small Boy Units. They accused him of sending weapons to Prince Johnson, an NPFL member who had split away and formed the Independent NPFL. 

Blah testified that the small boys with the NPFL were 13-15 years old or younger, and said that they were unreasonable and aggressive. He said some had volunteered, while others had been captured by the NPFL. Blah said that Benjamin Yeaten had actually conducted the arrest. Yeaten had been a 14 or 15-year old in the Libyan camp and had impressed Taylor with his physical fitness, hard work, and aggressiveness. Blah remained in detention for about a week. Taylor returned from Abidjan, where the Ivorian defense minister told him how loyal Blah had been, and released Blah from custody.

Here’s that actual testimony:

Pros; What role did the small boy units play?

Wit: They were reasonable people. They gave me water. They were aggressive.

Pros; What was the responsibility of the Small Boys Units with you?

Wit; They arrested people and wanted to kill me. I regretted for being a member of the NPFL at that moment.

Pros: Is that the first time you’d seen Small Boys Units?

Wit: Yes. Everyone had a Small Boy Unit with them.

Pros; How old were they?

Wit: As young as 15, 14, 13, some were younger than that.

Pros: Did anyone tell you why small boys were used?

Wit: Because they were unreasonable and had no sense of direction. You could tell them anything and it would happen immediately.

Pros; How were they recruited?

Wit: Some came voluntarily, some were captured by NPFL forces.

And a reference to Yeaten, who was a child soldier at the time he started fighting for Taylor.

Pros: When did you first meet Benjamin Yeaten?

Wit: At the camp in Libya.

Pros: How old was he at the time?

Wit: Around 14-15. He was one of the youngest men in the training.

Pros: What was his relationship with Taylor?

Wit: He had no relationship with Taylor, except that he was very aggressive in training and won a lot of prizes. That was when our leader recognized his efforts and drew him nearer.

Pros: What was the relationship with Taylor that followed?

Wit: He made Yeaten his bodyguard and gave him some instructions, like director of certain units close to the president at the time.

His testimony covers:

1. His kidnapping and being “marked” by the rebels (meaning carving “RUF” initials into his skin):

W: …When we were taken to the house next door, we were all locked up in the house and other people were brought there as well.  We were all kept there until morning.  There were 4 rebels who came in the morning, including Kabila and Mohammed, and 2 said they had come to ”mark” the boys and girls.  There were 150 total that had been captured, including 50 boys and girls. 

Pros: What do you mean by mark us?

W: When they said they were going to mark us, I didn’t know.  But then they carved AFRC on forehead of a boy and RUF on his chest using a razor blade.  The marking was done by Kabila and Mohammed.   All the boys and girls were marked this way.  The older ones were taken out.  The younger ones were 50 in number, and were both boys and girls.  They marked me as well, Kabila carved RUF on my chest.   

Pros: What were the ages of the boys and girls?

W: I couldn’t tell at that time.  All ages.

2. “Training” he received:

Wit: Kabila said that our group should be in the advanced team so he took us to that bush.

Pros: What kind of training did you receive in the bush?

Wit: They showed us how to crawl in the bush and how to dismantle and clean guns.

3.  Drugs they were given by their “commanders”:

WIt: 55 and O5 ordered that all the boys be trained.  Kabila and Mohammed helped trained us and he gave me two blue tablets?

Pros: Did you experience any feelings after you took those tablets?

Wit: My eyes were red and I started feeling “bold”.

4.  Killing that he was forced to do:

Pros: What happened after you took the two blue pills?

Wit:  55 told us to loot and kill the people in the village and we went to a house with 5 people including two men, a women, and two children.  Kabila demonstrated to us how to do it and hacked the first man on his neck.  I then hacked the woman next to him and hacked her on her chest and hacked her on her side and I hacked the child with her.

Pros: Can you slowly take us through how you killed these people?

Wit: I hacked the woman on the back of her neck and on her breast with a machete.  I hacked the child on his neck and on his side.  One of them begged me not to do it but Kabila told me to do it or he would kill me, so I hacked him as well and cut off his head. 

5. Amputations:

wit: We used force to open the door, when we entered we met two men, and we said you pretended you were not here… He said these words, and I said, you were in here and we were knocking, and the other boy said, that hand that you refused to open the door lets amputate them, so I took them outside and took the Machete and told him to step on the hand of the other man and I hacked it three times and it was cut off.

Pros: What part of the hand?

wit: the left hand, down at the wrist, after that, we took the other one outside too, and I amputated that one at the elbow.

Pros: As you amputated hands of these men did they say anything?

wit: they were crying, they were saying, we just took what we wanted.

First, there was deliberation on the protections the former child soldier was entitled to for testifying (see entry on CharlesTaylorTrial.org: 

Judge Sebutinde: All these measures were on the grounds that he was underage.  Now he is overage.  Do you still think he needs to testify behind a screen and with facial distortion even though he is no longer a child?

Pros: The witness still has concerns about his security and safety consistent those he had before.

It was confirmed that the child (now 22 years old) was still entitled to some (limited) protections for testifying at the trial, including (see entry on CharlesTaylorTrial.org):

use of a psudonym at all times, and the use of a screening device from the public.

The curtains in the court room were ordered to come down so the public couldn’t see the witness but his testimony could be heard.