Reclaiming our Children - the UN Responds to the Plight of The Child Soldier

This event highlighted the recruitment of child soldiers as one of the more lasting and destructive effects of war. A short film on disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration activities was shown.

May 7, 2002, 3:00-4:00pm, UN Secretariat - Conference Room 2

Moderator:
Kati Marton, Chief of Outreach, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict

The Panel:
Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General
Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Carol Bellamy - UNICEF Executive Director
Ismael - youth panellist, former child soldier, Sierra Leone
China - youth panellist, former child soldier, Uganda
Jean-Marie Guehenno - UN Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
Ibrahim Sesay - CARITAS Makeni, Sierra Leone
Mark Malloch-Brown - UNDP Administrator
Tim Wirth - UNFIB

WEB SUMMARY

"I am afraid to cry because I know that I have to work so hard to be a good person, because what they have done to me can turn me into a monster…Today I feel like I am 100 years old, but again, I feel like I am 6 years old." These are the words of China, a young girl who became a soldier at the age of 9 and who remained a soldier for nearly 11 years.

In a strong show of UN solidarity and commitment, UN leaders gathered today in New York to call for greater action on behalf of child soldiers in order to bring this heinous practice of child abuse to an end. China and Ismael, two former child soldiers, not only recounted their stories and experiences as soldiers, but demonstrated that with the necessary resources and will, not only is reintegration of child soldiers possible, but former child soldiers can be among the strongest and most compelling leaders for peace.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan committed the UN to urgent action on this issue in his remarks: "Children are our future. To accept the use of child soldiers in conflict is to accept the destruction of our future, and we must fight for this future one child at a time. We must reclaim them, every one of them."

Over the past few years, the world has become more aware of the exploitation of girls and boys as combatants in times of war. Progress has been made over the past years, particularly with regards to the international legal framework to protect children, especially the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which prohibits the use and recruitment of children under 18 years in hostilities, as well as the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court which defines the recruitment of children under 15 as a war crime.

Building on these positive developments, the panel launched a call for immediate action, and greater leadership and resources to tackle this issue. History has shown that the use of child soldiers is not just a moral or humanitarian concern -- it is also a peace and security concern.