PO377 ETHNIC CONFLICT AND
POLITICAL VIOLENCE
Week 11: Child Soldiers
Child Soldiers Introduction
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In the recent past it has been estimated there are
around 250,000-300,000 active child soldiers in the
world, in both non-state and state military groups, but
exact figures are very difficult to ascertain (Child Soldiers
International (formerly Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers):
http://www.child-soldiers.org).
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Most aged 14-18 but some as young as 7-9.
Many girl soldiers as well as boy soldiers (possibly 3040%) but girls are often overlooked in Disarmament,
Demobilisation and Reintegration programmes.
Most child soldiers say they enlisted voluntarily.
Child Soldiers Introduction (2)
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UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989): a child/minor
is a human being under age of 18. Optional Protocol to the
Convention, on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict
(2000/2002): bans recruitment of minors by non-state armed
groups and prohibits their participation in state and non-state
armed hostilities. Conscription also banned under 18.
Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed
Forces or Armed Groups (2007): a child soldier is any person
under the age of 18 recruited or used by any armed group
(state or non-state), in whatever capacity and whether or not
an armed conflict exists.
Nevertheless, child soldiers still exist and are for many a
shocking figure.
Pull and Push Factors
PULL FACTORS
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Strategic need of armed group, esp. non-state, for greater
number of troops. Child soldiers often used as cannon fodder.
Children may be seen as more docile and more malleable by the
armed group.
Changing patterns of warfare affect children’s roles (as well as
women’s).
Changing war technology – lighter weapons mean children today
can carry them.
Pull and Push Factors (2)
PUSH FACTORS
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Many are forcibly conscripted, involving violence.
Others coerced through various pressures:
 Threats against or pressure on the child’s family
 Indoctrination of children by the armed group and/or
significant adults
 Financial incentives in context of poverty
 Hope of social protection
Many say they joined voluntarily:
 Revenge for attacks on their family or community
 Sense of injustice, nationalist or political sentiment
Can children ever truly volunteer to be soldiers??
Questions to Consider
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In a context of war, where choices are so limited, can we
speak of children ‘volunteering’ to become soldiers?
If they are under the international legal adult age of 18,
what does their ‘consent’ mean?
How does the reality that the concept of ‘childhood’ is
historically and culturally specific affect our views on child
soldiers? (In many societies it is reaching certain personal or
social milestones such as marrying that means one is
considered adult, not a certain age.)
If we think there is a moral problem (or other problems?) with
the use of child soldiers, how do we respond to this?
Some Other Resources
Books (in addition to the reading list)
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Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier,
2007. (Personal account from Sierra Leone.) Extracts at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/magazine/14soldier.t.h
tml?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin
China Keitetsi, Child Soldier, 2004. (Personal account from
Northern Uganda.)
Els de Temmerman, Aboke Girls: Children Abducted in Northern
Uganda, 2001.
Some Other Resources (2)
Videos
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Invisible Children (Northern Uganda):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3166797753
930210643&q=invisible+children
A Duty to Protect: Justice for Child Soldiers in the DRC:
http://www.witness.org/index.php?option=com_rightsalert
&Itemid=178&task=view&alert_id=41
Child Soldiers in Africa:
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/world/0701/slideshow.a
udio.soldiers/frameset.exclude.html
Images of Child Soldiers
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Look at the pictures below of child soldiers from
different countries and times. How do these images
make you feel? Do you have different responses to
different images? Can you try and disentangle
your reactions and work out why you feel the way
you do?
Afghanistan (left, 1986) and Yemen (right, 1964), from Cohn and
Goodwin-Gill (1994) Child Soldiers: The Role of Children in Armed Conflict.
Sri Lanka (1990 – boys)
Sri Lanka (girls)
Cambodia (left, 1970s) and unknown (right)
Karen child soldiers in Burma/Myanmar (left, 2000 and right,
2001 – all are 12 years old)
Uganda (left) and Sudan (right)
Liberia
Democratic Republic of Congo
Sierra Leone