The use of child soldiers continues to be a plague on our global society, as thousands of children continue to be recruited into armed conflict by both government forces and armed rebel groups in spite global efforts to combat the continued use of children. UNICEF estimates there are some 300,000 child soldiers globally, while Human Rights, with the majority, some 200,000, in Africa. Child soldiers are actively fighting in at least 30 countries around the world, according to both Amnesty International and UNICEF, and PE Singers estimates in his book, Children at War, that 43 percent of all armed organizations in the world use child soldiers, 90 percent of whom see combat.
In May I brought you news that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Highlighted Violators Using Child Soldiers in his annual report to the UN Security Council for the first time. In his report to the council Ban directly asked the Council to seek stronger measures against those countries and groups that continue to violate children’s rights at such grave levels, urging them to see that violators face harsher punishments. The global fight against to end child soldiers has been a higher priority on the UN’s agenda for the last few years. In 2007 The Paris Commitments, a voluntary initiative, were adopted , are accompanied by the Paris Principles, operational guidelines designed to assist in the successful reintegrate of children, associated with armed groups, into their communities.
In recent weeks eleven new countries added their names to the list of States who have pledged to uphold the commitment to halt child recruitment, support the release of children from armed groups, and help reintegrate them into civilian life. The new signatories are; Cape Verde, Gabon, Georgia, Iceland, Latvia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Togo and Uruguay, thus raising the number of supporting countries from 84 to 95.
The move by the eleven countries shows great progress and hope, however there is much to be done and the signing of a commitment to uphold the Principles is only on step need to ensure the protection of children recruited into armed conflict. To see that children are no longer the pawns of war, we must work on a global scale in a unified manner to ensure that armed forces and rebel groups are no longer allowed to contribute this egregious practice with impunity. No longer can we turn a blind eye to this blatant war crime and violation of children’s rights, and we must see that successful reintegration of children into their communities are made. Reintegrations must be made and continual support and services must be available to once children are returned if we are to ever see an end of the cycle of violence.
