Child Soldiers

[Ian]

http://www.child-soldiers.org/home

Africa
Central Africa

"I feel so bad about the things that I did. It disturbs me so much that I inflicted death on other people. When I go home I must do some traditional rites because I have killed. I must perform these rites and cleanse myself. I still dream about the boy from my village that I killed. I see him in my dreams, and he is talking to me, saying I killed him for nothing, and I am crying." A 16-year-old girl after demobilization from an armed group (Source: U.S. State Dept. TIP Report 2005)

Democratic Republic of the Congo

"When they came to my village, they asked my older brother whether he was ready to join the militia. He was just 17 and he said no; they shot him in the head. Then they asked me if I was ready to sign, so what could I do - I didn't want to die." A former child soldier taken when he was 13. (BBC report.)

"They gave me a uniform and told me that now I was in the army. They even gave me a new name: 'Pisco' They said that they would come back and kill my parents if I didn't do as they said." Report of interview with a 17 year old former child soldier in 2006

"Being new, I couldn't perform the very difficult exercises properly and so I was beaten every morning. Two of my friends in the camp died because of the beatings. The soldiers buried them in the latrines. I am still thinking of them". Former child soldier interviewed in 2002.

Sudan

"I joined the SPLA when I was 13. I am from Bahr Al Ghazal . They demobilized me in 2001 and took me to Rumbek, but I was given no demobilization documents. Now, I am stuck here because my family was killed in a government attack and because the SPLA would re-recruit me. At times I wonder why I am not going back to SPLA, half of my friends have and they seem to be better off than me." Boy interviewed by Coalition staff, southern Sudan, February 2004.

Uganda

"Early on when my brothers and I were captured, the LRA [Lord's Resistance Army] explained to us that all five brothers couldn´t serve in the LRA because we would not perform well. So they tied up my two younger brothers and invited us to watch. Then they beat them with sticks until two of them died. They told us it would give us strength to fight. My youngest brother was nine years old." Former child soldier, aged 13.

Zimbabwe

"There was no one in charge of the dormitories and on a nightly basis we were raped. The men and youths would come into our dormitory in the dark, and they would just rape us - you would just have a man on top of you, and you could not even see who it was. If we cried afterwards, we were beaten with hosepipes. We were so scared that we did not report the rapes The youngest girl in our group was aged 11 and she was raped repeatedly in the base." 19-year-old girl describing her experience in the National Youth Service Training Program.

Asia/Pacific

India

"He had to run away to a forest with his friend to join the underground. He was 14 when he first held a gun in his hands. He said he loves to go to school but for the poverty of his family he has to lift a gun. Now he is earning enough money with the help of the gun for himself and send money for his family also." Report of interview with 16-year-old boy, northeast India, 2004.

Indonesia, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province (Aceh)

"I know the work [monitoring the apparatus] is dangerous, and my parents had tried to stop me from getting involved. But I want to do something for the nanggroe therefore I was called for the fight. I am ready for all risks" Boy interviewed in March 2004: worked as an informant for the armed political group Free Aceh Movement, to spy on the Indonesian military when he was 17 years old.

Myanmar (Burma)

“They filled the forms and asked my age, and when I said 16, I was slapped and he said, ‘You are 18. Answer 18’ He asked me again and I said, ‘But that’s my true age’. The sergeant asked, ‘Then why did you enlist in the army?” I said, ‘Against my will. I was captured.’ He said, ‘Okay, keep your mouth shut then,’ and he filled in the form. I just wanted to go back home and I told them, but they refused. I said, ‘Then please just let me make one phone call’ but they refused that too.” Maung Zaw Oo, describing the second time he was forced into the Tatmadaw Kyi (army) in 2005

Sri Lanka

"I ran away (to join an armed group) to escape a marriage I didn't like". Girl soldier in Sri Lanka.

Europe

Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation

"Russia has turned us into cattle. It is driving our youth into the arms of whoever comes along first and says 'Go with us'." Mother in Chechnya.

Latin America

Colombia

"They give you a gun and you have to kill the best friend you have. They do it to see if they can trust you. If you don't kill him, your friend will be ordered to kill you. I had to do it because otherwise I would have been killed. That's why I got out. I couldn't stand it any longer." 17-year-old boy, joined paramilitary group aged 7, when a street child.

"I joined the guerrilla to escape ... I thought I'd get some money and could be independent". 17-year-old girl soldier with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, interviewed in 2002.

Middle East and North Africa

Iraq

"I joined the Mahdi army to fight the Americans. Last night I fired a rocket-propelled grenade against a tank" A 12 year-old boy in Najaf, 2004.

Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories

"I was detained on 18 March 2003... We are in a very small room with 11 people... We are allowed to use the bathroom only three times a day at specific times. Once a week we are allowed to take a 30-minute recess. The prison guards force us into shabeh position: they tie our hands up and one leg and then we have to face the wall." 15-year-old boy arrested by Israeli forces, reporting on detention conditions in an Israeli settlement outside Ramallah, April 2003.

[Darthwing Teorist]

Sad and horrific.

[Dr.Rob]

Crap..that was one of the most depressing things I read in awhile. I signed up to the milita when I was 16. That was to young. Thinking now. I am 40. With two boys. Fuk Our Lives that this exists.

[Ian]

This is unfortunately still happening.

There are organisations providing short-term emergency relief and long-term rehab programs for war-affected children. You can do something about it if you want.

http://www.warchild.org/index.html
http://www.child-soldiers.org/home

If anyone knows any reputable and effective organisations, please share. I'm still looking myself.

-----------------------------

From 2000, but still impressive:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/769781.stm

Sierra Leone's rescued child soldiers
By Jane Standley in Freetown

More than 80 Sierra Leonean child soldiers have been rescued from a rebel-controlled area by a charity worker.

Kaszibuloh Koroma walked with the children for over 100 miles to bring them to freedom.

In a refugee compound inside the British security zone around Freetown the children gave thanks for a miraculous escape.

They are safe now.

The former child soldiers had to walk across the front line from rebel territory to escape being sent back into battle.

The RUF rebels had already snatched some of their friends from their demobilisation camp, so the charity workers who had been caring for them hatched a daring, but dangerous, plan.

Kaszibuloh Koroma led them away in the middle of the night.

"There was fear in their hearts," he said.

"But as we started and we moved for the first one hour, then the second hour, then I started to build hope that we would succeed," he explained.

Dangerous escape

For three days, boys like Desmond braved attacks, fire-bombs, thirst and hunger.

Desmond's identity must be protected.

At 15, he is a true veteran, one of the rebels most vicious fighters since they abducted him, aged only 7.

But he doesn't want to go back to war. "We like it here. We are safe now," he said.

"They give us food and we play football, and we don't want to fight again," Desmond added.

The real fighters

The children's escape from the RUF rebels was terrifying but worth it.

"We would have lost all of them," Kaszibuloh said.

"And then there would have been more atrocities around where they would have been. Because they're the real fighters that the older rebels are using to cause atrocities, harassment, loot and rape," he added.

They cannot be used like child soldiers while they have protection.

But no-one knows how many other children are being forced to the front, in this most dirty of wars.

[Darthwing Teorist]

The people perpetrating this should be drawn and quartered.