HUMAN RIGHTS | Defending human dignity
29 April 2008
Nongovernment Groups Play Role in Stopping Use of Child Soldiers
Groups also work on rehabilitation, reintegration of former child soldiers
Washington -- Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) play a vital role in preventing the use of children as soldiers, say experts involved in the issue.
“The role of NGOs is really important at two levels,” says Jo Becker, advocacy director of the Children’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. “One is the prevention side -- trying to persuade governments and armed groups not to recruit and use child soldiers in the first place,” she told America.gov. “But also, NGOs have a very important role on the other side -- when children are coming out of a war situation, it is often NGOs that are providing the rehabilitation and reintegration assistance that they need to get back into civilian life.”
Becker has worked on child soldiers issues for more than 10 years at Human Rights Watch, a New York-based NGO that conducts research and advocacy for human rights. She said she has seen a good deal of progress in the effort to end the use of children as soldiers.
“There are a number of examples that reports that we’ve published and advocacy that we’ve conducted have influenced the behavior of governments or armed groups that are recruiting and using child soldiers,” Becker said. “For example the LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy), a rebel group in Liberia, was persuaded to stop using child soldiers, in part, because of reporting that we did. There’s also been a pretty significant reduction in the last few years in the use of child soldiers by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka that corresponds to our reporting and advocacy on the issue.”
THE COALITION TO STOP THE USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS
Because the child soldier issue is so large and complex, NGOs have banded together to deal with it. Human Rights Watch, for example, is part of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, an international NGO whose other steering committee members include Amnesty International, Defense for Children International, International Federation Terre des Hommes, International Save the Children Alliance, Jesuit Refugee Service and the Quaker United Nations Office-Geneva. The coalition promotes the adoption of -- and adherence to -- national, regional and international legal standards on the issue. That includes the U.N. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits the use of children under age 18 in both government and nongovernmental armed groups.
The coalition was instrumental in drafting and adopting the U.N. Optional Protocol as well as its ratification by 192 countries. In addition, the coalition has conducted workshops with activists on the ground to help them engage on the issue, do direct monitoring and advocacy and engage directly with some governments to influence changes in legislation and policy, Becker said. These efforts, according to Becker, can be credited for the worldwide reduction in the number of child soldiers, which is estimated to be between 250,000 and 300,000.
NO SINGLE WAY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM
There is no single way to solve the problem of the exploitation of children as child soldiers, according to Rachel Stohl, senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information, a Washington-based policy research organization. Stohl is also on the steering committee for the U.S. Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, which includes some 40 national U.S. organizations working to influence U.S. policy on child soldiers.
“Certainly, diplomatically pressuring governments and nonstate groups that continue to use child soldiers is really important,” she told America.gov. But she added that protecting at-risk children is critical as well. “You can’t just do that from Washington, D.C. These kinds of programs have to be done in-country using the local communities as the basis because if the local community doesn’t have the capacity to help a former child soldier or to protect children, it then is just words, not deeds,” Stohl said.
NEXT STEPS
According to Becker, there is a fairly good set of international treaties in place to protect children against exploitation as combatants. The question now, she said, is how to get them implemented.
In the United States, Human Rights Watch has been advocating on behalf of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, which was introduced in U.S. Congress in 2007. If the legislation is adopted, Becker explained, it would put limits on U.S. military aid to governments that are involved in the recruitment and use of child soldiers. “This is a way that we believe that the U.S. can really use its influence to try and change the practices of other governments,” Becker said.
Becker said the outlook for the legislation is “pretty good.”
“The Senate version has 34 co-sponsors, including both Republicans and Democrats,” Becker said. “A version has already been adopted by the House as part of the larger Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act.”
For more information about child soldiers, see:
• Programs Help Child Soldiers Return Home;
• U.S. Funding Helps Fight One of the “Worst Forms of Child Labor”;
• Videos Show al-Qaida in Iraq Recruiting Children for Terrorism;
• Child Soldiers a National and Global Security Issue, Expert Says;
• Former Child Soldier a Beacon of Hope to Conflict Survivors; and
