CONSCRIPTED CHILDREN: aka Child Soldiers
ARTICLES/INFORMATION/RESEARCH
(click here for Organizations/Agencies)
The truth about child soldiers
"There is, though, an oft–overlooked point that also highlights one of the difficulties we face if we are going to tackle the problem of child soldiers. Despite the dominant image of these soldiers as boys, it is estimated that globally as many as 40 percent of child soldiers are girls. This point, as much as any other, underscores why it is time to rethink how we view child soldiers."
CNN.com, March 19, 2015.
LRA rebel Dominic Ongwen surrenders to US forces in CAR
"The LRA has abducted thousands of children in northern Uganda, and neighbouring countries, forcing the boys to become fighters and the girls to become sex slaves...,Dominic Ongwen is considered by some to be a deputy commander to LRA chief Joseph Kony."
BBC America, January 07, 2015.
Kids a major target as Boko Haram gains ground in Nigeria (plus video)
"The Watchlist report calls on the Nigerian government to forcefully denounce child abductions and recruitment by militarized groups in the country's north. It also urges the government to collaborate more effectively with international organizations in order to ease the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the region."
Christian Science Monitor, September 04, 2014.
ISIS recruits children to perform beheadings, shoot rifles, carry out terrorist attacks
"The Islamic terror group ISIS is now focusing its recruiting efforts on children, posting videos of little boys firing weapons almost as big as they are.
In one, a child wearing a ski mask hoists an AK–47 onto a makeshift firing platform, pulls the trigger and then staggers from the recoil."
Daily News, August 29, 1014.
U.N. accuses Islamic State of executions, rape, forced child recruitment in Iraq
"ISIL and associated armed groups have also continued to... perpetrate targeted assassinations (of) community, political, and religious leaders, government employees, education professionals, health workers... sexual assault, rape and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls, forced recruitment of children, kidnappings, executions, robberies."
Reuters Press, July 18, 2014.
US Imposes Sanctions on Islamist Group in Congo for Targeting Child Soldiers
"(Reuters)—The United States on Tuesday blacklisted a Ugandan Islamic group, the Allied Democratic Forces, for targeting children in armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The move, which freezes the group's assets in the United States and blocks U.S. firms from dealing with it, follows a U.N. Security Council committee decision on Monday to blacklist the same group."
Reuters Press, July 01, 2014.
Child Soldiers: Which are the worst countries recruiting underage fighters?
"Despite a number of international conventions to limit or prevent the participation of minors, such as Child Soldiers International — formerly the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (CSUCS) — children take part in hostilities, as well as being used as spies, messengers, lookouts or to spread propaganda."
International Business Times U.K., June 23, 2014.
Watch: Syrian Children Talk About Life as Child Soldiers
"As Syria's civil war is set to enter into its fourth year, human rights groups have been able to document that boys and girls were recruited to fight in battles, act as snipers, participate in suicide bombing missions, treat the wounded on battlefields and carry ammunition to and from the front lines."
Time, June 22, 2014.
Lured into fighting, Columbia's girl rebels face abuse
"Women and girls are as much the backbone of the FARC as the men and boys. Rights groups have documented their role in gathering intelligence, recruiting children, fighting on frontlines, serving as sex slaves for commanders, digging trenches and latrines, and standing guard."
Trust.org, June 15, 2014.
Into the Mainstream: Addressing Sexual Violence Against Men and Boys in Conflict
"A briefing paper prepared for the workshop held at the Overseas DevelopmentInstitute, London.
War Child Publications, May 14, 2014
Ex–Child–Soldiers Live With Scars of War
The conflict tearing the Central African Republic apart has not only turned neighbor against neighbor. It has brought childhood to a halt.
Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2014.
Plan in works to reintegrate Columbia's child soldiers into home life post–conflict.
Columbia Reports, January 29, 2014.
Adama Drabo, Malian Child Soldier, Illustrates Dirty War With A Complicated Enemy
Huffington Post, January 26, 2013
Afghans Plan to Stop Recruiting Children as Police
New York Times, January 29, 2011
Former Liberian president takes stand in war crimes trial
China View, July 14, 2009
Watchlist on Children & Armed Conflict: Columbia's War on Children
February, 2004
From Cradle to Grave
Latin America Press, October 02, 2002
Kids Forced to Kill
Newsday, June 03, 2002
Britain Bans Boy Soldiers Going To War
Daily Telegraph, March 29, 2002
Child Soldier Asks UN For Help
BBC News, November 21, 2001
The Child Soldiers
TIME Asia, November 12, 2001
Violence Against Children Worldwide
Report from Human Rights Watch, September 2001, regarding sexual and physical violence against children worldwide
When Children Go to War
New York Times, June 18, 2001
Report Slams Use of Child Soldiers
Reuters, June 12, 2001
War in Sierra Leone Loosens Its Grip on Child Soldiers
New York Times, May 26, 2001
Child Soldiers In The Firing Line
BBC News, April 08, 2001
UN Finds Congo Child Soldiers
BBC News, February 21, 2001
Children at Both Ends of the Gun
Excerpt from the UNICEF report, "Impact of Armed Conflict on Children" (1996)
ORGANIZATIONS/AGENCIES
(click here for Articles/Information/Research)
Amnesty International
5 Penn Plaza, 16th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 807 8400
www.amnestyusa.org/children/soldiers/
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
International Secretariat
4th floor, 9 Marshalsea Road
London SE1 1EP
United Kingdom
Phone: 20 7367 4110
www.child-soldiers.org
International coalition of NGOs dedicated to ending the use of child soldiers worldwide.
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor
New York, NY 10118-3299
Phone: (212) 290-4700
Email: hrwnyc@hrw.org
www.hrw.org/news/2012/04/11/child-soldiers
Human Rights Watch campaign against the use of child soldiers.
International Federation Terre Des Hommes
31 Ch. Franck Thomas
CH-1223 Cologny/Geneva
Switzerland
Phone: 22 736 33 72
www.terredeshommes.org
International Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement
Children Affected by Armed Conflict Program
19 avenue de la Paix
CH1202 Geneva Switzerland
Phone: 22 734 60 01
www.ifrc.org
Roméo Dallaire Child Soldier Initiative
Dalhousie University
P.O. Box 15000
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4R2
Phone: Phone: (902)-494-6637
Email: info@childsoldiers.org
www.childsoldiers.org/
War Child International
Linton House
39–51 Highgate Road
London, NW5 1RT
Phone: 020 7916 9276
Fax: 020 7916 9280
E–mail: info@warchild.org.uk
www.warchild.org.uk/
