PRESS RELEASE: CONTINUED CHILD SOLDIERING CASTS SHADOW ON CELEBRATIONS FOR THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD

© Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL MONDAY, 16 JUNE 2003

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers today called on African governments and armed groups to implement commitments to stop child soldiering. “The Day of the African Child is not only a celebration of progress towards child rights; it is also a time to remember the tens of thousands of child soldiers caught up in conflicts across Africa,” said Casey Kelso, Coalition coordinator.

It is estimated that that more than 120,000 African children – some no more than 7 or 8 years old – are currently participating in armed conflicts as combatants, spies, messengers, sentries, porters, servants and sexual slaves. “Children in conflict zones face a double jeopardy,” said Christina Clark, Programme Officer for Africa with the Coalition. “When conflicts erupt, children are among the first recruits, as witnessed most recently in Côte d’Ivoire. However, in post-conflict countries such as Angola, many child soldiers, particularly girls, are overlooked in demobilization and reintegration processes, making them the last to receive assistance, if at all.”

Continued child soldiering in Africa violates international and regional law. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child sets a progressive and ambitious continental standard prohibiting child recruitment. Regionally, the Economic Community of West African States has declared West Africa a “child soldier free zone”.

However, in too many cases, rhetoric does not reflect reality. In November 2002, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan identified several parties to conflict in African countries that recruit or use children in violation of international obligations. These include: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Somalia. Concerns were also raised in the context of past or current armed conflict in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Uganda.

Coalition members and partners across Africa today organized events in solidarity with child soldiers. Following a Great Lakes meeting in Kampala, Uganda, participants developed an action plan for more concerted advocacy to prevent child recruitment and promote demobilization in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. In West Africa, coalition partners organized information campaigns in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

For more information, please contact:
Casey Kelso, Coordinator, in London: Tel: +44 (0)20 7713 2761; Mobile: +44 07900 892 552; Email: [email protected]
Christina Clark, Programme Officer for Africa, in Kampala: Mobile: +256 077 928 193; Email: [email protected]

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (CSC) works to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, to secure their demobilisation and to ensure their rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Formed in 1998, the CSC currently unites national, regional and international organizations in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. Its founding organisations are Amnesty International, Defence for Children International, Human Rights Watch, International Federation Terre des Hommes, International Save the Children Alliance, Jesuit Refugee Service, the Quaker United Nations Office-Geneva and World Vision International.