Soldier Child

Crisis in Darfur: USHM and Google Earth

2007-05-25T17:48:00.000+01:00

Google Earth Map of Crisis in Darfur

The U.S. Holocaust Museum and Google Earth worked together to illustrate the ongoing crisis in Darfur. It is yet another attempt to bring attention to the horrors that Darfuris experience daily at the hands of the Janjaweed who are backed by the Sudanese government in Khartoum.

If you already have Google Earth, you need to download the Crisis in Darfur layers.

Rallying the Rebels: Advocacy for Darfur

2007-03-30T16:09:00.000+01:00

What do you know about the situation in Darfur? We've read the headlines, and perhaps signed a petition or two addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon or President Bush... When will we see change on the ground?

A group of activists have come up with an innovative new approach to changing the situation in Darfur. The Rebel Letters campaign challenges us as global citizens to urge the rebel leaders in Darfur to unite for the sake of peace and stability in the region. For more info on the campaign, go to the Rebel Letters website: http://www.rebelletters.org/

DRC - where are the girls?

2006-08-23T21:05:00.000+01:00

It is estimated that roughly 30,000 children serve to some capacity in armed forces and grops in Congo. Save the Children reports that up to 40% of total child soldier numbers may comprise of girls. While the latest Multi-country Demobilization and Reingetration Program (MDRP) Progress Report states that 6,518 boys have been demobilized, only 954 girls have been present in demobilization efforts. Where are the girls?

Click here for link to Refugees International statement on the need for special focus on girls in Congo

NY Times Audio/Photo Article

2006-08-03T14:20:00.000+01:00

War Steals Congo's Young by Lydia Polgreen (NY Times) - Click on picture for article

(UNICEF): 600 Congolese children die per day

2006-07-25T10:38:00.000+01:00

Article in Washington Post - Children experience the brunt of war

Martin Bell (UNICEF) authors report on children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Webpage links to pdf file of the Child Alert report, video clips, election info, etc. -- Click Here for Child Alert

Amnesty International Pre-Screening in London: Innocent Voices

2006-07-12T10:42:00.000+01:00

Amnesty Pre-Screening Event

I'm no film critic, but I thought the portrayal of forced recruitment of children into the El Salvadorean forces was an audience eye-opener. No matter how much exposure I get to what children endure in situations of armed conflict, I'm still shaken by it. There were a lot of issues to be discussed after this film. I was surprised to find out in the Q&A session with the writer (story is based on his life experience), the director, and cast that they were not aware of the use of child soldiers around the world, nor the role of NGOs and the UN in demobilizing and reintegrating former soldiers back into civilian life.
No doubt, it's important that the media present the issue of child soldiers to the public. But I find it unfortunate that beyond the tragedy and chaos, we don't know much else in the way of what is being done to push for child participation in peace agreements and conflict management/post-conflict resolution, for formal demobilization and reintegration, & for aftercare and skills training to secure opportunities for a future. Lord forbid I sound like an optimist, but it shouldnt be about the fascination of how horrible humans can be to one another...because as strange as it is, children make and find their own hope, giving us reasons to try harder to support them.

Joseph Kony denies war crimes in BBC Interview

2006-07-04T20:36:00.000+01:00

BBC Newsnight Interview with Jospeh Kony

Museveni is offering amnesty to Kony pertaining to the upcoming peace talks to end the conflict in northern Uganda. This is despite the fact that Museveni referred Kony's case to the International Criminal Court last year, which resulted in Kony's indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is the classic dilemma of corruption, justice, and peace. Amnesty or justice - which way to peace?

[News article]: Children at Guantanamo Bay

2006-05-28T20:25:00.000+01:00

I wish I had time to properly react to the official pentagon position on juveniles at Guantanamo right now. Optional Protocol II of the Convention on the Rights of the Child does address the age of child combatants (under 18).

See article in The Independent on juveniles who were captured and detained in Guantanamo, an estimated 60:

The children of Guantanamo Bay

Article: Child Soldiers in DRC

2006-05-16T10:29:00.000+01:00

Child soldiers multiply in troubled DRC

For more information, check out: April 2006 report by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict

What's your ecological footprint?

2006-02-25T12:26:00.000Z

Take the quiz to find out how much is needed to sustain your lifestyle.

ART/MUSIC: War Child Picture This Art Exhibit

2006-02-20T21:59:00.000Z

ART/MUSIC: War Child Picture This Art Exhibit
Venue: Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf London
17 feb to 5 march, 2006
free admission

Lots of background & very little academic jargon [BOOKS]

2006-02-18T17:21:00.000Z

Having spent the last 2 days writing/reading on international treaty law, I haven't been able to look at anything related to child soldiering. I have a growing stack of reports I need to read, but sadly I've gotten to the point where words and numbers start blurring together on the page. It's just useless to try to absorb anything. Several people have been asking me about books or articles they can read on the problem of child soldiers. Something that's not so technical, not so academic. I'm all about that, especially when I think about the development aid reports I need to get through. So, these are my suggestions:

Innocents Lost, Jimmie Briggs - journalist
www.jimmiebriggs.com

Another book, good for background info:
Children At War, PW Singer - policy analyst at the Brookings Institution
www.brookings.edu/scholars/fellows/psinger.htm

Here On Earth Podcast: Uganda-CAN

2006-02-09T15:39:00.000Z

Here On Earth Podcast - Uganda-CAN

Here on Earth Radio Without Borders with Jean Feraca talks to Peter Quaranto, the director and co-founder of Uganda - Conflict Action Network, and Charles Bongomin, former child soldier, Fulbright scholar at American University. [52:35 -length] Aired Februrary 5th, 2006, 2pm CT

Issues discussed: conditions for children in northern Uganda; failure of Uganda's government to end the 19 year long conflict; silence of UN Security Council over past 2 decades; role of NGO's & civil society to end the conflict; Uganda-CAN's advocacy work

Red Hand Day [Campaign Event]

2006-02-07T20:24:00.000Z

Red Hand Day, 12 February 2006

An Initiative by terre des hommes Germany for the International Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Red Hand Day aims to bring public awareness to the plight of child soldiers all around the world through activism, demonstrations, and other creative expression. For more information, visit the Red Hand Day Website. The website displays photos from previous Red Hand Day events all over the world.

[News] Last week, on 2 February, the US Senate passed resolution 366 - "Affirming the importance of increased international action and a national week of prayer for the Ugandan victims of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, and expressing the sense of the Senate that Sudan, Uganda, and the international community bring justice and humanitarian assistance to Northern Uganda and that February 2 through 9, 2006, should be designated as a national week of prayer and reflection for the people of Uganda." Click here for complete resolution. The Senate resolution, unfortunately, doesn't spell out any specific action. Even if they do increase humanitarian aid, how much of that will just be pumped into the Ugandan army (UPDF) to pursue the LRA & capture Kony (which has been terribly unsuccessful over the past 2 decades)? Where's all the aid for the disarmament camps going? Something I need to research... I'm just speculating.

Invisible Children [film & photo essay]

2006-02-02T20:20:00.000Z

Invisible Children

The above link goes to a trailer for the Invisible Children documentary, which I finally watched in its entirety today. I heard & read a few criticisms about the nature in which the three young filmmakers presented the problem of the 40,000 or so night commuting children in Northern Uganda. The Hollywood-style dramatizing & moments of immature behavior aside, the documentary is very powerful. Not only is it geared towards the MTV/Info Revolution generation, it's a product of this generation's flavor for adventure & action. First for the content of what they documented, and also for the experience of 3 Cali boys leaving home to capture a story in Sub-Saharan Africa... AND THEN, decided to start a movement and an organization to fight for justice. Doesn't get much more proactive than that.

LA Times Photo Journal on Northern Ugandan situation, click on image below:

Hear the songs of child soldiers [Save the Children UK]

2006-02-01T23:14:00.000Z

Click on the above image to hear the songs of child soldiers who were being demobilized at the Aveba disarmament camp in the DRC. The songs were recorded by a journalist working with Save the Children UK. It's a truly remarkable recording, and demonstrates the resilience and power of children...

UN Security Council Resolution 1653 - Ugandan children being terrorized by protectors [News]

2006-01-29T22:37:00.000Z

Adopting resolution 1653 (2006) on Friday, 27 January 2006, the Council strongly condemned the activities of such groups as the Forces démocratique de liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), Burundi’s Palipehutu-Forces national de liberation (FNL) and Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which continued to attack civilians and United Nations and humanitarian personnel, as well as to commit human rights abuses against local populations. The Council reiterated its demand that all such groups lay down their arms and engage voluntarily and without delay or preconditions in their disarmament, repatriation or resettlement. For complete story: monuc.org

Resolution 1653 rightly addresses the need to maintain territorial integrity between the states in Africa's Great Lakes region as each state takes all necessary measures to enforce disarmament & demobilization of illegally armed groups like the LRA. What it doesn't address, however, is the fact that there are over 1.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (UNICEF estimate) forcibly placed in camps who are not only being terrorized by the LRA in Uganda, but also by the Ugandan army, police force, & the Local Defense Units (set up by the IDP camps in order to protect them from the LRA). These are legitmately armed forces in Uganda, and they're contributing to the utter lack of security in the area. What's worse is that most of these IDPs (80% of whom are women & children, UNICEF 2005) are confined to the camp & will most likely be unable to farm in time to reap returns for the Spring. Which means that the UN World Food Programme will have to provide for the 1.5 million. And though the LRA have denied this, since the ICC arrest warrants were released in Oct 2005, the LRA seems to be targetting humanitarian aid workers/resources.

This just boggles my mind & infuriates me. The Uganda government needs to run a clean operation when it comes to these IDP camps. Without legitimate law enforcement, efforts to disarm/demobilize the LRA are completely done in vain. Am I just not getting something?

My message to the UN Security Council: Yes, the LRA have guns & they should lay them down. Good, we've established that. But how many of those armed = under 18 combatants? How feasible is that they would voluntarily leave the LRA to disarm? What about the murders, rapes, beatings, & robberies that occur in the IDP camps by the army & LDUs? We'd have radically different policy formulation if we understood the situation from a child/woman's perspective. Perhaps, I'm being naive, but I'm just not moved by the Council's lack of effort.

Taylor’s Surrender to Special Court Critical for Justice, Rule of Law in West Africa [news]

2006-01-27T17:09:00.000Z

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International
AI Index: AFR 34/003/2006 27 January 2006

(Monrovia, January 27, 2006) – Liberia’s new president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, should take prompt action to ensure that former Liberian President Charles Taylor is surrendered to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Campaign Against Impunity said today in an open letter to President Johnson-Sirleaf, who was inaugurated on January 16.

The Campaign Against Impunity is a coalition of some three hundred African and international civil society groups that was formed to press for Charles Taylor’s surrender to the Special Court. Liberian partners in the Campaign are holding a press conference today in Monrovia at 2 P.M. (GMT) to further demonstrate their support in the fight against impunity in the sub-region.

“President Johnson-Sirleaf said her presidency will stand for accountability and the rule of law,” said Ezekial Pajibo, executive director of Centre for Democratic Empowerment (CEDE), a Liberian organization that is part of the Campaign. “Now she has a major opportunity to do just that. We hope she will seize this chance by requesting Nigeria to surrender Charles Taylor to the Special Court for Sierra Leone.”

The Special Court was set up in 2002 to try those most responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Sierra Leone’s armed conflict. Charles Taylor has been accused of 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the people of Sierra Leone by the Special Court. The crimes include killings, mutilations, rape and other forms of sexual violence, sexual slavery, the recruitment and use of child soldiers, abduction, and the use of forced labor by Sierra Leonean armed opposition groups.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has thus far refused to surrender Charles Taylor to the Special Court since 2003 when Taylor went to Nigeria. However, President Obasanjo has indicated since then that he would consider surrendering Charles Taylor upon a request from a duly-elected Liberian government.

For the complete release: IS Amnesty International News Releases

my thoughts - this would certainly be essential to the stability of the region. The Special Court for Sierra Leone would be the most appropriate place to try Taylor. admittedly, I'm not sure how much better the Special Court for SL fares compared to the Tribunals in Arusha for Rwanda and for the former Yugoslavia. but there's no doubt that the failure to bring Taylor to justice would further demonstrate the weakness of democratic institutions in Western Africa, not to mention the rest of the continent. Somehow, we are always banging up against the wall of state soveriegnty -- how can we enforce elements in international law, specificially in regards to war crimes, when we have no effective enforcement agency? but do we really want such an agency?

Children in Conflict - agents of war or agents of peace?

2006-01-27T01:42:00.000Z

I started this blog out of necessity. Many sleepless nights researching the use of children in conflict inevitably leads to a sense of isolation and despair, even for my hardcore idealism. So perhaps blogging will allow me to find some relief as I go through the next 8 months or so of researching and writing. If somehow my blog reaches anyone involved (or who wants to be) in children's rights, I completely welcome your reactions and comments...

My main concern at the moment is the absence of children in security studies, as well as in international political economics and development studies. Not that they aren't mentioned, because anyone familiar with these disciplines knows that children are usually the most common statistical feature in case studies (demonstrating that they are disproportionately affected by war and poverty - common knowledge). No, what I'm talking about is the lack of perspective or ownership over these disciplines - the effect of children on peace, security, & development. Children have a greater effect on war, peace, and economies than is acknowledged by much mainstream literature. I've got a lot of thinking to do in this area. But it's difficult not to do some soul searching as well. How valuable will my research be in the end when I finally finish? It's the activist in me wanting to get away from my computer and from all this literature and reach real people & lives... leave the policy designing for better brains. And yet, the growth of youth organizations and student-run advocacy groups out there dedicated to specific situations of children in conflict & poverty is a kind of assurance that this work will contribute to a new voice in political and economic discourse. One can dream...

UGANDA: Olara Otunnu says children are real victims of war [news]

2006-01-26T18:18:00.000Z

[LONDON, 18 January 2006] - The worst place in the world to be a child today is northern Uganda, the former UN representative for children in war said, blaming rebels and government forces for trapping an entire population in a nightmare of terror, disease and death.

Rebels have kidnapped more than 20,000 children for use as soldiers, sex slaves and porters while the government is keeping hundreds of thousands of others in squalid camps where disease and violence are rampant. "When adults wage war children pay the highest price," Olara Otunnu said in a speech in London. "Children are the primary victims of armed conflict."

Almost 2 million people have been "herded like animals" into the camps in northern Uganda where 1,000 people are dying a week due to disease and violence, Otunnu said. He added that rape by government troops, many of them HIV positive, was common.

The government says the camps were set up a decade ago to protect local people from attacks and abductions by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), whose 19-year insurgency has taken a horrific toll on northern Uganda's Acholi population. Otunnu, who comes from northern Uganda, accused President Yoweri Museveni, a southerner, of forcing the Acholi people into the camps in a deliberate campaign to wipe them out. The government strongly denied this.

"An entire society is being destroyed in full view of the international community," Otunnu said, calling on Western leaders to demand the Ugandan government dismantle the camps and send in international monitors. Otunnu said there were 200 camps. The government said there were 100.

Ugandan Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Oryem Henry Okello dismissed Otunnu's claims, saying people had gone to the camps to escape LRA atrocities. "It's absolutely true that the situation in northern Uganda is appalling," said Okello, himself an Acholi and a lawmaker for the northern Kitgum district. "What is not true is that there's (a) genocidal project to destroy the Acholi people."

Otunnu, who was UN Under Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict from 1997 to 2005, said the situation in northern Uganda was far worse than in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

In Darfur, tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million forced from their homes since 2003. "The UN said recently that the death rate in northern Uganda is twice that of Darfur," he said. "Northern Uganda has the worst infant mortality in the world today".

[Source: Reuters]

To read the article in full, go to: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=7023